The trip has been planned for quite a while, Phil really wanted me to come and meet his family, his mother in particular. So I said ok, get me a plane ticket and I’ll come during boy’s 2 weeks holiday. I wish I could have bought my own ticket so Phil didn’t have to work so hard, but the fact of the matter is GBP900 is easier to achieve than RM4500. Even then I know it was quite a while before Phil figured how to manage that. Well then once he kind of figured how to get the money, he had to figure out how to book the ticket, Phil is at a disadvantage when it comes to online form (I booked his first ticket to here, his sister did the second one, and his friend did the third, lol), he is so smart that it is so cute that online forms defeat him. But one lucky thing is Phil is always surrounded by people who love him enough to help him, so his friend again volunteered to help. What they found out was in this time of a lot of online scamming, airlines won’t accept an online payment of another person’s credit card for another person’s ticket. So that was a hurdle that took them a month to figure out, which sees the ticket price rises from GBP800 + to GBP900+. I don’t know what they did finally, I think they used a travel agency in the end, but they got me the tickets.
The day Phil told me it was settled I was so happy, but the wait for the online tickets was quite long, about two weeks I think, which set me worrying again. Once Walt emailed me the online ticket confirmation, I was like really relieved. Of course then I was a bundle of nerves of waiting for the day to come, planning what to pack, and worrying about the trip in general. I have never travelled anywhere alone. The last time I went oversea, I was 19 and had an aunt, a family friend and sis accompanying me. Even travelling in Malaysia, I think there was only two times I went alone for a holiday, once to Genting, and another one was to a hotel in Chow Kit for a brief three days break from routine. So safe to say I was worrying like hell about travelling out of the country alone.
I had to pack and repack so many times, I don’t know how I manage to actually bring anything lol. Next time I am so going to buy a scale so that Dad won’t make me take my third pair of jeans out, I really miss having a third pair of jeans, lol. The funny thing was with the limit being 23kg, my bag only weighed 16kg when we checked in, and I was like that jeans did not need to come out, lol. I went early to checked in so that I could ask for aisle seating because I know I am going to need the toilet a lot, but the flight was full and I got a window seat (which would have thrilled me when I was a child, lol), but he said I’ll be near the toilet and that was the best he could do. As usual, dad who doesn’t like goodbyes, told me to go in even though it was quite early yet, so I did after hugging them all half to death that is. The passport check was a breeze, slot in passport and hope to hell the thumbprint scanner can read my thumbprint (I always have problems with thumbprint scanner, lol) but this time it was kind, it decided my thumb was human and detectable, lol. So there I went onto the train to bring me to my gate and I went straight and waited for my gate to open, I waited nearly an hour I think, that was how early I was. But I had like four books in my handbag, so I was not bored, antsy I was, bored I was not.
Finally the gate opened and I went to wait inside the waiting hall for another half an hour, and finally the boarding call and I went on the plane. Found my seat, got comfortable and watched how my seatmate was trying to get a different seat because he requested to be near an exit or something. So after a bit I got a new seatmate, a 40 something Middle Eastern gentleman. I was careful not to smile, lol, (read my first post in this blog) I didn’t want anything to happen during that long flight lol. So when the plane took off I was like, finally, all the worries and anticipation of the past months left me. My seatmate don’t like to sit so I had no problem going to and forth the toilet. But he sure likes to drink, I think he ran the stewardesses haggard with his drink order, lol. Halfway through the flight, he was really tipsy and happy and started being very friendly. He told me he was an Iranian businessman who has been living in Malaysia for the past 2 years. He asked me where I am going and stuff, but he was really funny. He told me as he indicate to his 5th wine bottle, in Iran I am Muslim, I don’t drink, everywhere else I’m Christian, I drink. I was like he must play WoW lol, he is dual-spec. Well I don’t judge, people live as they want to live so I smiled (by that time I told him enough about Phil, I was not worried of my smile, lol). Then he proceeded to tell me about all the girl-friends that he has in every country he does business in and of course the two wives he left back in Iran. So safe to say I was not bored as the plane flies to Doha.
But in Doha was another matter, I landed around 11.45 pm and my flight out to Manchester is at 7.45 am the next morning. I had to kill 8 hours in that terminal, eating can only take so much time, lol. There was a quiet room provided for traveler in the terminal with lazy chairs and a darkened room in which you can rest, but it is always full, so I end up napping on the chair in front of my gates, it wasn’t very comfortable but I was real tired that I did manage about an hour nap I think. I didn’t want to be tempted with all the duty free shop so I didn’t window shop, I used the free internet service to logged in facebook and spend 15 minutes identifying friend’s tagged pictures for security purposes ( please I beg u fbers, tagged ur friend’s face, it is hard to identify which friend, lol when they are tagged to a picture of a handbag). Finally after going round the terminal a dozen times, lol I am very bad at waiting, and I found out when I am tired I don’t read really well, my gate opened, so I was among the first to go through. After waiting for a bit, the bus came to take us to the plane. I hardly recall the trip, I was that excited, and I have described how I felt when the plane first went through the thick cloud and I saw England or more accurately Manchester for the first time in my post before. Oh yeah one thing I have forgotten to mention, the food. I had an interesting food experience. Walter was worried about my food, he knows I have certain restrictions, so I told him if Halal is not available then he can put in for a kosher meal, that is the closest I think, but what Walter didn’t figure was Qatar already serve food that is prepared in the Islamic principle, so he put me in for kosher meals, so I was served kosher meal which came in sealed boxes I have to open and asked to be heated, lol.
So I guess that is it for now. Maybe I’ll write about my actual visit sometime when I am inspired. :)
hehehe...this is nice!
ReplyDelete