Eurotrip. Act 1: Kuala Lumpur

We’re in KL. Charlotte is asleep. I expect to begin the majority of posts with similar words. To be honest, she stayed awake far more than expected.

Note that I say “far more”, not “far longer”. For Charlotte has a near-superhuman ability to sleep. In a bed, on the couch in front of the TV, in the  passenger seat, at the dinner table. The two stand outs were Friday night and a couple of years ago.

On Friday, she’d had two pints and a middy after work. Later that evening, we hear a muffled curse followed by the toilet flushing. She stumbles out bleary-eyed, having fallen asleep on the throne.

Better yet, back when we were living in Inglewood, I got back from work one night and couldn’t find her anywhere. The car was out the front, but the door was locked and there was no sign of life in the house. I eventually found Charlotte (with a few bags of groceries) asleep in the driver’s seat, still parked in the driveway. She was kippy, and had decided that right there was as good a spot as any. And there was I, thinking she’d tried to gas herself.

Her sleep aptitude served her well on previous travels. One time, she dozed off just before take off. She woke and saw the hostess walking down the aisle. In her “do as I say right now so no-one hears us argue” voice, she and curtly demanded that I stow my tray table and return me seat to the upright position ready for takeoff. Takeoff was three hours ago.

But I digress.

It was a pretty uneventful journey today. Sue and Bruce very kindly picked us up at 4.30am to take us to the airport. Not only that, but Sue slipped us a card to open on the plane that contained money for a fancy high tea in London.

We flew with AirAsia, and to be honest, it was a very comfortable flight. We had arranged to be fed (additional charge), check in some luggage (additional charge) and have some in-flight entertainment (additional charge). Charlotte ordered a kids meal as a joke. She received a very sugary penne bolognese, a box full of various chocolates, juices and assorted sugars. For some reason, the other children on the plane were rather rowdy shortly after.

Half an hour later my ‘Australian chicken pie’ arrived. Microwaved pastry is not my favourite at the best of times, but when it is covering a transparent, gelatinous mess it is lower still on my list of priorities. And I didn’t even get choccies!

The in flight entertainment was actually quite good. I was expecting perhaps a Mexican string trio to serenade us, but instead we got a little movie player tablet each that was pre-loaded with some crap TV, worse music, and a bunch of movies.

I watched The Adjustment Bureau, which was actually quite good; starring Matt Damon as the same character that he plays in every movie. It was an interesting story about fate vs free will, the all-conquering power of love (or was it just work/life balance) and hats.

On arrival in KL, we made it to the hotel (Concorde Inn) for MYR2.50 each. The equivalent of about $3 all up. I was pretty happy with that effort, though it entailed a dodgy bus from KL LCCT (the cheapo airport) to KLIA (the schmancy one) and a free shuttle to the hotel. Given the timing of our onward flight tomorrow, we decided to splash out and get the direct ‘limousine service’ for AUD$17 to save time.

Concorde Inn itself is nothing fancy. The room was obviously an ex-smoking room, but you get over that in a few minutes. The bed is comfy enough for Charlotte and the sheets and towels are clean. And it was reasonably cheap, with brekky included! Thumbs up!

Tomorrow is another early start, with brekky at 5.30am, airport by 6.30 in time for the 15 hour flight at 9am. We should be in Stansted, London, by 4pm and, once we’ve braved the tube at peak hour, at the hotel (“Barry’s House” – sounds posh!) by 6pm or so.

And with that in mind, I’m off to bed.