home going - D day...

It was all set to go by October. I had finalized everything; flight and hotel were properly booked but still, no peace of mind had I.

It was a long streak of shift before the start of journey. I had a run of 4 day shifts in a row. On the D day, I was exhausted and decided to ask for an early leave of 1 hour. K gladly complied and I reached home by 8pm. I took a small nap and awaken by 9:30pm. The push off was delayed as we had to return to the house to pickup Ving’s credit card.

We officially hit the road by 11pm. It was 360+km after all; we could reach the airport easily within 5hours. I drove in a relax manner; cruising at 110km. We reached Clearwater R&R by 2:30am and took a short nap before we resumed the journey.

Ving had hit dreamland during the journey; she was too tired packing and cleaning the house for the past few days. Dragoncat was sent to the Vet for temporary lodging as no one could took care of her in her current state.

The intermittent rest had helped to counter my fatigue. The driver assist was truly a very convenient tool; you just laid your hand on the steering and stay alert. Using it in the night is much more dangerous in the daylight and half closing your eye is not an option (yeap, I did it before during daylight). It is good enough for me at the moment; even if it had FSD grade of driver assist I would still not comfortable using it in the current driving environment.

I reached T city by 4:15am and found a convenient store and took a rest till 5am. I had booked a parking at the T2 basement instead of a outskirt parking facility. The parking facilities around the airport had received a lot of negative comment lately over the internet. The transportation to and fro from the airport might take ours and I don’t like to squeeze with load of passengers during the post pandemic area. The pre-booked promotion came with a 50% reduction of parking fee. As expected the parking is not packed and I found a “good spot”. A good parking spot means no parking lot located over the left and right side of the parking lot. Seems impossible but yet there is sometimes a few of such parking lot in some of the parking area.

The Cair departure is located at the T1 and we had to take the shuttle train to reach it. However it would be simple for us on the return as EVAir operation was mostly around the T2.

We hit the counter by 6am and checked in without difficulty. I had done a web check in and only baggage drop was needed.

The security check and immigration clearance was straight forward as usual. Nothing had changed compare to two years ago. We did not use the autogate as we did not renew our status after the APRC change due to passport renewal.

We had later proceeded to the lounge complimented by the purchase of air ticket with my credit card. The food was so so but yet the seat was nice for another round of nap.

The boarding was exciting for both Ving and I. After two years of trapping on the island, we would be leaving it again.

I did everything that was prohibited during the pandemic on the flight. I use the toilet a few times, enjoyed the meal and drinks served. The rule is simple now, no check = no contraction. The in flight meal was up to the standard with my favorite bun and butter as finish. I viewed part of the Maverick again during the meal. After the meal, I had failed to sleep and had played the Zombies vs Plants game during the lower half of the flight as I was too excited for this journey to come true.

We reached KLIA on time and took the aerotrain from the satellite building to the main building. There were still travelers donning full PPE suit waiting for departure…I presumed most of them were mainlander. I felt pity for them as the Main land was still imposing strict quarantine order.

The passing via autogate was stunning; no more finger print check….face recognition mechanism and I passed the gate within 20sec. I grinned while looking at the long q over the foreigner immigration checking counter.

The baggage claiming area was heart beating and thrilling for me as Xian’s baggage incident still haunted me until today but with grace, I　got our luggage in one piece.

The rest of the journey was uneventful as we passed the KASTAM, bought an airport limo coupon and reached our in law’s house smoothly.

No urge of kneeling on the ground and filled my eyes with tears was noted when I stepped on the Bolehland again. Everything was smooth until now but I had an uneasy feeling disturbing me… On the next day I finally knew what was waiting for me…

4 wheel change .... the prelude

 

Driving was something I enjoyed since I bought my first car. I had been a 7 seater man since I came here to work. From Serena , Zafira to Santa Fe; I finally returned to the family of SUV. One of the reasons is that I need to drive to work in a raining cat and dog typhoon day. The SUV capability of driving through flooded road was something that I needed. Fefe had one unique feature that other 7 seater SUV lack of; the third row blower. Well, Fefe’s diesel engine was pretty much solid and even though the paint started to fade, the leak was noted from the rooftop luggage tray fixation screw, it’s pick up was still good and reliable. The leak from the screw hole of the roof top started 2 years ago. A heavy down pour would leave the luggage compartment with water stain and it had worsened after 1 year.

I had tried to seal it with silicon and  water resistant GS3 glue however it only worked for a short period. The glue/silicon would fade away after a hot summer and the leak recurred. I was reluctant to change Fefe as those cars which are comparable to Fefe was in the range of MYR 300k; enough to buy a house and I was not ready to spend such a load for a car.

