Day 1: Kuala Lumpur to Coolangatta.
The day finally came. I'm going to Australia. I couldn't describe how excited I was but if it's can be pictured, imagine a kid had been given a National Geographic telescope kit. That's how excited I was.This trip isn't just about a holiday trip. This trip really a big deal to me. I've been living in Malaysia my entire life. For 32 years I've been dreaming about travelling to another continent of earth. In fact, it's my first Oceanic continent trip. The best part I got to time travel. Literally. Travelling to Gold Coast is 2 hours ahead. So it's considered time travel right? Right?
So, the day started with getting up little bit late. As always. Hey, I'm on holiday yes? The day felt different. I was ready to go. Luggage, passport, cameras. Everything was set and ready to go.
The plan is to make Junior tired. So that he can sleep off during the plane departing. Less hassle to handle him. He can be feisty when he's hungry. We went to the KLIA2 early. One; we were excited. Two; Mummy is OCD. Oh ya, I didn't mention mama (my mother-in-law) came along yet, she bought her ticket last minute. I can tell you, it's expensive.
I'm always stress when it comes to airport security check ups. I travel with a lot metal on me. I inspired to have a Johnny Depp or Bam Margera look alike. Don't ask me why. Mummy is always mad at me and my utensils. Nothing went wrong on the security checks. We got boarded after a session of running around with Junior in the waiting area. Bear in mind AirAsia does not give a fuck even you boarded with a child. What do you expect huh?
On the flight, Junior did sleep. Thank goodness. Soon after the plane was ascended, the meal was served. We bought the tickets with meal. Mummy had Nasi Lemak. The sambal was quite spicy for her. I had Nasi Kerabu. I was surprised. It wasn't half bad. Bravo AirAsia. Anyway, it was a night flight, so I couldn't really sleep. In fact, I didn't sleep at all. I have a vampire syndrome. I don't sleep at night. I was waiting for that jump in time. I know it doesn't exist but I just wanted to be in it. Time travel is awesome! There was a lady two rows in front of us, she kept standing up and stretching her back. End up, she slept on the floor.
8 hours later. The sun started to rise. It was the most beautiful thing I ever seen from a plane window. You can see the sun from the curvature of the earth because you're up high in the sky. I was dumbstruck for 30 minutes. We were given arrival card earlier and we double checked the details. It was my first time, I didn't what to do. We reached Coolangatta airport safely and straight away was instructed by the customs officer to use express lane.
The checkup was good. But I had a luggage situation where my luggage was broken to pieces. My boxers almost thrown out. Thank you AirAsia. You broke my luggage and gave me a reason to buy another one. Thanks. Luckily, it was still able to wheel. I was fine with that. Straight away we went to buy a sim card. 2 bucks for the sim card, 40 bucks for plan! Fucking expensive, if you look into exchange rates. And again I was dumbstruck, every white people I saw they all look like a manager or professional of some sort. Even the cashier at the counter who was trying to explain activation of the sim card, she looked like a manager. I didn't pay any attention at all. The skeptical point of view that I have, you know, when you grew up in Malaysia, every white people you might find back home it's either they are tourist or professional expatriate. Plain simple. I was cultural shock!
After the sim card activation was done, we headed out to the bus stop. I did a year of study on Google Maps before got there on how to travel from OOL airport to Varsity Lake Station, but still I went to ask direction from an airport attendant. He got interested in my camera, and we had a chat. Ok, don't judge me, I shocked his hand and call him sir. I was that cultural shocked. I didn't tell anybody about this. We got on the bus then, and travel about 25 minutes to get Varsity Lake Station.
Once there, we straight away bought tickets to Fortitude Valley Station because we were going to pick up our car there. It was almost an hour journey. Along the way, my God, the view was amazing. I even saw black and white cows. You don't see that back home!
Before reach the destination, we got a glimpse of Brisbane City. It was magnificent! Once reached the station, the first thing I saw and I couldn't stop talking about it was Hungry Jacks's. It's the most beautiful thing I ever seen that morning. It's basically a Burger King Australia franchise. And yes, I was hungry.
