Tag: Airport

London Stansted To Warsaw Modlin Via RyanAir

Eastern Europe Trip // London Stansted To Warsaw Modlin Via RyanAir – Last Winter, I’ve been on a trip to Eastern Europe, starting at Warsaw, then to Krakow, Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna, ended at Prague then back to London. It’s quite funny that how we actually planned the trip were that the 4 of us went on to Ryan Air website (airline like AirAsia of Europe), then search every destination that is listed on the website, checking that which one returns the cheapest air fare. Warsaw and Oslo were the cheapest place to fly to, at £12 for Warsaw and £6 for Oslo and ended picking Warsaw because travelling to Eastern Europe is a lot more cheaper than the Scandinavian.

After buying the air ticket, only then we started to look at Google Maps and plan our trip on how the journey goes. London > fly to Warsaw > bus to Krakow > bus to (Zakopane) > bus to (Poprad) > train to Bratislava > bus to Budapest > bus to Vienna > bus to London. It’s quite a budget trip we didn’t even think about a return air ticket, or look for train, it’s just bus all the way and guess what, the bus ticket back to London was the most expensive of all at about 50Euro!

Being in the UK, a part of Europe for a year is an opportunity for me to travel around since the transportation are so convenient and cheap. Moreover, there’s no problem for my Malaysian passport to travel around as no Visa is needed in the European Union countries, and you just never know that Europe is actually very small if to compare to other continent.

So the journey started in London, on the cheap airport transfer van (easyBus) that brought us to London Stansted Airport, it was night time already and we had to spend the night at Stansted Airport. Feeling excited and hungry, I had a burger at Burger King then tried to just find a spot, lie down and sleep; however, once I almost fall into my lovely dreamland, the airport security guard came and kick my leg and ask me to wake up, saying the airport is now open and no sleeping is allowed. ‘WTH?!”, nothing I can do but just wait until 6 something in the morning when the screen shows calling for our Ryan Air flight. London Stansted is the airport where most of the budget airlines are, but then it’s so much better than Kuala Lumpur’s AirAsia LCCT!

One thing that RyanAir is similar with AirAsia is that there’s no aerobridge that connects the plane, and you have to walk up to the plane. Yeah. Slept all the way to Warsaw and landed at Warsaw Modlin airport, I guess that’s not the main airport as it’s very small and located remotely from the city. Alien language started to appear everywhere, but luckily, not much of currency conversion was need as the Polish Zloty is almost equivalent to Ringgit Malaysia. Remember, use Poland Zloty instead of Euro is better.

Super foggy night at London Stansted.

Waiting terminal. Time to fly.

Lovely twilight from the plane, but I missed the sunrise as I was sitting on the west side.

Oh my god, foggy at Warsaw too! What a bad first day weather.

The small Warsaw Modlin airport.

February 13, 2014
Bangkok: KL LCCT, Don Muang Airport, Raining @ Nana

Bangkok: KL LCCT, Don Muang Airport, Raining @ Nana – 2 weeks ago, I went on a short trip to Bangkok, one of my favourite destination in South East Asia. There’s a very unfavourable moment happened on that trip – I had diarrhoea! I was very well until the day before I leave Bangkok, then the I started to head to the washroom very often until no medicine can stop it. That really ruined my last day at Bangkok. Well, this does cause some phobia to me, because the last time I went to Hatyai, I also had diarrhoea after I came home. I suspected it’s the sausage bought from the convenience stall was the source of the sickness as it’s me and brother had it and we two had diarrhoea. Haha. Anyway, Bangkok is still fine for me, I will visit again in the future!

Charging phone @ LCCT, Kuala Lumpur.

Waiting @ LCCT, Kuala Lumpur.

Let’s not talk about that sad thing first and share something interesting about the trip. I took AirAsia from Kuala Lumpur and it’s my first time flying to Don Muang Airport. It was Suvarnabhumi International Airport all the while, but this year, AirAsia had changed to an older airport. No more of luxurious welcome anymore. Don Muang Airport is really old, but at least it’s very clean.

The old Don Muang Airport @ Bangkok.

Queuing for cab just outside of Don Muang Airport. You know, meter cab is cheap in Bangkok!

Wet day in Bangkok.

