UK Trip December 2015 - Part 12 - To London and back home (End)

Continuation from: UK Trip December 2015 - Part 11 - Tour of St Andrews University

This is the coordinate of the hotel where we stayed in St Andrews.

In the morning we took a taxi to get to the train station. From the bleak platform you can see the military airfield.

Waiting at the platform with other students from the university going home for Christmas.

On arrival to King's Cross Station, we took the tube to our next destination, Leonardo Hotel near Heathrow Airport. Since our flight back to KL was in the morning we decided to stay near the airport instead of in London itself.

Got two rooms.

A quaint hotel that caters for travellers.

The 'fireplace' was a video on a flat screen TV.

A simple lobby.

First thing next morning, before dawn, we are all ready to catch a bus to the airport.

At the airport the checking-in procedure was smooth since we came in early. We got the chance to have breakfast before our long flight home.

Boarding now.

Engross is reading.

Flew on MAS A380.

Basic food.

When we arrived we got on the ERL. Since we have been sitting for 12 hours, standing for 28 minutes was much preferred.

That concludes our UK Trip 2015.

Disneyworld 2014: The third and final leg of a very long inbound journey - Part 03

(See previous posting)

After four hours of transit, we finally headed to the departure gate to board the plane. Delta Airlines flight DL456 to Orlando.

This this picture from the window of the plane. By 11:52 am local time, the flight took off from a deary and cold New York morning to, hopefully, sunny and relatively warm weather.

The flight was not that full. A few families can be seen heading to the same final destination as us, Disneyworld. Must be frequent visitors as practically all of them have some Disney memorabilia in some form or another on them. So cute.

Took a selfie with my second daughter. Scene from the cabin on the flight to Orlando.

Just into the second hour of the flight, the plane started its approach to Orlando Airport. From the window we could see the Florida countryside. Very flat with lots of lakes. Can't see any tall buildings at all.

Tried to scan the horizon for a glimpse of Disneyworld but didn't see it. 

In a short space of time, we landed in Orlando. There was a short train ride from the satellite terminal to the main terminal.

I like the main terminal. There is a central area where the space is enormous. It doesn't feel like an airport at all. On the side is the airport hotel.

We got our bags and we headed towards the special Disney transportation counter to get our ride to the resort. Some of the kids are starting to yawn. Not surprised, total time taken to reach this point was 31 hours!

Disne's Magical Express. Let the experience begin!

The first experience in Disneyworld is, as expected, queuing. Luckily there were a lot of buses available and the queue flowed very fast to the end of the line. We got our bus and off we went to Disney's Port Orleans Riverside Resort.

Another 45 minutes to go!

To be continued.


Previous postings:

Disneyworld 2014: The first leg - Part 01

Disneyworld 2014: The second leg - Part 02

 

Disneyworld 2014: The first leg - Part 01

End of year family holiday bash that I planned for sometime is something special for me and my wife. After 18 years since our last visit as a couple, we are going back to Disneyworld Orlando, Florida with three kids in tow.

At first I was apprehensive about the traveling cost but purchases via the internet allowed us to grab good bargains for plane tickets, resort accommodation and park tickets.

Emirates Airlines gives the best value-for-money when it comes to traveling to Florida from Kuala Lumpur. Using the Atlantic route, you only need to change carrier once in New York (Delta Airways).

On the day of departure (28 November 2014) we packed three suitcases to be put in cargo and three carry-on-luggage. To be safe, we packed our warm clothing (New York reported zero degree Celsius) as well.

We started our journey at KL Sentral Station. Emirates Airlines has a check-in counter which allows us to get our boarding pass and deposit our bags all the way to Orlando, Florida.

There was no queue and it saves a lot of time and energy lugging the bags to KLIA. Moreover, with five people, using a taxi would be much more expensive since we would have to take the bigger van taxi to carry of of us plus the bags.

At least the kids were in high spirit and quite excited to get the journey started. On the right is my number two and number three with their designated carry-on-luggage.

Once we got our tickets we waiting for just a couple of minutes for the ERL train to arrive. My son talking to my wife about what he wants to get and do when we arrived in Orlando.

It started to rain while we were waiting for the ERL train. The weather was cool and the kids had their jackets on.

The train departed at 4:15 pm. The trip took longer than the 28 minutes that was advertised. Just after Putrajaya, the train slowed down considerable as the downpour caused a slight flooding on the track. We were lucky that the train can continue the journey albeit slowly.

I guess this was the precursor of the massive flooding in a number of states in Malaysia. 

Train was not full when we departed from KL Sentral. This was a surprise as I was made to understand since the opening of KLIA2, the number of passenger traffic on the ERL train increased tremendously. Despite the higher cost of transport compared to the bus service, in terms of convenience, the ERL wins every time.  

Group selfie with my number two and number three.

The gang was told that the whole trip will take 31 hours. Three hours in KLIA, seven hour flight to Dubai, three hour layover in Dubai, 13 hour flight to New York, three hour layover in New York and finally, a 2 hour flight to Orlando, Florida.

Not sure whether they will be this cheerful after the 31 hours. Only time will tell.



Once we arrived at KLIA, we got a trolley to carry all our carry-on-luggage and headed straight to the international departure hall.

After going through a simple security check, we came to the main immigration hall. Although our passports are equipped to go through the electronic lane, it is actually faster to go through a manual counter if you are part of a family.

Once through, we went through a more detail security check before boarding an transit train to the main flight terminal. On the way to catch the train we saw a lot of model planes with various airline markings that use KLIA.

We made a pit-stop at the prayer-room. Saw this notice on the the wall. Check out the warning on the bottom middle row. Everything else appears grammatically correct except for that particular sign. Funny.

Although we had a lot of time to kill before our flight, we weren't interested to wonder in and out of the many stores in the terminal. Apart from the stores, there are also a lot of restaurants to cater for practically anyone. One common trend though is the price. Very expensive!

We just set around the terminal looking at people while waiting for the time to board the plane. After a half hour of waiting, the kids got hungry (what else!).

Got something from Burger King and spent slightly over an hour in the outlet before the announcement for boarding was made. We took the EK0347 which departed KLIA at 7:30 pm. The plane was a Boeing 777-300ER.

To be continued.

Bucharest, Romania - The journey home - Part 12

Continuation from Bucharest, Romania - The final day: went up to the top of the Intercontinental Hotel to check out the pool and view - Part 11

Bags are packed and checked out of the room. Now waiting for the taxi to get to the airport. For the trip back home, wore green all the way, including my watch dial!

The taxi ride was interesting. The driver was very talkative and explained the history of the country since the fall of communism. I was amused to find that they are not that hot on the EU either. Even though they are part of the EU, they did not want to adopt the Euro currency. The population also now see that being part of a large group robs them of a lot of protection mechanisms. Now, money and size wins. A lot of their industry is going bust and taken over by the richer Europeans. The young now have to leave Romania to other countries in the Euro to find better jobs. This perpetuates the crumbling of Romania's current business elite which then allows foreigners to just step in and buy out for cheap.

Romanian airport is small. I think similar in size to Subang Airport. The Business Lounge is also basic.

When I arrived at the transit airport of Doha, it is a different situation. The Business Lounge there is huge and spectacular.

Taxing out for the final leg of the journey: KLIA.

It was a very interesting trip. The end.