We had to walk to the car rental office. It was a brief walk and I kinda enjoy it due the weather. It was so calming. Every single turn and every single alley or road, they look like a movie set. Like everything I saw was in a movie at some point. I was still cultural shock at that point. So, I walked back and forth from the train station and the car rental office to drag our luggage. It took sometime to filled up the paperwork and the clerk... I thought he was a manager of that branch! He's a clerk. Oh my goodness! I was laughing to myself the whole time.
Finally we got the car and started to drive in the city. We didn't turn on the A/C. It was a cool breeze. We went straight to our Airbnb accommodation. And that's when the problem started. I had booked our Airbnb with some guy name James like a month before. I booked and paid through online of course and he immediately James accept our payment. So I assumed everything was good. You know the basic, be there for the check in by 2 p.m. and we can go in. But unfortunately that was not the case. I didn't not check my email where James send a text on what time I'll be there. I was so stupid.
My bad. James didn't prepped our room because he wasn't sure what time I'll be there. So we had to wait for James to prepare our room with him being half asleep due to his engagement party the night before. I felt sorry for him. Anyway James, congrats. Lesson learned. Is to always check your email. Turd!
Once the room was done, we checked in and cleaned ourselves and head straight to find a cafe or small restaurant for dinner. Every cafe that we found was closed. I bet Australians don't open their cafe at dinner time. Only applies on morning. Lesson learned again. So we end up in McDonalds. I saw a ordering stand where you can order you meal by yourself and pay through credit card without bothering to queue up in Casey's The $12 McDonald's Burger. I was excited. So we ordered our meal the old-skool way anyway. Quite expensive due to exchange rates. But still able to enjoy every single bite of that angus beef burger. I even went to look for chili sauce! There were chili sauce for god sake! And then I realized, I was not in Malaysia anymore. Again I was laughing to myself.
Mama wanted to see Aunt Terri since that was our main mission for Australia trip and also Airbnb I booked for mama wasn't ready due to bad communication. Always check emails guys! So we went there, I forgot the name of the place, but it was very subtle and very quiet. There a view of Brisbane City from her place. She cooked us her specialties. I enjoyed every single bit. Junior slept the whole time. Mama and mummy did a lot catch up. I sat there like a dumbass who and pretended to know everything. Oh well, I was started to having jet-lag that moment. I was there, I wasn't there. I was half asleep. I think so...
After the nice meal and warm welcoming from Aunt Terri we drove to mama's Airbnb. A couple name Francisco and Franciele own the place. Me and Francisco had a few chat about Brisbane and some other stuff. They are from Brazil and I did sense of Spanish or Portuguese slang from him. I met a lot of white people that day.
After settled in, we drove to convenient shop near Queens Street Mall and tried to look for Junior's formula, which it was a disaster mission. But we did enjoy the view. I just wanted to see Brisbane sign at night. We got to our room and retired for the night.
The day was fun. Filled with traveling, lessons learned and that the best part I get to see Brisbane. The air was different. Back home every single day is humid. The people was different too. They are kind and very responsive. I like that. You can watch it here KUALA LUMPUR TO GOLD COAST TO BRISBANE for the summary video. Stay tune for the next one. Ciao!
So, the day started with getting up little bit late. As always. Hey, I'm on holiday yes? The day felt different. I was ready to go. Luggage, passport, cameras. Everything was set and ready to go.
I'm always stress when it comes to airport security check ups. I travel with a lot metal on me. I inspired to have a Johnny Depp or Bam Margera look alike. Don't ask me why. Mummy is always mad at me and my utensils. Nothing went wrong on the security checks. We got boarded after a session of running around with Junior in the waiting area. Bear in mind AirAsia does not give a fuck even you boarded with a child. What do you expect huh?
On the flight, Junior did sleep. Thank goodness. Soon after the plane was ascended, the meal was served. We bought the tickets with meal. Mummy had Nasi Lemak. The sambal was quite spicy for her. I had Nasi Kerabu. I was surprised. It wasn't half bad. Bravo AirAsia. Anyway, it was a night flight, so I couldn't really sleep. In fact, I didn't sleep at all. I have a vampire syndrome. I don't sleep at night. I was waiting for that jump in time. I know it doesn't exist but I just wanted to be in it. Time travel is awesome! There was a lady two rows in front of us, she kept standing up and stretching her back. End up, she slept on the floor. 
