The Most Stressful Day Ever!
Unfortunately since I'm writing this, it means that I am not on a tropical vacation. It's the craziest story ever, and it ends in heartbreak, but we all survived, so it's ok.
Five of my girlfriends and I decided to take a trip to the beautiful island of Langkawi, off the Western coast of Malaysia. The island is known for its gorgeous beaches, perfect for sunning or snorkeling, and also for its proximity to the rainforest. It is also a duty-free island for tourist purposes, which makes it much cheaper than the rest of Malaysia (which is already pretty cheap). Since we didn't have rehearsal until Thursday night we decided to take off on Tuesday morning and spend two nights, returning just in time for rehearsal. We planned meticulously, down to spending money for food and alcohol, transportation to and from the airport, and our hotel and flight. It was going to be amazing! We got a beachfront chalet that walked right down to the water, and a flight for only 62$ US! We were so excited, and then Monday night came.
When we arrived in KL we did not have our work visas yet, and so our presenters (Malaysian Airlines) arranged for us to have four-day holiday visas while they processed the correct ones. We gave our passports to them the day after we arrived in KL, and hoped to have them back a day later, on Friday. When we didn't get them then we knew we'd have to wait until after the weekend, and were told we would definitely get them back on Monday. However, when Monday rolled around and there were no passports, we started to get kind of worried. We talked to a variety of sources on the Malaysian end who all claimed that we could fly without passports, and a copy would be fine for any travel within the country. This sounded crazy to me, and when I talked to the airline they agreed with me, and seconded that we could not fly without our physical passports in our hands. By Monday night when we didn't have our passports, and our flight was booked for ten am, we were very worried.
We contacted our company manager, Walter, who is very nice but not always on top of things. He apologized for the delay, and blamed it on the Malaysian consulate, saying that since the musicians had to work the next day at nine am, and they couldn't work without visas, we would have them in our hands the next morning. First we considered canceling our plans, but we decided that if we could change our flight to later in the day it was still worth going. Of course the airline was closed by now, so we decided to get up super early on Tuesday and try to change our plans then.
Tuesday morning bright and early I was on the phone with the airline, who luckily were able to change our flight until Tuesday night at 5pm with no problems. We all packed our bags and sat down to wait. We had to cancel shuttles to and from the airport, and alert our hotel in Langkawi, but we figured it was all worth it if we were sitting on the beach the next day. We finished everything just in time to pick up our per diem (food money for the week) and passports from Walter at the appointed 12:30 time.
Unfortunately a lot of the moms in the cast had been trying to travel too, and had been bothering Walter incessantly for their passports and to have him help with travel plans. Because of this, he was in a horrible mood and sent a nasty e-mail Monday night saying that all our requests to travel were ridiculous since we were in this country to work. He said that travel was "strictly forbidden" without passports and that if we were to attempt it we would be "committing career suicide". Now of course this email only served to piss us off, since we had been doing nothing wrong. Our contracts never forbid us from spending our time where and how we please, as long as we show up for our calls on time. However, we were a bit nervous approaching Walter.
When we got to his room, the six of us got our money and then casually asked for our passports. When he said they weren't ready, we got very nervous. Everyone left the room except Jessica and I, who are the most diplomatic. We joked around with Walter and got him to check on the passports and see what time they would be ready. After a phone call we discovered that they were still at the office, which was an hour away at the airport, but that they would probably be ready soon. We returned to our headquarters (my room) and tried to decide what to do. If we waited too long, eventually the possibility of Tim (the guy sitting with the passports waiting) having time to get to us and then us having time to get to the airport would be impossible. Pumped full of nervous adrenaline and a desperation to be on the beach that you've never seen, we decided to head to the consulate and meet Tim there to pick up the passports and hop on our plane.
To get there, we had to take the KL Monorail to the main train station, where you can catch an express train to the airport that gets you there in only a half an hour. We ran to the monorail and into the express train station only to see that we had just missed a train. We had fifteen minutes to wait, and our time was slowly draining away. Thirteen minutes later, I got a call on my cell phone. It was Tim at the embassy telling us that unfortunately, the passport visas would not be done until the next day, so we were out of luck. We headed back up the stairs... drained, exhausted, and disappointed we went home.
Unfortunately, by the time we get the passports (and who knows when that will be) it will be too late to get to Langkawi. The good part is that we got all our hotel and bus tickets refunded, and only had to eat the cost of the plane tickets. Luckily our hotel here is nice, and we haven't been too depressed sitting by the pool, but we are still sad that we didn't get to go.
After that long day, we spent the night shopping in a market by our hotel. Retail therapy is a proven form of anti-depressant. We all ended up at one man's stand buying about 20 pieces of pottery, vases, and candlesticks, and then bargaining our asses off. The man cried when we left, saying he had never had a better sale in his whole life. We ate at the Outback Steakhouse for a taste of home, and picked up some beer at the 7-11 to drink by the pool. We survived and we're hopefully better travelers for it. But I still wish I was lying on the beach at Langkawi!
