So since my friends in Adelaide either don’t have a spare one to loan me, or that their kids are already grown, I had to bring my own on this trip (I also had to bring Caitlin’s child toilet seat too, but that’s another story!)

Going there was ok. After all we checked in at KL Sentral where there was a rather menacing looking guy offering a plastic-wrapping service for your luggage: RM10 for “large” bags. It’s not regulations to have your luggage wrapped; as I was explaining to the passenger in front of me at the check in queue. it’s really only a matter of preference. Plus, it makes it harder for would-be thieves to break into your luggage. With the plastic wrap I also thought it would give the seat some level of protection.

It was on the way back that got me. Adelaide airport; and dare i say most Australian airports, do not have this service available. So I checked it in “naked”.

After arrival, my fears were confirmed when I saw it come around the carousel in a tray. From a distance I could see black where there shouldn’t be, and white where there also shouldn’t be.

So, I picked up the pieces, literally, and got our belongings onto the trolley to board the express train. Generally, damaged baggage ought to be reported on the spot. However, there is actually a 7 day window where you can still lodge your report. Not wanting to hang around the airport too long with a hungry toddler, I decided to lodge the report at another time.

I did make sure that I had proof of the damage though, so I took this, and a few more shots of the damage, whilst on the express train.

Before this post, I had already sent the photos plus a note to the relevant authorities, as my official report of baggage damage.

There.

So a few months ago I asked Hot Mummee where we should go with these free tickets. “Gotta save money lah, impending recession, you know..”

The long and short of it? I went ahead with the planning without her. I decided to bring Caitlin along to Adelaide, where I went to uni, where Hot Mummee wouldn’t be interested in coming anyway, and where (thus, since it was only going to be an adult and a half) I was able to crash at a uni friend’s house. Yes recession may be coming, but this trip is looking pretty cheap!

So, last night we set out for the flight. This was all quite familiar to Caitlin already, after having flown to Australia twice before already, within weeks of her 2nd and 3rd birthdays, and now her 4th birthday!

The train ride was fun, as expected. We didn’t have that much time in the terminal to run around like the last time, due to pretty-ok-thus-little-buffer-time planning during that evening.

As soon as we got on the plane Caitlin was asking for the headphones already! “I wanna watch Bob the Builder!” She was quite right, Bob the Builder was listed as one of the program on the kids channel. But it was only 1 episode. In the end, she ended up watching Finding Nemo, twice.

Which also means that she didn’t actually sleep that much. I guess a little like her Daddee, she was trying to savour every moment of the holiday by staying awake as much as possible. But being an overnight flight, this wasn’t something I had wanted, because it will mean that we’d be wasting the following fullday trying to recuperate from the lack of sleep. And I had forgotten to ensure that she didn’t have her afternoon nap the afternoon of the overnight flight.

Which was what we ended up doing, because Caitlin only managed about 3 hours sleep, and I even less. But you wouldn’t know it if you saw her in the Adelaide international airport. She was jumping and running and giggling all the way!

Just as well for the time difference. She knocked out at her usual Malaysian afternoon nap time, which was around late morning Adelaide time. So, come night time, she’d be adjusted to sane local sleeping times.

Which she is now asleep soundly as I type…

Tonight, with my uni friend we went to Fasta Pasta. Those of you who thought this sounds familiar is because these are the same guys who ventured into Malaysia at Ikano years ago. It’s quite a big franchise here in South Australia, and the menu is still the way I liked it when I was at uni here over a decade ago….

So, after spending a day here, these are the things I forgot to bring! (ie, as of today!)

• Caitlin’s hairbrush!
• Clothes for ME to sleep in!
• Malaysian driver’s license! I am so used to the fact that it’s incorporated into our MyKad that I forgot to bring the “actual” one..