8 hours later. The sun started to rise. It was the most beautiful thing I ever seen from a plane window. You can see the sun from the curvature of the earth because you're up high in the sky. I was dumbstruck for 30 minutes. We were given arrival card earlier and we double checked the details. It was my first time, I didn't what to do. We reached Coolangatta airport safely and straight away was instructed by the customs officer to use express lane.
The checkup was good. But I had a luggage situation where my luggage was broken to pieces. My boxers almost thrown out. Thank you AirAsia. You broke my luggage and gave me a reason to buy another one. Thanks. Luckily, it was still able to wheel. I was fine with that. Straight away we went to buy a sim card. 2 bucks for the sim card, 40 bucks for plan! Fucking expensive, if you look into exchange rates. And again I was dumbstruck, every white people I saw they all look like a manager or professional of some sort. Even the cashier at the counter who was trying to explain activation of the sim card, she looked like a manager. I didn't pay any attention at all. The skeptical point of view that I have, you know, when you grew up in Malaysia, every white people you might find back home it's either they are tourist or professional expatriate. Plain simple. I was cultural shock!
After the sim card activation was done, we headed out to the bus stop. I did a year of study on Google Maps before got there on how to travel from OOL airport to Varsity Lake Station, but still I went to ask direction from an airport attendant. He got interested in my camera, and we had a chat. Ok, don't judge me, I shocked his hand and call him sir. I was that cultural shocked. I didn't tell anybody about this. We got on the bus then, and travel about 25 minutes to get Varsity Lake Station.
Once there, we straight away bought tickets to Fortitude Valley Station because we were going to pick up our car there. It was almost an hour journey. Along the way, my God, the view was amazing. I even saw black and white cows. You don't see that back home!
Before reach the destination, we got a glimpse of Brisbane City. It was magnificent! Once reached the station, the first thing I saw and I couldn't stop talking about it was Hungry Jacks's. It's the most beautiful thing I ever seen that morning. It's basically a Burger King Australia franchise. And yes, I was hungry. We had to walk to the car rental office. It was a brief walk and I kinda enjoy it due the weather. It was so calming. Every single turn and every single alley or road, they look like a movie set. Like everything I saw was in a movie at some point. I was still cultural shock at that point. So, I walked back and forth from the train station and the car rental office to drag our luggage. It took sometime to filled up the paperwork and the clerk... I thought he was a manager of that branch! He's a clerk. Oh my goodness! I was laughing to myself the whole time.
My bad. James didn't prepped our room because he wasn't sure what time I'll be there. So we had to wait for James to prepare our room with him being half asleep due to his engagement party the night before. I felt sorry for him. Anyway James, congrats. Lesson learned. Is to always check your email. Turd!
Once the room was done, we checked in and cleaned ourselves and head straight to find a cafe or small restaurant for dinner. Every cafe that we found was closed. I bet Australians don't open their cafe at dinner time. Only applies on morning. Lesson learned again. So we end up in McDonalds. I saw a ordering stand where you can order you meal by yourself and pay through credit card without bothering to queue up in Casey's The $12 McDonald's Burger. I was excited. So we ordered our meal the old-skool way anyway. Quite expensive due to exchange rates. But still able to enjoy every single bite of that angus beef burger. I even went to look for chili sauce! There were chili sauce for god sake! And then I realized, I was not in Malaysia anymore. Again I was laughing to myself.
After the nice meal and warm welcoming from Aunt Terri we drove to mama's Airbnb. A couple name Francisco and Franciele own the place. Me and Francisco had a few chat about Brisbane and some other stuff. They are from Brazil and I did sense of Spanish or Portuguese slang from him. I met a lot of white people that day.
After settled in, we drove to convenient shop near Queens Street Mall and tried to look for Junior's formula, which it was a disaster mission. But we did enjoy the view. I just wanted to see Brisbane sign at night. We got to our room and retired for the night.
The day was fun. Filled with traveling, lessons learned and that the best part I get to see Brisbane. The air was different. Back home every single day is humid. The people was different too. They are kind and very responsive. I like that. You can watch it here KUALA LUMPUR TO GOLD COAST TO BRISBANE for the summary video. Stay tune for the next one. Ciao!
Comments
Post a Comment