The Eagles Have Landed

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THE EAGLES HAVE LANDED! KULA LUMPAR, MALAYSIA. Wednesday February 22nd, 2012.

Well, the 10 hour flight from Gatwick went without a hitch. It was not too full so the streetwise Ozzies who were on board quickly tried to snaffle any rows of empty seats so they could get a good night's sleep. They were moving even before we took off. One saved a row of seats for his girlfriend by taking off his belt and putting it on one seat and then held the other two seats with a menu card and in-flight magazine!! D, being a wiley old boy followed suit and plonked himself down two rows behind M with three seats to himself, leaving M with the same. After a glass of wine for both and a sleeping tablet for M a good night's sleep (by economy air travel standards) was had by both.

We had booked a car in advance, but even the best laid plans ... We landed at the wrong terminal (the one for the budget airlines) and had to take a taxi the 21 km to the International Terminal. When we arrived there our Europecar rep was nowhere to be seen. A very kind tour rep, who was waiting at the airport for his party to arrive, could see we were in trouble called the car hire company for us, and it turns out, he was just late.

Once he arrived we completed the paperwork and were shown to the car. The Europcar guy gave us a rubbish map of Malaysia (but better than nothing) and some rough directions of how to get where we wanted to be. He also advised on the Malaysian freeways so we stopped at the first gas station and purchased a "Touch and Go" card. A rather clever thing (better than the European toll system) where you have a credit card size Touch and Go card which you top up with cash. You then go through special lanes at the tolls and swipe it, and as you use the pre-loaded money the amount left goes down and is displayed for you so you know when you need to top up. We found the hotel by good luck. We followed Mr Europcar's directions and, after we thought we were completely lost and were heading for downtown Seremban, D spotted it to our right.

We were too late for food but managed to get a late beer. Dinner was nothing for D and only Haribo Tangfastics and a glass of water for M. It was now 04.35 and we are both wide awake in our hotel.

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