I can’t believe that I could have made such a HUGE stupid and dumb mistake… I actually missed my flight back to Ipoh for CNY!! I was waiting so desperately in SG to get back home for CNY…
Well, the story’s like this… A friend of mine offered to help us purchase flight tickets back to SG via firefly airlines back in November 2009. Well, of course we agreed and she was kind enough to help us make all the arrangements. All we need to do is to agree upon a date and pay the money.
Yee Weng and I wanted to fly back on Friday morning (12 Feb) but then we were told that we couldn’t get the Friday morning as there weren’t enough seats. So, we’re okay to go back on 13 Feb. There was a nice spreadsheet with all our details indicating that Yee Weng and I will be going back on the 13th. Was even told to make payment for Saturday morning flight tix.
Well, here’s the problem… The itinerary that was sent back to us.. indicated that our flight was 12 Feb morning.. To our careless-ness, we actually didn’t notice that until 12th Feb Night!! Imagine the shrewd panic that we felt… It was about 10pm already when we found out. In fact, I actually read the itinerary a few times but still could miss the date. Our mindset believed so greatly that we’re going back on Saturday, that we didn’t really ’see’ it in the itinerary. I only realized it when I was manually copying down the details on my phone in case the airport check-in counter needs it….
So of course, no point crying over spilled milk and straight away attempt to look for a solution to it.. YW and I made a phone calls to bus companies, checked flight schedules to get back home but it was fully booked. Well, kinda expected as it’s CNY after all… And finally, we decided to do the following:
- Quickly take a cab to Woodlands Customs
- Cross over to JB
- Take a cab from JB to KL
- Follow Yee Weng’s parents back from KL to Ipoh
Luckily Yee Weng’s parents were still in KL at that time and were about to leave to Ipoh. They were supposed to leave that night but agreed to wait for us to reach KL. YW and I didn’t know what to expect when we were in JB as we’ve never tried taking a cab back, crossing the state and all. And it’s JB in the middle of the night! By the time we reached JB, it was past 12am.
To God’s Grace, we managed to find a cab driver’s friend to drive us back from JB-KL for RM500 (after bargaining from RM600). We sat on a private car as it’s actually illegal for taxis to drive across states without a permit. We left JB at 1230am, and managed to reach KL at 430am, at Yee Weng’s house. Then from there on, his parents and us set off our journey back to Ipoh immediately after that. And guess what, we reached Ipoh at 730am!
And here I am, blogging from my bed… This is indeed a costly lesson to learn.. Anyway, here’s the kicker:
I have another friend whose flight is scheduled on 13 Feb morning, and she overslept and missed her flight… Not sure how’s she coming back…. Think still on standby in the airport for a flight back to KL..
Ah.. they say that Ox year is a bad year for Oxes… And Ox year is about to end… Can’t wait to start the new Tiger Year!