As time passed some of the electronic sensors had started to fail and I had to replace them one by one. I had started to source for a replacement since 1 year ago. 7 seater SUV was still my first choice but yet MYR 200k was the ceiling that I set. I had tested drive the 4.5gen Santa Fe and was impressed by its improvement over the last 10 years; but yet it exceeded the ceiling that I set.

I had broadened my choice to 5 seater SUV instead. I had tried Rav4, Kuga and I was satisfied with their performance but their space had made me think twice. I had decided to wait for the launching of Outlander and Xtrail which are both 7 seater and might probably fit my requirement.

The last straw came 7 months ago when one of the lower arm and sensor failed together. The replacement took 2 days and I knew that the time had come and bit after bit I would need to replace its parts.

The replacement was inevitable but the time lost on replacement was what I could not afford. So I begun my sourcing again.

It was not difficult for me to narrow down my choice but yet spitting out part of the load which I had accumulated over those years is something that bothers me.

After a short discussion, Ving and I had finally made our decision and we decided to take a final look before we drop the deposit.

I called up the sales manager who sold me Fefe 10 years ago and asked for one more tour before I signed the agreement.

We took a good look and the manager had kept persuading us to settle with the petrol turbo hybrid model. A more efficient fuel saver but I wanted something with a better torque. The hybrid model would be facing battery problem sooner or later and I would not like to bet my future on this uncertainty. We had however stood our ground and make a purchase agreement for a 4WD diesel model.

The sales manager did warn us that the waiting period would most probably not shorter than 6 months. I still had Fefe to hang onto and I and not in a rush to get a new car.

4 Months had passed by since I paid the deposit and one day the sales manager called me up and asked me if I wanted another color as someone had left the queue and a blue color model was available. I reviewed the color with Ving and told the manager that we could wait.

2 days later the manager called us again and told us that our car had arrived….WTX I grumbled, it was fishing method to lure me to go for the spit out vehicle…well, I was happy though as I finally got the chance to tried out the drive assist...

 

 

 

 

Home going....the planning stage

The 0+7 quarantine rule was declared finally at the beginning of October. I had begun my trip planning as I promised Ving. Both of us were disturbed by our parents’ health and wished to visit them as soon as possible. Deep discussion was done as I had only a window of 5 days maximum due to my job.

We had decided to spend the longest time accompanied our parents. The plan would be arrived at KLIA and I continued my journey to JB. We would meet later and returned back here on D5.

It involved not only the flight back home but also connecting flight from JB.

A TPE- KUL was our only option but later the double A had announced their strike back – flight from KHH to KUL which would commenced on 2022/11/15. It was not only cheaper but the time was absolutely nice. Take off from KHH at 10pm and arrived on 3am. Return flight from KUL at 5pm and arrived by 9pm. Solid 5 days stays…what an attractive offer but yet it came from the NOTORIOUS double A….No margin for error; postponed or delay will deeply affect my connecting flight(my decision was right and the first flight debut was delayed…)

I opted for the TPE-KUL route even if I had to pass the 4hours drive up north.

3 flights to consider, CAir, EVA and Starlux. CAir is the first to take off and starlux the last.

There is no offer nowadays for to and fro ticket. Thence one can buy to and fro ticket from difference airway without hesitation. The flight to KUL was simple and I opted for the first flight out as I had decided to drive up instead of using HSR. Math is easy, per trip would be :

driving = N2500+ (fuel +tol)  plus tiredness of driving.

HSR = NT 6000+(ticket) plus NT2500 overnight stay.

It would be a road trip in the dark after day shift; with the level2 drive assist on the new Fefe; hopefully I would be able to complete the task in time.

We woule be splitting when we arrived in KUL. Ving would stay in Setia Alam and later in the evening, I would take Firefly down to JB. A thrill riding in a propeller flight.

The return flight to TPE was a struggle as I had to take a flight up from JB to KLIA. Only one flight available which was operated by MAS. The Airasia had cut down its flight from uncountable to 3….However MAS flight arrived at KLIA at 12 noon, Chair leave at 2:30pm, EVA at 3:30pm and Starlux after 4pm,…..I had considered until the last minutes and opted for EVA which was more expensive… the extra 1 hours is better than nothing, any delay of flight will lead me in a heart pumping chaotic condition.

I completed the purchasing smoothly even though the fear of seeing a fully booked message popping out when I did the purchase of connecting domestic flight haunted me throughout the process.

The trip was all about connecting, connecting and connecting; it was a big stress for me as no error should happen or else …..Even though I had allowed tolerable waiting time as margin for error, but yet, I knew only with grace that it could happen smoothly…