From Home to Home

My justification for coming over to the UK was that it wouldn’t cost too much and that it would be good to see family and friends. When I arranged my ticketing Luna was also planning to visit her family in The Philippines and I intended to join her there on my return to S E Asia. A further incentive was my ticket from Bangkok to London Heathrow was already paid for being the return portion of the ticket I purchased to come out last October for our wedding. Use it or lose it in other words!

Well the return is underway.

First up some criticism of Trailfinders, one of the UK’s leading independent travel agents and a company I have used a lot over the last 20 years or so. I phoned from Thailand in February to say I would like to rearrange my flight home and to check the validity of my ticket with Eva Airways. I had specifically purchased a ticket with long validity to keep my options open and had paid extra for this privilege. I was told that there was no note on their system to indicate I had rearranged my original return date and that in consequence of this my ticket was void. Boo! Hoo! I thought I would need to purchase a new ticket if I wanted to travel. The Trailfinders’ “consultant” I dealt with sounded like a miserable wretch so I left it.

Then I called Eva Airways direct in Bangkok, quoted an e-ticket reference number and hey presto: “When would you like to return, Mr B?” So for the return back to Asia I booked a one way ticket with Air Asia with additional leg room, meal, comfort kit and additional baggage to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for about £283.00. I have also booked a connecting flight with Air Asia to Bangkok from KL for another £66.00 with additional baggage and a “hot” seat. The alternatives were a one way ticket direct to Bangkok with a scheduled airline for about £700.00 or a similarily priced return ticket which I reckon is surplus to requirements right now.

More about the long haul budget later but I flew Bangkok – Melbourne about 18 months ago with JetStar and it was excellent, and previously I flew Hong Kong - London Gatwick with the now defunct OasisHongkong and that too was impressive.

Easyjet did a great job getting us smoothly to London Luton on time. The problem was the security clearance at Edinburgh Airport: very long queues and a process of virtually undressing. Anyhow the staff were in good humour and it wasn’t such an ordeal.

Easybus from London Luton to London Victoria prebookd online for just shy of £11.00. A very helpful and obliging assistant at the EasyBus arrivals counter printed my tickets for today and tomorrow to Stansted with a smile. Please note, Trailfinders. A smooth journey in to London with a little delay in the middle due to some state occasion around Buck House and Parliament.

Through Laterooms.com I booked a cheap room in Victoria for £30.00. I wasn’t quite expecting a room that smelled of gas but when I pointed this out they moved me to another room, straightaway. I felt sorry for the poor cleaning girl…..the boss man shouted at her in front of me as if to say it was her fault for not letting him know. I am pretty sure the boss man was well aware of the situation because he agreed to move me straightaway without further investigation. Whatever, I wanted a cheap room near the bus station and that is exactly what I got. Other than the fact it was up many flights of stairs it had everything I needed, clean bedding, hot water and a shower with TV and tea making facilities.

Easybus once more, to Stansted on this occasion, another £11.00 and a travel time of 75 minutes. Quite literally fell out of bed onto the bus. Check in at Air Asia was completely effortless, no queue, no hassle and now waiting to board. I was subjected to an extraordinary rub down at security but if that is what it takes….

I am actually carrying quite a lot of baggage for once and I was mightily fearful that I was going to fall foul of excess baggage limits and be liable to pay huge amounts. Groundless neurosis! All boarded and ready to go and as I write this the Boarding Gate has just been added to the departures board. Here we go. More later.

Sitting here in the LCC (Low cost carrier) terminal at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Wednesday 1st April. The flight was ok, nothing more. Food was meagre but delicious and they were extremely stingy with water. Otherwise perfect really. Left late arrived early! And the LCC terminal has free wifi so can’t be bad. Flying time here was about 12.5 hours so it was a long one. Not long now and as this is a freebie I will post and write at a later stage to tell you about arriving home.