Continuing from Happy Birthday Pasha.

We arrived very early at the KLIA. Some shops were still closed and the check in counters would not be opened until 6:00am. We checked ourselves in via the check-in kiosk but for some reasons whatsoever, after spending many minutes trying to figure out how the machine works, it was unable to dispense the boarding pass… So, we still had to go through the manual process at the counter. Later I was told that it could be running out of pass… Oh well…

So, to kill the time, we had a little breakfast (with a big price tag) somewhere near the MAS check in counters so that it would be easier to see when they are open…

Right at 6:00am the check-in counters opened and we got our boarding passes, with the seats that we selected during the self check in at the kiosk. At least this one worked much batter than the one used by AirAsia that could not even read the passport details… One up for MAS.

The flight was on time and we boarded the aircraft via the bridge from the terminal. No more walking to the aeroplane like we used to do when we took AirAsia at the LCCT. Not long after the flight took off, we had our breakfast served. The choice of food on the MAS flight might be limited but the great thing is that the set came with a complete main dish, a drink and a dessert. On top of that, you can order additional drinks for free. Imagine how much it would have cost you if you were having that on an AirAsia flight… Times 3 pax… It just does not make sense…

Pasha woke up very early for the 7:50 flight to Jakarta. Shortly after breakfast, he went back to sleep…

Now a little note about our flight. When we hunted for the tickets to Jakarta, the MAS and AirAsia tickets were about the same price. We decided to go for MAS due to:

1. Depart from KLIA instead of LCCT. KLIA is way much more comfortable compared to LCCT.
2. We did not have to talked to sour faced check in staffs at the AirAsia counters (especially in the morning). The MAS staff who checked us in was very cheerful at 6:00am.
3. We did not have to worry about paying for extra baggage as the allowable weight by MAS is much higher than AirAsia.
4. We did not have to worry about paying extra for food.
5. Kids would always get to board the plane first without having to pay for such privilege.

That should be enough reasons. Do you still want to go on AirAsia? Only if MAS have more flights, AirAsia could be flying only goats and cows… lalalala….

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We decided to sleep in Melaka before the trip to Dumai. Well, the trip was originally planned to be today but then since I just found my car key, we missed the ferry… Anyway, instead of having to wake up very early and drive to Melaka tomorrow, the better thing to do is to just go to Melaka now and get a hotel and take our own sweet time tomorrow morning.

After surfing for a budget hotel, yup, budget tak cukup so sebelum budget lain lari, kena la cari budget hotel kan kan kan…, Diah found RS Park Hotel. I called up the hotel and one Miss Hanim told us that the hotel is just at the back of Mahkota Parade. Sounds easy enough to find… Tetapi…

Pasha took a long nap after lunch and we only left Shah Alam after 5 pm. By the time we got there, it was already 8 something at night. I am not a fast driver and I like to make a few stops here and there hence the 3 hour drive… 90kmh tu dah kira laju dah tu…. We went to the back of Mahkota Parade and look for RS Park. Tak nampak pun? We could not find it and that one Miss Hanim did not pick up my call and out of over confidence, we did not copy its address and by this time…..

Pasha: “Papa…”

Papa: “Ya Pasha.”

Pasha: “Ni udah mayam…” (it’s already night)

Papa: “Ok…”

He repeated the above for about 20 times with a 10 second break before he went “Papa…” again. Imagine that while you were frantically trying to locate a building in the middle of an unfamiliar territory…

Tried to locate using Gamin GPS… That place was not even in the list… Cap ayam ke tempat tuh?

Tired, disoriented and unable to focus in between “Ni udah mayam…”, we found a little hotel called The Motel. At RM68, we settled in for the night…

In the morning we saw the hotel and it was not really behind Mahkota Parade… It was just across the street from where we stayed… Cis…. Banyakla dia punya belakang Parade…

With Google Maps at my disposal, I have no need for a global positioning system (GPS) device. I was thinking dreaming about getting myself a GPS enabled cellphone but since I discovered what Google Maps can do, I can just forget about GPS. GPS may have its own advantages over Google Maps but what Google Maps have what I need and therefore, that is good enough for me.

Using Google Maps for the first time: I had the opportunity to use it for the first time when I had to visit a client in Batu Pahat, Johor last Wednesday. They have shifted to a new office that was quite a distance away from the old place. I am not at all familiar with Batu Pahat and therefore, it would be an opportunity to put Google Maps to the test.

It is simple to use. I have already saved my home location and all I need to do is get the direction to my client’s place by by entering his new street address. Once that is done, I was given a map and a detail instruction to follow. My client had advised me to take the Ayer Hitam exit since that would make my finding the new place easier and due to that, I just need to drag the exit suggested from Yong Peng to Ayer Hitam and Google Maps plotted the new directions for me to follow. It was as simple as that.

On top of that, I was given the estimated mileage to the location as well as the estimated time that the trip would take. With that I was able to provide my ETA to my clients and it was quite accurate. Based on the ETA given, the average speed calculated was about 70 km/h. That must be the combination of highways and normal road used. Anyway, I managed to find my clients new place easily with the help of Google Maps.

Google Maps vs GPS: During lunch, I told my client that I found my way using Google Maps. He has a GPS enabled Blackberry cellphone and I have Google Maps loaded to my cellphone and we decided to run some test for the fun of it. The first task was to locate his house. Google Maps managed to locate that within seconds while his GPS system returned an “address not found” message. Round one goes to Google Maps.

The second test was to do the “Where I am” task. Google Maps showed my location within seconds while even after a few minutes, the GPS was still searching for a satellite. Google Maps scored again.

In conclusion, Google Maps is a good alternative to GPS and all I need was an internet enabled cellphone for it to work.

To use Google Maps on your computer, go to http://maps.google.com/.

To use Google Maps on your cellphone, go to m.google.com/maps on your cellphone or go to http://www.google.com/mobile/default/maps.html on your computer.

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We believed it!

We grabbed it!

We will be going to Jakarta and Surabaya again next year! Read about it at We Got Free Seats from AirAsia.

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detak jam bergerak cepat seiring degup jantungku yg berdegup kencang…

14 jam lagi… kita lihat nanti..

(^_^)