After the last paper, I got a lift back to my place by Renning. I was happy since I was going home but anxious as well since it is my first time taking a flight by myself. Had to get used to collecting my boarding passes, checking in luggage and going past customs and immigration with no one to count on except myself.
I got home, packed and checked my luggage over and over again. What I prepared to bring back was a Samsonite with a huge trolley bag INSIDE and also a blue bulky trolley bag, and last but not least my laptop bag.
Ming and the others were very awesome as they cooked me a farewell dinner. Oddly enough it seemed different from the food they used to cook and it seemed more like the stuff I used to eat back at home. Halfway through dessert (sago paste plus honeydew) Ming was occupied by her family who gave her a call and she was on it all the way until I left. Seeing her being so occupied I decided to do some of the dishes (I had nothing better to do except wait) and I found out later that one of the lift wasn't working. Luckily I found the time to slowly move all the bags down by the lift by 9pm and I was in front of Unilodge for 20 minutes before the Starbus even came to pick me up. Turns out that there was someone else who went to the airport at 9.30pm so they picked us up at the same time. sigh. I am a very paranoid guy so I kept looking at my luggage and passports plus my air tickets.
I paid the guy and off we went to the airport. I got to the counter and the lady sitting there was a trainee and I was just thinking I could not get my ticket when her supervisor walked over and solved the problem. My baggage turned out to be only 26kg out of the 30kg I was allowed and I only had my laptop bag as my hand carry. (Which was good since the customs in Australia was very very strict with the 'one piece of hand luggage' rule and will screw anyone who breached that). My goodness Tullamarine feels a real freakin' jail since after going into the gate you cannot see anything outside anymore. Since I went to the airport alone I had nothing to look out for anyway. I quietly went to the toilet and then to the gate I was suppose to go but to my surprise I didn't see an A380, instead I was looking at a twin engined plane. Well anything is good when you are going back home I suppose.
Boarding was at 11.05pm, but I was there at around 10.30pm. It was at that moment I saw this European guy who was in my Construction Management class but he looked busy so I didn't bother him. Other than him I saw this lady with a headscarf who was in my Wastewater class. How interesting. It was a long wait before we were allowed to board. The stupid thing was the escalator to the boarding platform was out of order so we all had to take the stairs down, which was alright for me but horrid for the old folks. The other passengers sitting further back in the plane were allowed to board first, and while they went down this kind English lady had a little chat with me and she commented on my good English. I explained my history and she replied me with hers. Right before boarding the plane I had a short chat with the European guy and it turned out that he was from Denmark and will return this time. We were just talking about how unruly classes are in Australia while our classes back in our home countries required strict attention and absence of noise.
We settled into our seats and I was hoping to sleep on the journey back. Fat Hope. I had some white wine which caused my heart to beat faster and resulted in me being unable to sleep. Not to mention the leg space was limited. Worst was that I was seated in between two guys who were soundly asleep. OH THE PAIN of being insomniac. I had a meal and some movies... I have to say, watching movies make time go by fast. Sooner than I had expected, the flight arrived in Singapore and I alighted. Before going any further, I sat down for 10 mins for a foot massage since I always missed this opportunity when traveling with mum (since she took so much time buying duty free and we always had to RUSH to the gates)
I had been requested by my mother to purchase 2 bottles of 'pretty' perfume by Elizabeth Arden for her and Priscilla and it took me a loooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg walk to the other side of terminal 3 before I found a shop which sold it. I asked if they did currency exchange because of my lack of Singapore dollar but they asked me to get to the money changer instead. I exchanged AUD$100 for about SGD$120++ and bought the perfume. (I purposely bought the normal 100ml one instead of the special edition 50ml one since I value quantity). Super tired, I took the sky train to terminal 2 to board my flight to Penang. Being a hyper paranoid guy I waited there from 6.45 (flight takes off at 8.05am and gate opens at 7.05). I got over the scanning n stuff bla bla and sat inside the waiting hall until it was time to board.
Boarded the damn plane, read some articles (boredom drives me to read stuff) and had some chicken sandwich. Walah! I am back at this old rickety airport which read 'Penang International Airport' which was undergoing repairs when I left. I went through the Autogate (thank goodness this was way faster) and collected my bags. Went through the baggage scan and found out they relocated the exit door all the way to the right (used to be on the left side). I was seriously anticipating someone like Ming, Chris or Daryl to be there waiting. When I got out, no one was there. 'what the...' was going through my brain and I walked straight out to the passenger pick up area. After stopping my cart I immediately (no joke, immediately) felt the heat and humidity hit me like a hammer.
Luckily, mum arrived soon after with the turtle car and I quickly stowed all the luggage into the car and left. Turned out that mum requested for guys to liaise with me at the airport the day before but no one woke up in the morning to go with her to the airport. Sigh, seems I am the only one able to wake up early in my generation.
Ta dah! I was back in Malaysia...
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