Our journey is coming to an end…like all good things do…
Sometimes, when you have had a good time, you don’t want it to end….and sometimes it feels like enough…and more might not be a good thing.
That is how I feel today.
We have had a great time travelling and experiencing new things…but it is time to go home.
David’s back is very sore. He pushed through the last few days to go to the Grand Prix, but is now paying for it. It is frustrating not being able to help him feel better…I’m no doctor and have very little comprehension of what it could possibly feel like for him…and I’m not the most sympathetic or empathetic person…but I am trying to help where I can…
As Amanda has her own room in the KL apartment we are using this weekend, she is making the most of the quiet space and free wifi to watch some tv series that she likes (that we aren’t so keen on watching with her)…so a quiet morning in suits her well.
I pottered around cleaning and packing things ready for the flight…if I had of only had 20 minutes to get it done I could have….but as it went it took me most of the morning.
Around midday, I spotted the swimming pool in the view out of our bedroom window…even though the apartment is air-conditioned and I was not hot, it still looked appealing, shining in the bright sun….so we all went down to the second floor pool for a dip. It was very warm outside, so before we got in we were hot….so the cool water was refreshing. The pool was partly undercover, so the shaded section was good as it was the middle of the day (we had put some sunscreen on though of course). It wasn’t particularly deep at all though, so the benefit for David was limited as he couldn’t stand up in the water to rest his back…he had to almost kneel on the ground to get his shoulders under.
After our swim we headed back upstairs to the third floor…I point this out as Amanda made me aware that everywhere that we have stayed on this whole trip, we have been on the third floor (when there was more than one floor in the complex)…and then Amanda and I popped out to grab some pizza for lunch. We had seen the pizza place beside the 7-Eleven the other day, but couldn’t remember what it was called in order to ring up and order…that turned out to be a real bummer…as just as we were heading up the small slopped street towards Jalan Ismail, the rain started. Not just a shower, but one of those tropical downpours….so much so that before we could get across the street we were soaked to the skin…and by the time we walked the fifty or so metres along the road, we were absolutely soaked to the skin…and stood dripping on the floor of the pizza place…Papa John’s.
There were all the usual suspects on the menu, with a variety of sizes available…the venue prided itself on making fresh dough and having the freshest of toppings…we could see the pizza dough being rolled out and the pizzas made and cooked. The price wasn’t much different from home.
They all tasted good!
Eventually it was time to head to the airport. It was still raining, and with David’s fragile state we opted to take the quickest and easiest option…a taxi. I walked up to the Park Royal hotel and arranged for one of the ‘luxury taxis’ to take us out. It was a metered taxi, whose driver spoke quite good English and advised it was usually around RM145 to get to KLIA-LCCT depending on the traffic, but as we were leaving at around 5pm it shouldn’t be too busy yet.
We picked up David and Amanda and our bags from our hotel which had a covered driveway and where off…the roads were starting to build up with workers who had finished a bit early, but our driver was very familiar with the route and took all of the appropriate short cuts to avoid the areas where there was going to be a delay. In just over an hour we were at the terminal, being dropped off right at the front doors. We therefore had plenty of time before our flight, so we stopped off at the Chocolat cafe for a drink before check in opened. We had checked in online already, but as we were travelling into Australia we still had to have our documents checked, drop off our bags and go through security…twice…
We had a little hiccup with the umbrella that we had bought at the GP…so what was a slightly expensive umbrella now became a very expensive umbrella which was at risk if being bent or broken in the underbelly of the plane….but I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best…otherwise the process was pretty smooth. The airport is for budget airlines, so you cannot expect much…though one of the odd little things is the difference between the gates. When flying to Cambodia, we left from a gate in the general area…even though it was still an international flight…but, when flying to Australia (or New Zealand) your gate is through a small lounge area which is separated from the general area by glass walls. Inside these walls, there is another security check, with bags rescanned, limitations on liquids and three security guards blocking the entrance until you handed over your passport and they compared you to your passport photo…thankfully even though mine is some eight years old, he still believed it was me!
Our flight was on time, with departure scheduled for 9:25pm…..which meant 11:25pm at home…the estimated flight time was 8 hours, so we should be on the ground in Australia around 7:30am…and then home by about 11am ish…