Somewhere in Nana, Bangkok.

Rush hour in the BTS train.

Without much hesitation, we took the cab, headed to the hotel, checked in and headed to Nana, a place you can find many Arabic restaurant and also tailor shop runs by Indian/Myammar/Banglah, they are just not pure Thai. My brother wanted to custom-made shirt, that’s why we went there. He said tailor is cheap and quality in Thai, I don’t really know but he made shirt at 1500 baht/shirt, what do you think?

After settling with the tailor, we took the BTS from Nana Station and headed to Asok Station, it’s just a stop away where the theme-shopping mall – Terminal 21 is!

August 30, 2013

Taipei Trip: From Penang – Hong Kong – Taipei

Taipei Trip: From Penang – Hong Kong – Taipei (Day 1) – Last week was an awesome week as I went on a trip to Taipei and Macau! It was a nice getaway after my 2.5 months of internship and also a little bit of rest and relax to prep myself for the new semester which will be starting next week. Few more days of relaxing time in Penang and I will be back to Kuala Lumpur again.

Anyway, in this coming days, follow my blog for a virtual trip to Taipei and Macau with me. =D JOMMMMM! One more thing, this is a full Taipei trip which I focus on travelling the north Taiwan. KIAAAAA….

Penang International Airport. Looks new and good right? Not really I feel, if you look close, the place is not well maintain and when I go to Taiwan and Hong Kong, I feel Penang is so not welcoming enough, the interior design seriously need to be improved more.

Fish fillet with fried rice. Weird airplane food by Cathay Pacific, the fish tasted weird. XD

Oh yes, Hong Kong! My favourite place in Asia. I stop here to transit for Taipei.

Twilight from the air.

Chicken sandwich from Hong Kong to Taipei however tasted good! Yummeh! I didn’t finish it because I wanna have an empty stomach for Taiwan’s street food.

Welcome to Republic of China – Taiwan.

New refurbished Taiwan Taoyuan Airport.

Street food in front of hotel.

March 26, 2013

Departure To London, Tee Jin

Departure To London, Tee Jin – Tee Jin, the name that I knew 5 years ago. My classmate for the last three year of high school, Form 3, Form 4, Form 5, my Leo Club mate, a friend, a source of motivation, sort of an education guider, a good friend. Although, there’s some misunderstanding many years back, yet, he’s good, friend.

Hock Sheng.

Khai Liang.

Playing his very new Olympus OMD. What a delicious camera to eat.

London is his next destination, the UK is his new home for the next 3 years, for studies, for travel, for exploration. I and a few friend went to the airport to send him off and bid good bye.

Tee Jin

I don’t see sadness in me, I see cheer, excitement, perhaps nervous, as it’s good for him to step foot into the global metropolitan of London.

I am envy, I am jealous, and I want to go too! Many friends have already leaved Malaysia, there’s still many people here too, but the heart in me is – leave. No, I am not un-patriotic, I just want to explore, gain, learn, see and share and I am fed up with the Malaysia political scene. Where shall I go? The Singapore, the UKs, I shall plan. My family, my girlfriend, do you want to go together?

Been through this gate many times. Shall try going through and not come back for some times.

Bon voyage Tee Jin, I shall see you soon in the UK, one day, next year, I assume.

September 27, 2012
China Trip: Overnight At KLIA LCCT Terminal

China Trip: Overnight At KLIA LCCT Terminal (To Hangzhou/Day 0) – Last December, I went to a 13 days-long China semi-backpacking trip. My travel destinations were Hangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen and lastly Hong Kong. For the flight, I took the Air Asia to Hangzhou, only then take the fast train to Shanghai, it costs me about RM500 for one-way ticket to Hangzhou.

Since it’s Air Asia, my flight departs at LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal), Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It’s my first time at the LCCT and I’ve to spend my night at there because I actually flew from Penang to there and wait for about 8 hours, only then I get to board the flight to Hangzhou.

I was actually very excited of “transiting” at LCCT, overnight at the airport like other travelers do, but then it’s not really a good experience. Sleeping on the hard and cold tiles flooring was really bad and uncomfortable. In fact, I didn’t get any sleep on there. I think I did successfully fall asleep for about 30 minutes on the bench outside the LCCT. Hahaha.

