Our journey to Sydney

  Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia Thursday, December 18, 2014

Our last day on Langkawi and we headed for breakfast at Portuguese Steve's cafe again. We hadn't been there long when he came in and we all got chatting again. Whilst we were talking it came out that we were leaving shortly for Kuala Lumpur and Steve said "so am I". Turns out he was on a flight 30 minutes before us so he very kindly offered us a lift to the airport. How kind was that? Must be something about the name Steve :-) We spent some time with him at the airport before waving him off and it wasn't long before we too were in the air and an hour later we had landed at Kuala Lumpur. We hadn't had any lunch so a quick bite to eat and then onto the business of looking for somewhere to stay. We knew there was a hotel right at the terminal so we set off to find it. Now Klia 2 terminal at Kuala Lumpur is huge. It is more like a 5 storey shopping centre so imagine our surprise as we were going down an escalator and bumped into .....Steve! He was waiting to meet his father who was flying in in just a couple of hours. We stayed for a little chat but had to sort our hotel out. We eventually found the Tune hotel which was quite a walk through the airport and various tunnels but it looked new and clean. We tried to get a discount by walking in off the street and bartering but they wouldn't have it. So we had to sit in the corner and use their wifi to log onto Trip Advisor and find the best prices. After a bit of hassle we eventually did it and got to our room which was really quite nice. Small but perfectly formed and with the best shower we had had in ages. It was funny going back into the airport for our evening meal though! Whilst we were back in the airport, we thought we had just better check the food arrangements for our long flight to Sydney the next day. Just as well we did as apparently there are none unless you book a minimum of 48 hours in advance! Air Asia being a budget airline don't provide any frills on the plane - we were lucky they even supply life jackets! So early next morning after we had checked our luggage in, we went to the shops we had previously scouted the day before and bought a couple of pasta meals, some subway rolls and some cakes. Our money actually was much better spent doing this and we got food we liked - Note to self - do this again! We got chatting to Tom from Denmark in the seat in front of us. He was travelling with his friend to Sydney for Christmas with his family. Seems he lives in Kuala Lumpur now and loves it. We think that makes him a little strange! (Sorry Tom if you are reading this :-)  ) The landscape as we flew over Australia was amazing. For hours we were just flying over vast bleak unpopulated areas with strange markings in the soil. Most of it was coloured red.Then right on our estimated time, we flew over Uluru. We had plotted out the route a few days before and knew we would fly over it and the stewerdess had got confirmation from the captain for us that we were almost there. So right on time we had our cameras ready and clicked away. Most shots of Uluru are from the ground so we were really pleased the arial views came out so well. Better still, we don't now need to pay  £100s to go and see it on the ground! Despite the long flight we arrived in Sydney feeling quite refreshed. We are now another 3 hours head of our previous destination and 11 hours ahead of England. We did our usual and went through the red channel. Australia customs can be very strict so we declared Jody's tea bags (comes under the plant material or herb section) and we declared our feather pillows we carry everywhere (comes under the animal or bird products). Thinking about it later we had intended to declare Bryan's straw hat and Jody's straw bag but if they couldn't spot those they they need to find another job! We cleared that easily enough and were soon outside with Nigel and Cathryn - Bryan's cousin from Blackburn and his wife, as we will be staying with them whilst we are here. It feels great to be back in Sydney and we are both trying to picture what a sunny, warm, blue skies type of Christmas will feel like. We will let you know.....! [gallery columns="4" ids="9504,9521,9526,9533,9549,9554"]