Ahad, 16 Oktober 2011

Manchester Here I Come: Chaos at KLIA

Hi peeps!

It's been quite a while since my last entry.. Wow where do i even begin hmm.. Suddenly I realised that from now on, probably my entries will revolve around my studying life.. I should probably change my blog name to something else.. Any suggestions? hehe

I'm here in the UK now. Inductions are over and classes have started. But before that, i would probably want to go a little bit back in time to the departure at the airport. JPA kasi setahun nak prepare but I had everything done at the 11th hour :P Masa tu la nak packing, unpack & re-pack. I've traveled abroad but not for this long so i've never packed for a 'long-duration' stay. I'm flying with Malaysia Airlines with a Business Class seat but it seems that the travel agent only managed to get me an economy upgrade. So even though it was a business class seat, I only had 20 kg of luggage and I had 45 kilo worth of stuff to bring! Later i found out one of the lads actually got an upgrade to First Class seat (also traveling to UK but at an earlier date). Tak aci!

At the check-in counter, the ground crew politely told me that i've way exceeded the limit and that she could help increase the limit up to 40 kg. But every extra kilo will cost me RM178 per kilo! Betul ke ni? Did i hear her correctly? And that is only until Heathrow. From Heathrow to Manchester, I shall board the British Airways and according to the her, that'll be different charges for excess baggage and they have a strict policy that I can only bring one luggage.  Adoyai.. Panic moment skejap..
 
Apa yg banyak sgt barang yek.. Despite having advised by my peers, checklists of stuff to bring from MABECS and pre-departure briefings from the British Council and the University, I cannot help but went on and bought winter jacket in KL as it was on sale. Excited ma.. Seriously tak perlu la.. buat penuh beg je.. It is better to just buy it here with the latest design ;-) Apart from that, I also packed notebooks which I got for free during my visits to technology seminars (konon nak jimat coz they said stationery is expensive here), a pot which I got from lucky draw, small rice cooker, sleeping bag, clothes hanger, rempah kari Alagappa and other unnecessary things LOL. Eventually I ended up abandoning one bag (sigh..)
 
Sepatutnya proceed je with 40 kg of baggage at KLIA with no extra charge. Takde isu extra baggage dah sebab dah lepas masuk kargo pun. Bukannya kena check out beg kat Heathrow.. Marah le ni. At Heathrow Airport, i checked in my hand luggage as it was quite heavy. Which means i could have brought all my 45 kilos of stuff. Furthermore, after getting our bags and seeing that my friend had two luggages with him rasa bagai tabur garam di luka.. AT KLIA, he checked in at a different counter and had different advice. Katanya hand luggage yg boleh bawak satu je... Tapi tengok ada je budak lain bawak sampai 3 hand luggage. Hmmpfgh.. Tu la takde pengalaman la benda2 ni...  Arrggh.. tension skejap. Sabar je la..

So next time, be more prepared than me - check that Malaysia Airlines have Enrich Miles for students where you can get extra 10 kilos if i'm not mistaken for just RM30. I knew this beforehand but didn't think I needed it at that time. Ingatkan dapat business class dah hebak leh bawak byk barang haha.. Also check whether you need to transfer your luggage in between flights. If you travel with other airlines (i'm not sure which one but i know others are travelling with Emirates or Etihad etc) they offer up to 40 kilos. Also weigh your luggage first at home :P beli la ada gejet utk tujuan ni.. Kalau nak bawak brg kering atau rempah ratus tu boleh pack dulu kat mesia and have somebody ship it to you since tak urgent sangat kan.. it's cheaper to send by ship rather than by air. Klu ada barang yg nak kena pos, guna pos biasa pun dah ok dalam less than 2 weeks leh sampai. Klu guna Pos Laju mahal jugak.

That's all for now.. This is me with my friend Lin who witnessed my chaotic moment at the airport haha..

Till next time.. Cheers ;-)

9 ulasan:

  1. Salam Juliana..
    A very informative sharing..especially those who will be traveling or planning to do so. I'm still searching places. It's tougher as a lot of preparation must be done and I've to sacrifice a lot. Starting this time onwards-it's very difficult to go to UK not even Australia-unless we have a very concrete reason. I mean for academicians. MOHE and IPT prefer us to go to US. Going to US is not as easy as going to UK as other than TOEFL/IELTS, GRE is a must.Processing fee some more. Hyee..waiting for my time.Hope you'll get what you want there.

    BalasPadam
  2. tahniah juliana sebab dh sampai manchester...i pulak insyaALLAH Arkansas USA..bulan January nie for Spring intake..

    thank you very much for all your advice and mintak halal pinjam format proposal yg you post kt blog nie hehehe

    BalasPadam
  3. Amalina: Waalaikumsalam.. thanks for the encouragement ;) dah makin susah kan.. I think the policy change probably depends on the economic conditions.. According to my friend (also HLP JPA) who is in Delft at the moment, the cost of living is too high and his friend could not apply to further his study in Holland because they were not willing to sponsor for next year's intake. He has to find other alternatives. Best of luck in your future undertakings ya.. You can do it!

    Hussain: Thanx & you're welcome.. takde hal la :-) USA bestnye.. nak pi jugak.. PhD pulak la ye hehe.. first thing u have to do is pronounce Arkansas correctly [pengaruh dari kelas pronunciation hehe.. more stories on that soon ;-)

    BalasPadam
  4. As'kum..akan menghadapi interview hlp inshaAllah januari depan..Nak tanya sis Juliana, berkenaan portfolio, dulu waktu interview hlp ,sis buat portfolio dlm bentuk ape ye?Adakah fail atau macamana..Isinya boleh tak kita lampirkan sekali gambar-gambar?Timekasih in advance...

    BalasPadam
  5. Waalaikumsalam..
    Portfolio? Mcm nak apply jadi model atau jurugambar je :P Ke u buat architecture? hehe sori.. nak letak gambar hasil keje u ea.. kitorang apply HLP JPA masa tu perlu research proposal je.. tak sure syarat baru mcm mana.. but in my opinion interviewer tak kesah klu nak bawa extra sijil ke, offer letter ke etc. Terpulang atas usaha kita.. in fact u can be creative - if that can make u stand out from other applicant & make u more memorable, then why not.. (cewah mcm juri X-factor lak huhu).. Good luck!

    BalasPadam
  6. Okesy..timekasih ye Sis Juliana
    n gudluck utk HLP..

    BalasPadam
  7. salam juliana, lama menyepi... sibuk ke. saya ni HLP 2012 dan insyaAllah akan ke UoM manchester jugakler september ni. sekarang ni dok tgh mencari rumah sewa as i will be bringing my spouse and kids. any advice on this. kata diorang lebih baik sambung sewa dari senior yang nak habis study. anyone you can recommend to me? tq very much for your kind help.

    BalasPadam
  8. Waalaikumsalam.. boleh tahan buat2 busy haha.. tengah blur mengadap dissertation.. klu datang with family i would suggest you find one in cheetham hill - ramai malaysian community di sana. Boleh advertise yourself on dari sekarang on FB page Manchester Malaysian Students Association or Mcot Manchester. And the same time i'll ask around k ;-)
    http://www.facebook.com/groups/49393969661/

    BalasPadam
  9. rooms/house to let: tgk la klu berkenaan http://www.facebook.com/groups/kusma/

    BalasPadam