You can’t really get a good sleep after 3.30am when the announcement of flight started going on the loudspeaker. Another thing is, don’t bother to tour around the LCCT at night, I was curious so I did not settle down at first when I touched down at LCCT about 12.30am, I toured around the airport for half an hour only then I was busy finding an empty power socket. Luckily, I found one but it’s not really working well. I have to readjust the plug to make it works. My phone battery was running low and I need charge badly for the next day usage at Hangzhou. Phew, I got 75% charge after-all.

The night was really long. 6.30am was when I started moving around again, look for a sandwich, toilet, brush and enter to the departure hall. I was started for not feeling well because I didn’t get a good sleep. My body was tired and head was heavy. When I got the board the plane, the plane was so far away and I have to walk. At the plane, sleep wasn’t pleasant too, I have no idea why. It was a long way, and luckily I’ve got chicken rice. =D Despite the tired-ness, I was still able to tour Hangzhou on the first day. =D Let’s get ready for my China trip.

There’s many restaurant at LCCT like McDonald’s, KFC, OldTown and more, but not all of them are 24 hours.

There’s not many water fountain at there and they were not working well.

Found a good spot, to lie down.

Lousy power socket. Sucks.

Flight to Hangzhou is located at the end of the parking way. LOL

Although it’s HOT SEAT, it’s very uncomfortable to sleep.

Chicken rice, not nice already. I prefer nasi lemak.

In Hangzhou already.

March 2, 2012
Bangkok: Departure From Penang & Ecotel Hotel

Bangkok Trip: Departure From Penang & Ecotel Hotel (Day 1) – One of the flight that fly from Penang to Bangkok is AirAsia which fly everyday in the afternoon at about 5pm. Penang International Airport is currently quite messy at the moment and noisy with the sound of construction going on at there.

With AirAsia, we’ve checked-in early to the flight early via the Web Check-In Service, but then we still have to verify our document and drop our baggage at the counter. There’s quite many people flying to Bangkok with us too.

After 1.5 hours of flight, I have finally reached Bangkok’s Survarnabhumi Airport. It feels the same as 4 years ago and the airport was so busy with travelers. After passing through the immigration, we went to buy some finger food at 7 Eleven. What’s best about 7 Eleven and mini mart in Bangkok, Thailand is that you can find many finger food especially sausage and pork burger.

Then I went to buy a sim pack for my phone which is the One-2-Call by AIS which costs 399Baht with 350baht of credit. After that we went to the taxi stand to hire a cab to bring us straight to our hotel. Taxi is charged by meter and there’s a 50baht surcharge and another 45baht for toll.

The journey takes about 35 minutes from airport to the hotel I was staying – Ecotel Hotel. You can find the best rate at Hotels Combined.

Ecotel Hotel is located on 1091/333-4 New Petchburi Road 35, Makkasan, Rajthevee, Bangkok 10320, Thailand. Its price is pretty affordable, at about RM120/night for standard room with breakfast. It has a English-style look in the lobby area. The room is quite simple, but most importantly, clean. There’s also over 70 channels on the TV, but most of them are in Thai and boring. Haha.

The hotel is very near to main shopping district of Pratunam, Central World, Platinum are like 3km away. Walking towards the mall is pretty far, but then taking tuk-tuk and taxi are very convenient. There’s many street food stalls outside the hotel and some nice Thai restaurant too. One can also walk to the night street market at Baiyoke Sky Hotel which is about 1km away.

Besides, 7-Eleven is just stone throw away from the hotel too! I realised many taxi driver does not aware of this hotel, you can tell the driver about Ramada Hotel which is a more famous hotel located right opposite of Ecotel Hotel only, then you can walk towards Ecotel Hotel.

February 9, 2012
Back To Penang

Back To Penang – After 14 days of travel around China, I am back to Penang. So, what’s next? Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Penang’s food is so much awesome and wonderful! How are you guys?

December 22, 2011
Bandung Travel: Fly From KLIA To Bandung Then Check-In At Sensa Hotel

Hello people, I think it’s time to share some traveling post with you guys. As you know, I went to Bandung, the cheap outlet shopping heaven of East Indonesia. It’s also my first visit and first step into the simple red and white flag, Indonesia, the neighbour country to Malaysia. I never thought of going to Indonesia all the time until I met a few Indonesian friend in university, they share about their culture and life at home then I found it’s kinda interesting.

