Departures

All good things don't necessarily have an ending. Unfortunately; holidays do. This is defined by that all too familiar return flight booking &/or visa expiration.

This also indicates a need to put all the gathered, accumulated & owned things back into the bag we came with. With the loss of shoes x2 & a few tops, we amusingly are returning with a lighter checked bag. However with one last stopover in KL, there is a very high chance that extra weight will find its way into our carry on luggage.

It's going to be a 17hr trip back to Sydney, then a 2.5hr drive home. So with a lovely late checkout time, a smorgasbord breakfast offering & the Discovery channel to watch, we spent the morning underachieving.

Overall it's been an interesting 3 weeks covering 2 islands not on everyone's list of places to go. Maybe that's what made it easier, as there was less expectation & less 'advice' offered by people who have been there before. It was nice to be going somewhere with no list of things everyone has given us to do. That we could make it up as we went along without being on the hunt for specific must haves (granted there were the occasional tips from TripAdvisor).

This trip has taught me a few things (as travel should). But not all of it good.
1. Some are not easily going to admit to being out of a comfort zone making it difficult at times to be able to communicate. 2. Australians seem to have become intolerant of others - we are no longer the laid back engaging travellers. We; at times, have an entitled view toward others. Much like other nations we cause of the same. 4. The idea that everyone should speak English is out of control...if you want people to speak English choose countries that list that as their native language. 5. We do a very poor job of trying to learn a little of the local language to show some respect. 6. We as westerners have in places, ruined travel food. Our desire to eat what we prefer when away from home means that 'eating local' is becoming more difficult. 6. I've also learnt that I cannot travel with just one camera lens (well, not the 55-300mm that is). 6. Long haul flights are so much better when wearing my specially cool compression socks. 7. My passport needs renewing in 12mo from now & it has so many blank pages :(.  8. The tropics, at the right time of year, don't have the humidity I fear.

So today's time has been spent:
Taxi 25mins. Airport waiting time 145mins (flight was late to leave). Flight SDK to KUL  178mins. Airport waiting time 256mins .
We fly out just before midnight so the flight home technically will be tomorrow's blip.

Thankyou KL airport for the shopping experience.... So many perfumes to bring home. But first, SS wants jelly beans