Why Perth???

Distance wise, it was just about right, just a little more than 5 hours onboard from KL. Plus we have been to Australia some years ago. However, Nissa who was only 8 months then didn’t come along. She was still a baby and traveling from Melbourne to Brisbane and then up to Gold Coast and lastly ending the tour in Sydney would have been too much for her. Now it was her turn to experience Australia just as the other two siblings had.

However all these plans wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t managed to obtain the FREE tickets to Perth when Air Asia first launched flights to its third Aussie destination. I remember that night I was working late, trying to make some sense on the project costing which was emailed to me earlier. When midnight struck, I went to Air Asia’s website, just to check, no real intention to actually purchase tickets. The site was packed and all I got was the “Page Error” message. Tried for a couple more times and the same page kept popping. I gave up after a short while and continued “massaging” the numbers in my costing sheet. I finalized my numbers around four that morning. I figured I’d just need a good 2-3 hours of sleep and I’d be okay to do the presentation later in the day. Feeling highly saturated with numbers, I knew there was no way I could doze off yet. So I figured, let’s give the Air Asia website another try. At one click I was in and the next thing I knew I was checking for suitable dates to head Down Under. Well, as anyone who had booked Air Asia tickets before would know, the tickets were not really “free” – as in not having to pay a single dime. There were still the tax and the admin fee to be forked up. All in all I paid about a quarter of what other airlines were charging and for all 5 of us, the ticket price totaled slightly more than 4k. I really thought it was a bargain as the last time we went, I think ABE paid a bomb for the tickets, of course we flew on Singapore Airlines that time.

I have traveled many times on AA and I have no serious cases of wanting to pick bones with them. Other than the usual delay, and the stewardesses in bright red, tight fitting and short skirts (whose English can be atrocious at times), I figured I could bare with the whole thing for a couple of hours. Plus I wasn’t traveling alone, the children were coming along and I was sure we’d be able to keep each other company. It was around 4.20am when I finally hit the submit button and the booking was confirmed not long after that. Wow…it was that simple and yesss…we are heading Down Under!!! And we'd be able to have these experiences in Perth.

Before I dozed off, I told ABE who was deep in his sleep that I’ve booked 5 tickets to Perth for December. I wondered if he was actually able to make out what I was uttering, but I thought I did see his eyes opened wide!! And before I dozed into slumber land, I asked him to help stash away my credit card, fearing I’d go do more damages both on and off line. Needless to say, I had a good presentation that day, very much owing of the “hard work” I did in the wee hours earlier.