Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: Indian Ocean 2012
On to Malaysia
I got up at 0430 ... urghhh! Sure enough, the bedroom had never really been cool enough to give a comfortable night's sleep, although the living room was fine. I quickly got dressed, did the final bit of packing, checked out and boarded my pre-booked transfer car to the airport. It was a relatively easy run, although the traffic still managed to be utterly chaotic at this early hour of a Saturday morning. It was a similar picture at the airport, although this was somehow less bewildering to negotiate second time around. Without too much hassle, I arrived in the familiar territory of Sri Lankan Airlines' Serendib Lounge.
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With about 25 minutes to go until the scheduled departure time, I decided that I had better head for the gate, although the flight had not been called. There was a huge queue for Security. While waiting, I was told for the first time that my flight was delayed and that I should go back to the lounge. The lounge agent recognised me and said that my flight had a technical delay. No revised departure time could be given at this stage, although she later walked through the lounge advising that the delay would be 1hr. I went back to the desk 30 minutes prior to the revised departure time and asked if there was a further delay. All I could get was: "It's not ready for boarding yet." Passengers were called after a further 30 minutes, indicating that the flight would now be some 90 minutes late. | |
| ABOVE: Serendib Lounge at CMB |
At least there was no queue for Security. Due to Sri Lankan's odd boarding policy, Business Class passengers were held back at the gate to await the final bus.
(Link to flight log in side panel)
Well, what a nightmare! That flight collected the wooden spoon for being the only poor flight of the trip. Onwards and upwards, I thought, as I strode through the corridors of KUL's satellite building. I took the train to the main building, where the immigration queues looked horrendous. Passage through immigration took 30 minutes in total - it wasn't quite as bad as it first looked. I collected my case and relocated to Departures level, where I was able to make use of the impressive Business Class check-in area. I was given very clear directions to the gate area and the domestic lounge.
| I had an
improvised late lunch of standard lounge fare, accompanied
by a soft drink. When the time came, it was an easy walk to
the gate and I had only the briefest of waits before
boarding got underway. Business Class passengers were
invited to board at their leisure as soon as those requiring
extra assistance were safely on board. (Link to flight log in side panel) |
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| ABOVE: Old and new applications of the livery, from the domestic lounge at KUL |
I easily located the Andaman agent on exiting the baggage reclaim area at Langkawi's little airport, and he quickly allocated a driver to me. It was a fairly uneventful transfer, although the young driver wanted to talk constantly about excursion possibilities and how he was the ideal person to turn them into reality for me. The narrow, winding road down to The Andaman and the hotel's stunning lobby area made arrival quite an experience. Check-in was straightforward and I was soon settling into my new accommodation. Tired from the early start and all too aware that it hadn't exactly been a hassle-free day, I was glad of the opportunity to have an early night.