Five of my girlfriends and I decided to take a trip to the beautiful island of Langkawi, off the Western coast of Malaysia. The island is known for its gorgeous beaches, perfect for sunning or snorkeling, and also for its proximity to the rainforest. It is also a duty-free island for tourist purposes, which makes it much cheaper than the rest of Malaysia (which is already pretty cheap). Since we didn't have rehearsal until Thursday night we decided to take off on Tuesday morning and spend two nights, returning just in time for rehearsal. We planned meticulously, down to spending money for food and alcohol, transportation to and from the airport, and our hotel and flight. It was going to be amazing! We got a beachfront chalet that walked right down to the water, and a flight for only 62$ US! We were so excited, and then Monday night came.
When we arrived in KL we did not have our work visas yet, and so our presenters (Malaysian Airlines) arranged for us to have four-day holiday visas while they processed the correct ones. We gave our passports to them the day after we arrived in KL, and hoped to have them back a day later, on Friday. When we didn't get them then we knew we'd have to wait until after the weekend, and were told we would definitely get them back on Monday. However, when Monday rolled around and there were no passports, we started to get kind of worried. We talked to a variety of sources on the Malaysian end who all claimed that we could fly without passports, and a copy would be fine for any travel within the country. This sounded crazy to me, and when I talked to the airline they agreed with me, and seconded that we could not fly without our physical passports in our hands. By Monday night when we didn't have our passports, and our flight was booked for ten am, we were very worried.
We contacted our company manager, Walter, who is very nice but not always on top of things. He apologized for the delay, and blamed it on the Malaysian consulate, saying that since the musicians had to work the next day at nine am, and they couldn't work without visas, we would have them in our hands the next morning. First we considered canceling our plans, but we decided that if we could change our flight to later in the day it was still worth going. Of course the airline was closed by now, so we decided to get up super early on Tuesday and try to change our plans then.
Tuesday morning bright and early I was on the phone with the airline, who luckily were able to change our flight until Tuesday night at 5pm with no problems. We all packed our bags and sat down to wait. We had to cancel shuttles to and from the airport, and alert our hotel in Langkawi, but we figured it was all worth it if we were sitting on the beach the next day. We finished everything just in time to pick up our per diem (food money for the week) and passports from Walter at the appointed 12:30 time.
Unfortunately a lot of the moms in the cast had been trying to travel too, and had been bothering Walter incessantly for their passports and to have him help with travel plans. Because of this, he was in a horrible mood and sent a nasty e-mail Monday night saying that all our requests to travel were ridiculous since we were in this country to work. He said that travel was "strictly forbidden" without passports and that if we were to attempt it we would be "committing career suicide". Now of course this email only served to piss us off, since we had been doing nothing wrong. Our contracts never forbid us from spending our time where and how we please, as long as we show up for our calls on time. However, we were a bit nervous approaching Walter.
When we got to his room, the six of us got our money and then casually asked for our passports. When he said they weren't ready, we got very nervous. Everyone left the room except Jessica and I, who are the most diplomatic. We joked around with Walter and got him to check on the passports and see what time they would be ready. After a phone call we discovered that they were still at the office, which was an hour away at the airport, but that they would probably be ready soon. We returned to our headquarters (my room) and tried to decide what to do. If we waited too long, eventually the possibility of Tim (the guy sitting with the passports waiting) having time to get to us and then us having time to get to the airport would be impossible. Pumped full of nervous adrenaline and a desperation to be on the beach that you've never seen, we decided to head to the consulate and meet Tim there to pick up the passports and hop on our plane.
To get there, we had to take the KL Monorail to the main train station, where you can catch an express train to the airport that gets you there in only a half an hour. We ran to the monorail and into the express train station only to see that we had just missed a train. We had fifteen minutes to wait, and our time was slowly draining away. Thirteen minutes later, I got a call on my cell phone. It was Tim at the embassy telling us that unfortunately, the passport visas would not be done until the next day, so we were out of luck. We headed back up the stairs... drained, exhausted, and disappointed we went home.
Unfortunately, by the time we get the passports (and who knows when that will be) it will be too late to get to Langkawi. The good part is that we got all our hotel and bus tickets refunded, and only had to eat the cost of the plane tickets. Luckily our hotel here is nice, and we haven't been too depressed sitting by the pool, but we are still sad that we didn't get to go.
After that long day, we spent the night shopping in a market by our hotel. Retail therapy is a proven form of anti-depressant. We all ended up at one man's stand buying about 20 pieces of pottery, vases, and candlesticks, and then bargaining our asses off. The man cried when we left, saying he had never had a better sale in his whole life. We ate at the Outback Steakhouse for a taste of home, and picked up some beer at the 7-11 to drink by the pool. We survived and we're hopefully better travelers for it. But I still wish I was lying on the beach at Langkawi!
posted by Beth at 5:49 PM
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