I had the most fantastic whirlwind trip to Malaysia over the last weekend. I went to celebrate the Nuffnang Asia Pacific Blog Awards.
And as noted yesterday, I flew to Kuala Lumpur courtesy of AirAsiaX. AirAsia X is part of the low cost airline group Air Asia and they cover flights in and around Asia that are greater than 4 hours. Their tag line is “Now everyone can fly” and if you check out the AirAsiaAustralia facebook page where they advertise some of their specials you will see why.
Tips for flying with Air Asia X
The tips in a previous post of mine – Flying With Kids On Budget Airlines also apply to flying with Air AsiaX – except for the delay part. My flights were punctual.
If you are going to fly with Air Asia X, like what was done for our group booking, I would make sure you organise as much as possible online before you get on the plane.
As a budget air line, your payment for your flight, only covers the minimum. Extras you really should consider purchasing online before you go are:
- Check in – do it online before you go or do it yourself at the check in station before you drop your bags off. Otherwise you are charged a check in fee.
- Meals – no food is included with your ticket, even if you are flying for 8 hours to Malaysia. Meals info can be found here.
- Comfort pack – includes blanket, neck rest and eye patch (which you keep). Comfort packs info is here.
- Entertainment system – there is no entertainment at all on the plane, so if you don’t have a device of your own to use or like reading you may find it hard to pass the time. There is no power facilities to charge devices either.
- Hot Seat – I was in a middle seat on the way over and then an aisle seat on the way back and found the leg room comfortable, but if you want a seat near an exit for greater leg room, you need to pay for these. They call them a hot seat and you can find out more info here.
You can make these purchases on the flight, but they are slightly more expensive and there is no guarantee they will be available if you don’t prepay. On the flight on the way back to Melbourne, there were no hot meals left, nor entertainment systems available, so if you are traveling with kids it would be imperative to pre-order to make sure your flight didn’t go horribly wrong.
Even if you add all the extras above on top of the price of your ticket, the flights are still good value. They have amazing deals all the time, but you just need to be prepared for the different level of service and set your expectations!
Kuala Lumpur
The video above is just a tiny collection of the footage I took on my trip to Malaysia (1 minute). It was so much fun and I can’t believe how much I managed to cram into those few days.
{If you are reading this post via email or RSS you will need to click through to the site to see the video here.}
I was only in Kuala Lumpur, so really didn’t see much of Malaysia, but what I did see I really enjoyed. I loved the warm weather and we only had an occasional shower even though it was the rainy season.
I loved the sight seeing, the shopping, the dining and the drinking! Would love to go back again, take the family and spend some more time exploring Malaysia.
Here is my stay in Malaysia via Instagram. (Instagram is a very cool iPhone app that you can use to apply filters to your photos, giving them the effect you see below. It is a free app, which I highly recommend you check out.)
The foyer of the gorgeous Marriott Putrajaya.
Being so close to Christmas, there were beautiful Christmas decorations everywhere we went.
I took a cab on my own Friday before the awards ceremony to Chinatown. It was a great little place to shop. I spent a couple of hours there buying stocking filler items for the kids.
After Chinatown it was time for a traditional massage at the Day Spa at the Marriott. It was magic. I was tired from the flight (we let Melbourne at 1am) and actually fell asleep a couple of times through it.
The Nuffnang Asia Pacific Blog Awards were held also at the Marriott. Beer and orange cordial were of offer!
It was then on the bus and off to a nightclub in KL central. Such a fun night of dancing and laughing.
After limited sleep it was on to a bus for a day tour of Kuala Lumpur. First stop was the old National Palace.
The National Monuments were next and provided great photographic opportunities!
It was then into see the KL Towers. The bridge you see in the photo is the one you see in one of the James Bond films.
Next stop was a Chocolate factory. These stamp like chocolates were very cute.
Back to the hotel to relax before dinner and drinks. I took the opportunity to squeeze in a quick session at the gym. This was the view from my treadmill.
This is the treadmill view close up, gorgeous pool, spa, waterslide area. My kids would have loved this!
Dinner was at the Pavilion and as the shops were open until 10pm (even on Saturday night!), we managed to squeeze in some more shopping before heading off for drinks.
Drinks where held at The View Rooftop Bar. It was just gorgeous and the view was topped off by free Absolut Vodka Mules!
The breakfasts at the Marriott were sensational. Lots of international cuisines on offer as well as western food and freshly squeezed juices.
Traveling with a bunch of bloggers in a foreign country is so much fun. There were bloggers from all different niches, some who I knew well and others I met for the first time. When attending blogging events like this I believe that it is up to me to make the most of it. I need to be open to new discussions, new styles of blogging and to be prepared for others to not be familiar with my niche.
Each time I attend an international blogging event, I learn a tremendous amount about the art of blogging. Right now I have never felt so excited about the potential of blogging and how I can develop Planning With Kids over the next 12 months. Bring on 2012!
A very big thanks to the Nuffnang Malaysia team for putting on such a fun event. And thanks to the Nuffnang Australia crew – Dave, Kruppy, Tim, Lynda, Holly, Vanessa and Jenny for making our time in KL such a blast!