When talking about Indonesia, most people know about Jakarta and Bali, I am not sure about Bandung. I think it only started to be famous just recently with the bloom of fashion outlet business. Bandung is well-known for selling branded clothing at outlet store, don’t know authentic or fake.

Anyway, I went to Bandung. =D Instead of flying from Penang, we flew from KLIA, Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It’s my second time being at this airport, the first time was very very super duper young like 10 years ago? I don’t really remember the outlook and the inner look of my home country’s biggest airport.

I have been to quite a few big airport in the world like the Changi Airport in Singapore, Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou, Hong Kong Airport and so on. KLIA is huge but it made me disappointed because it’s not cool like airport at other country. The crowds were not there, it’s pretty quiet and I didn’t see much international flight. In term of airport shopping experience, there’s not many cool shop when compare to the Changi Airport in Singapore or even the Bangkok’s. Hope that they could improve their service and bring in more tourists and airport user.

So we took Malaysian Airlines to go to Bandung. As far as I know, Air Asia does fly to Bandung too and I don’t know already. Since Malaysian Airlines have almost the same rate as Air Asia that time, we picked Malaysian Airline because they have better hospitality on board with air-meals.

Forgot to mention the time that I went to Bandung, it was mid-August. =)

It was a afternoon flight and we were already there since 9am. Actually dad, mom and brother came from Penang to KL and I was in KL meet up with them. After checking in our luggage and ticket, we proceeded into the departure terminal. Due to nothing to shop or see in there, we spent our morning at Old Town White Coffee.

It’s a nice place to sit down and wait for flight as it’s just by the window, over looking the airfield and airplanes. Just sad that there’s not much airplanes going up and coming down and one funny thing is that it’s all Malaysian Airlines, I didn’t see other airlines, maybe that side was cater to Malaysian Airlines only.

From Kuala Lumpur to Bandung took about 2 hours. We got on the planes, sit for a while and the air-meal was served already. Not bad, kinda nice then I stuck my head on the windows all the time and didn’t want to take a nap, hoping that I could see superman flying in the sky. Haha, just kidding.

Sooner, I see lands and hills, a big piece of lands, different from hometown Penang where you will see seas, then I know I am there already. It’s hilly and the terrain are not flat. Bad urban planning and it’s buildings are not built “organizedly”.

The plane landed and I see a mini airport, looks a bit like the old airport of Penang, or the one at Phuket, Thailand.

There’s only a helicopter and our plane at there, no more and the cute thing is that there’s only one landing and take off lane.

Then we walked… No connecting bridge to the plane.

And get our passport stamped at the immigration. For your information, the departure and arrival share the same hall and counters. Go in and then out. It’s really a super duper duper small airport, but it’s international! I think Johor’s Senai Airport is bigger than this place man.

We then look for a cab to take us to our hotel, Sensa Hotel. Looking around the place, with old old buildings and people who don’t look Chinese, it feels like Thailand to me. But the local people are kinda tiny to be honest. So there are many different races in Asia.

Traveling from Bandung airport to hotel is like 15-20 minutes depend on traffic. It’s also the same left hand drive at Indonesia and the traffic at there not very nice. Weather felt a little bit windy, not very warm, I assumed it’s around 26 degree celsius, kinda nice.

The first impression of Bandung to me was like a little bit like Thailand, then it feels like Penang to me because of the houses and lots of trees. The bungalow and houses at there have the architecture of Dutch element because it was once Dutch’s settlement, long ago.

Sensa Hotel is quite a new hotel and it was ready 3 months ago before we arrived. We booked it online and it’s US$80 per night. Consider cheap, provided they have very good service, free WiFi, lots of cable channel, nice view, clean, and nice breakfast. =D

Hopefully the price would not hike and stay or even lessen. Another thing is that it’s located on Chihampelas Walk, which is a nice shopping district in Bandung. Though, traffic on that road is very bad, all the time, always jam!

Coming up, I will talk about shopping in Bandung, sightseeing and more! =)

January 5, 2011