Travelomania

I think I have traveled to Kertih, Terengganu more within the past 2 months than my past lifetime... 3 times so far to be exact...

There was a time before that I wished that I would get a job where I get opportunities to travel a lot, see places other than KL. Well, I finally managed to get my wish this time...


I recently got back from a very tiring day trip to Kertih.

Check-out from home: 6.30 am
Check-in back home: 11.30 pm

18 hours

The day started with a mad rush to KL Sentral at 6.30 am to catch the ERL to KLIA. It was at this moment that I cursed on those who planned KLIA to be in Sepang. I really missed Subang airport.

Then I had to queue at KLIA for the boarding pass for my 9am flight to Kuantan. There was an unusually long queue that day unlike other days - sigh -. Then, to my horror the MAS lady at the counter said that my name was not in the system despite having a ticket given to me by the travel agency. I was numb at that point. Speechless. Didn't know what to say at first. Then I asked her to check since I already have a ticket.

Immediately I thought - Oh Sh*t... this is not one of those days.... Here I am about a hundred kilometres away from home for a business trip and my name is not listed in the passenger list.

Being the cool guy that I was ;-), I just waited for the lady to check her ticketing system first. Maybe there was a system glitch somewhere. After standing at the counter for 10 long minutes, she finally gave me the boarding pass and asked me to confirm my return flight, just in case. Phew!

Since I was 1 hour early, I took the liberty to browse thru books at the book shop. For the first time in my life, I bought 2 books at the airport bookstore in order to kill time in the plane. I was somewhat seduced to buy 2 books since they were giving 20% discount if you buy 2 books. I'll talk about the 2 books in another post about my ambition of being a voracious reader...

Anyways, after boarding the plane, no "funny" incidents happened until plane was about to descend upon Kuantan airport to land about 50 minutes later. The plane was a bit unstable and was swaying from side to side, trying to stabilise itself before landing. And this continued until I can clearly see the sides of the runway. It was one of the scariest moment of my life as I felt that the landing might be a rough one. When the plane touched down, it bounced a bit and the pilot braked real hard to slow down the plane. At that point I was really relieved.

So, in order to get to the Kertih office, I had to take a cab. It costs about RM100 for the 2+ hours ride from Kuantan to Kertih. The other alternative to get to Kertih is from Kuala Terengganu, which is 30 minutes more than Kuantan-Kertih. Hence, Kuantan seems to be a better alternative.

When I went to get my ride, to my horror, the cab that I got this time is the same cab that drove me to Kertih for the earlier 2 trips. Why you may ask was it a horrifying moment for me? You see, the cab driver had a serious BO problem. (BO - Body Odour). I almost vomited in the car last time around. What could be worse, I said to myself this time. However, to my surprise, the BO didnt bother me much during this trip. Probably it was because my nose had gotten used to the BO already...

I finally made it to Kertih after 2 & 1/2 hours with a stop at Kemaman to have an early lunch. Since my meeting was at 3.30, I went to see some colleagues there. Managed to see the Admin Manager by chance who asked me to join him for lunch. A very nice chap, very friendly. Lucky for me to have him around. Had my solat afterwards before proceeding to the meeting.

Anyhow to cut the story short, after the meeting ended at 6pm, my colleagues and I immediately rushed to KT airport. We had to catch the 9.20PM flight. It was one of the longest ride I had taken for the day. Luckily the scenery of the Terengganu seaside was soothing. We got to the airport on time, had our dinner and off we flew to KLIA... I managed to get home at 1130 PM. Thankfully, the weird cab driver who drove me home didnt do anything funny. He was mumbling to me that the last time he went into the kampung area where my home is situated, he was terrified when he got lost and could find his way out. Well, he shouldn't be a cab driver in the first place if he's not good in finding his way!

It was a relief getting home. I'll definitely avoid this kind of day trip, given the choice. But somehow, I think there might be more out-station trips to come...

Hope I'll get used to it... this travelomania thing.....















By the way, thats me and my boss when we recently visited a plant. Ada rupa macam engineer tak? hehehe...