I am writing this sitting at Starbucks at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. On am en route from London to Melbourne. My flight landed in KL at about 7am to a balmy 26 degrees outside. I am enjoying a Frappuccino for breakfast but I am stuck indoors. The airport is modern and clean. I’m at the “Satellite Terminal” which is a large circular terminal some distance from the main one, connected by airport transit. In the middle of the round Satellite Terminal is a rain forest enclosure but it is closed for renovations. it’s a shame - I would have liked to have got some fresh air out there. It has been a while since I experienced over 25 temperatures….. Not since Malta.
My flight with Malaysia Airlines has been OK. I had heard good things about the airline but I am a little disappointed. There is nothing wrong with the service per se, but I would expect more from a “5 star airline”. The fit out was ageing, the in-flight entertainment screens were small, they didn't give us any hot towels, the food is served with plastic cutlery (even South African Airways gives you steel) and I had to wait for over 5 minutes with my service light on before someone came and asked me what I wanted (a bottle of water). Don’t get me wrong - I’m not complaining - there are worse situations to be in! But I thought I’d point out that Qantas service is superior. I don’t understand why people bag out Qantas.
Back at Heathrow I tried buying some cheap duty free alcohol to take back to Australia with me. I was delighted to see they had a 2-for-£15 deal which would have got me a 1L bottle of Gin and a 1L bottle of Bacardi. Both drinks my parents like and a pretty sweet deal. But the duty free guys said they wouldn’t sell it to me because apparently Australian customs hasn’t been letting in drinks from the UK! I was worried that the bottle of Pimms I have in my checked baggage might not survive the baggage handlers but it may not survive Australian customs either!
Anyway, another hour to kill, another attempt to buy duty free liquor and then time to board for Melbourne.
POSTSCRIPT:
1. Between KL and Melbourne there was steel cuttlery.
2. The Malaysian breakfast was interesting. Rice with chicken curry and prawns.
3. Customs didn't have a problem with my liquor from KL but because I also had a bottle of Pimms in my suitcase, I had 3 litres in total. Because the customs limit is 2.25 litres, they wanted to charge me tax on all of the bottles of alcohol, not just the 1 litre I was over! Either that or forfeit them all!! Luckily I managed to get away with it in the end as their computer for calculating tax was broken!
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