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A Fly / Drive Experience
A fly / drive tour package is one where you fly to a destination and then drive back to where you came from, stopping along the way and taking in the sights.
I just came back from my own fly / drive experience yesterday evening. It didn't start out as that; I had a return ticket ... well, actually I had two single tickets, as only one leg of the journey offered a 50% discount and the other didn't, and in order to get the 50% discount, I had to get two singles ... but I digress.
I'd flown to Kuala Terengganu for a really short break. How short? Thursday evening to Saturday evening. Two nights but really just one full day in Kuala Terengganu.
But it wasn't the place, it was the people. Cousin Soo was going there to visit son #3 Nigel who's studying at ALAM (Akademi Laut Malaysia) near KT. She, husband Herb and daughter Hazel were supposed to have gone to Kluang, Herb's hometown before driving up to KT. Which was why I didn't go with them, but instead met them at KT.
When we met up at KT, she said they hadn't driven from Kluang, cuz they hadn't gone there at all. Almost on the spot, she suggested I drove back with them, which I was very agreeable to, seeing as how she's my favourite cousin and all. So we called the MAS office and cancelled the KT / KL leg of my ticket.
Flying to KT, I left the house two hours before the flight and met up with Soo and family about two hours after arriving (cuz they were still on the road when I got to KT so I'd waited).
Driving to KL, we left KT around 11:25 a.m., took a slow, leisurely drive, stopped in Kemaman for lunch around 2:30 p.m. (at this really quaint coffee shop called Hai Peng which has its own web site - www.kopi.com.my), and continued on to Kuantan. Before reaching Kuantan, we went in search of a chalet place called Gloria Mas that Soo and Herb had stayed in 14 years ago. We found the place which turned out to be called Gloria Maris and had been expended to include a swimming pool these days. We also learned that the owner had passed on three years ago and Gloria Maris is now run by his son. But I digress ...
Along the way, it'd rained on and off, and when we got to Kuantan around 3:30 p.m., it was raining too heavily to continue, so we took shelter in a shopping mall and didn't resume our journey till about 6:00 p.m.
We found the new East Coast Expressway and had a smooth and free drive along it. Arrived back in KL and got caught in the traffic jam caused by the closing of the "cracked" portion of the MRR2 (hope I got that right). It wasn't that bad a jam as we were sitting down to dinner in TTDI less than an hour later.
Condition in the car throughout the journey back was subdued as we were all tired.
In all, it was about 10½ hours on the road from KT to KL, with quite a few stops along the way.
If I'd flown back, I would've reached home around 11:00 p.m. But then I would've been by myself most of the day until my flight at 9:00 p.m. It was one of two flights still available at the time I booked; the other one was at the early-early hour of 8:15 a.m. I'm glad I changed plans and drove back with Soo and family, even though it was a long and tiring journey.
Overall, having experienced both flying and driving on this recent short break, I'd opt for flying from now on. It's too tiring to be doing not much most of the time during the drive. There's only so much to chat about with fellow passengers, not because there's nothing to chat about, but because we all get tired after a while.
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(Anonymous)
2004-08-29 21:31
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mainly on the journey... how abt the destination? any scenic pics? didja have a nice holiday after 3 years? 3 years?!! u really should take more vacations - u deserve it!
~VaLz(Reply to this) (Thread) |
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