Some of my friends asked me, how can you plan your trip so far ahead? Well, actually, I don’t plan now. I just booked. hahahaha.. You can start planning when it’s near the travel date.

You want free, cheap tickets, sure you have to book earlier, where got free & cheap tickets and can travel immediately? right or not?

So, have you booked?

Anyway, for the past few yrs, I tried to go for a trip at least twice a year, just to relax myself. I found it quite good, I felt happier, less stressful when I got back from my holiday. Of cos, due to financial issue, those places I chose were normally those nearby ones, don’t need to spend so much one. However, this year, due to certain reasons, I did not go anywhere, I didn’t even take much leave. As until now, I feel really tired and feel that I really need a break.

Travel this year is definitely not possible for me, perhaps a short trip beginning of next year? hmmm….

What about you? Have you been to any places this year?

There were supposed to be 8 of us, but then his brother and his wife not able to make it, so 6 of us, here we go.. Hanoi….

I remembered it wasn’t a pleasant flight. The flight was full of Vietnamese, they don’t obey the rules, they talked very very loud, and they kept walking from the front to the end of the plane. It’s like we were the only ones that are not from Vietnam. I can’t sleep because they were too loud. It was the noisiest 3 hours flight experience that I’ve ever encountered.

The Hanoi Airport looks old and it’s not big either. Here’s the place we collect our baggage..it’s a mess, ppl blocking your way (don’t blame them, cos they got no where else to stand or sit), it’s difficult to get your luggage and etc…

their trolley, very hard to push also… hehe… maybe need some oil? hmm…

After we collected our baggage, we proceed to the hall. Because there were elderly and small kid, we decided to book for the hotel transfer instead of taking the public transportation ourselves. The hotel was booked under FL’s name, so we looked around for the hotel ppl with FL’s name then we saw one, hmm, it seems like it’s him, but he spelled FL’s name wrongly. We began to wonder, did he spell wrongly or there’s really another person under this name? hehe… Anyway, we decided to go check with him and this guy doesn’t speak English. hahahahahha, anyway, we showed him the hotel name and he said yes yes yes and so we decided to just follow him. Dangerous hor.. :p

this is the hotel guy that came picked us..

Unser.. a bad looking car but surprisingly comfortable and spacious even for the 6 of us.

On our way to hotel…

their toll…

this guy loves to horn.. he horned all the way from airport to the hotel.. I wonder why…. oh ya, did I mention he drove really really slow? I think approx 40km/h, it took almost 1 hour to reach the hotel. Maybe he wants us to enjoy the view? I don’t know.. I just think it’s way tooooooo slow….

Nice padi field…

don’t you think so?

their buildings are all slim and tall, very different from ours..

walao..see the wires?

Next: Our hotel, the Sunny Hotel

We gave up for a couple of months (since we only flying in May) and we started to call again last month. Finally at the end of last month, someone answered the call. He asked us to fax over the photocopy of FL’s niece’s IC for them to verify and they will changed for us, for FREE. So yesterday, after FL faxed over the photocopy IC, he called them again. The customer service ppl told him they will change the name for him.

A few minutes later after he called AA, I received an email from Air Asia with the updated itinerary. I opened up the attachment, checked the name, everything seems perfect, then suddenly something caught my attention. I remembered we will arrived at LCCT late at night (11pm+) when we fly back but how come now it shows 1pm+?

Immediately I opened the attachment from the original booking (the one with the mis-spelled name) to check. I was right, we were suppose to fly back on 20 May and reached LCCT at 11pm+ but now, we will reached LCCT at 1pm+!! They not only changed the mis-spelled name, they also changed our flight!! What the hell!! I do not understand how come change name will end up changing the flight as well. We only have 4 days in Hanoi and if we’re going to reach LCCT at 1pm+, that means we have less day to travel!!

FL called the customer service again and this time, they said they will postponed our flight to the next day, which means we are going to fly back on 21st May, depart at 9am+. Shit, this means we’re going to spend money for an extra night in Hanoi. If we’re going to depart at 9am, we need to leave the hotel at 6am+, so basically we are wasting our night there!

When we asked them why change our flight? they said they’ve cancelled the original flight!!! Arggg… this makes me wonder, if there’s no name mis-spelled, when will they inform us about the cancelled flight? Will they inform us on the very last day, when we are in Hanoi’s airport prepared to fly back to m’sia?

~sigh… luckily I haven’t book the hotel…

The first time I booked with Air Asia, I went to Bangkok. That time I missed the RM 0 fares and I had to pay RM 9 for the air ticket (each person each way, excluding the tax) to Bangkok. The second time, I did not miss the free seats promotion and again, I booked flight to Bangkok. Yes I LOVE Bangkok. :p hehe… Then, my brother gave me the RM300 air asia voucher and I booked flights to Hong Kong (still need to pay Rm 10 per ticket, excluding tax). Then after I came back from HK, AA had promotion again and I managed to book tickets to Hanoi(still got few months away). Then after I booked the tickets to Hanoi, AA canceled the fuel charge and had promotion again. I remembered I was so geram that time cos it’s a lot cheaper without fuel charge!!

I did not book any tickets that time, then few months later, they have promotions again and again and again and today, they are having ANOTHER promotion (which i’m so tempted to book tickets to Bangkok.. :p, so cheap lar!!)…

Don’t you think AA is giving out free seats TOO often?

Among all the support line, I think the worst is the Air Asia support. They don’t answer to emails, they don’t answer to phone calls, I wonder did anybody successfully called the Air Asia support line and actually got people answered their call? FL had been calling the Air Asia since 2 weeks ago, but till now, nobody answered his call!! The phone is either engage or he hold until the call got disconnected by itself. I tried to send an email to Air Asia two weeks ago (since nobody answer the call I decided to try the email) but till now also no reply. They don’t reply emails, they don’t answer calls, do they really have support at all?

Not only FL, I got a few friends also said they never successfully called Air Asia before cos nobody picked up their calls!! Have you tried calling Air Asia, did anybody answer your call? If yes,can give me the number or not?

The 90% discount starts from today till 28 of Sept 2008 and the travel period is from 6 Jan to 31 July 2009. Even for those of you that had successfully booked the free tickets, you can still book now and plan for another trip. One trip beginning of the year, one probably in june and another one at the end of the year. Perfect, right? hehe..

I think I might book… erm… don’t know yet.. let me go search search… what about you? any place in mind?

I have so many places that I wished to go. Australia.. (but i heard may – july is winter time..), Chiang Mai, Hanoi, Bali, Hangzhou, Hong Kong (ya i know i just back from HK but I missed the food and the Espirit sooooo much!!!! hehe).. How I wish I got lot’s of money and can go travel every month!. hehe.. (i know it’s free, but airport tax also very expensive ler..)

What about you? Are you going to book? Do you have any destination in mind?

We started our journey at about 4am and reached there around 4:45am (paid toll RM 8.40). After checked in our luggage (booked before 21st April no need to pay for the baggage fees), we had our breakfast at McD. After breakfast, we went through the security check door and we were all required to take out our belt!! Oh yes, those with belt need to remove on the spot (so ugly!!). Since when they became so strict?? A lady was asked to take out her shoes some more!!

Our plane arrived on time and we were already flying before 5:50am!!

We were flying low when we almost arrived at Macau and we saw this beautiful island

Next: The arrival at the Macau Airport
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