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2 Days late…
By Leighton | March 30, 2009
Well, for the first time all year, I am two days late on my weekly post. I do, however, have plenty of excuses to throw up in my defence, which you will soon hear whether you want to or not:
Sunday I was sick! I don’t get sick very often, and when I am sick, it really tries my patience. I really don’t like being sick. It all started that restless night in an Inn in Bintulu…
Saturday night in Bintulu I was exhausted from traveling all week AND had just gotten back from seeing my friends in Sungai Plan Flats (perhaps for the last time for a while more to come) and when I got back to the Inn, I just laid down on the bed and fell asleep (after helping Sharon grade her papers for school). It was nice and peaceful — UNTIL 11 PM WHEN I WAS AWOKEN BY LOUD DANCE-HALL MUSIC WHICH HAD A CONSTANT POUND-POUNDING OF HUGE BASS SPEAKERS. It was coming from the club which was situated -to my dismay- right next door to the Inn. We’re talking about 1 door (the door to my room) being the only thing separating me from the crazy dance music. Well, how long could it last, I thought. Give it a couple hours and it will quiet down.
5 AM. I had been awoken numerous times during the night by the incessant pounding of the music. I swear they were playing the same songs over and over. At about 5:45 the music finally stopped, and I was able to sleep for a couple more hours before getting out of bed. When I woke up in the morning I discovered that my throat was raw and sore from the aircon which had been blowing on me all night. That was the start of my sickness. Sunday morning we went to the Bintulu 2nd Branch for sacrament meeting, where I was able to see all of my friends for the last time before heading back to Miri.
Wednesday Night we flew in to Kuala Lumpur for Sharon’s Visa Interview. We landed late and didn’t get to our hotel until about 1 am. The desk person was very rude and smoked like a Steam Train. We slept well for a few hours, then got up at 6 am to get ready for the Interview.
Thursday we went to the Interview at the US Embassy after eating Breakfast at McDonalds (yay!). Immigration has been hasseling me because my Passport was full and there was no more space to stamp in it, so I got some extra pages put in at the US Embassy as well. Once Sharon submitted all of her papers, she was told to return at 1:30 pm for the interview. That meant we had about 3 hours to kill. So we went to KLCC to window shop (well, Sharon bought some makeup stuff) and eat lunch (A&W!). Then we went back to the Embassy for the Interview. This was the part that had us most worried, because if the Embassy Worker didn’t accept my Affidavit of Support, we wouldn’t be able to get the Visa. This was in all of our prayers for the past two months. I actually make enough at my current job to pass the minimum amount required by the Affidavit, but since I am self-employed, we were afraid it might cause problems.
Fortunately, the worked was very nice and we felt very comfortable during the interview. She accepted the Affidavit and we were told to come back the next day at 3 pm to get the Visa! Wow! We had gotten it! We were so excited. It was pouring down rain outside but we ran to the taxi stand (getting mildly wet) and flagged down a taxi. This was the answer to our prayers.
On the way back to the Hotel, we somehow managed to get a Crazy Indian taxi driver. He was literally insane haha! Or at least eccentric. It made for an interesting ride. He was a nice guy though and was the most honest driver we had in KL.
That night we went to see a movie at Times Square: Confessions of a Shopaholic. It was a good movie.
Friday we had some time to kill in the morning so we went back to Times Square and ate breakfast at… WENDY’S!!!! Wow, I was so excited to find that KL now has a Wendy’s! It is my favorite fast food restaurant, and I was happy to eat there. We then bought tickets to see another movie, returned to the hotel to check out, and went back to watch ‘Race to Witch Mountain’. It was a good movie as well, we enjoyed it. After the movie we took a taxi to the place we were supposed to pick up the Visa. There was a long line so I was worried at first, but it actually went by pretty fast. After we got the Visa (YAY) we took a taxi to KL Sentral, then a bus to the Airport. Our flight was delayed by 2 hours so that stunk, but luckily we were able to watch ‘The Office’ and play some games on my laptop. We didn’t get in to Miri until 12 am. When we got back, we went right to bed so we would be ready to go to Bintulu the next morning for Sharon’s interview with President Skelton for the Temple Recommend.
Saturday was Zone Conference in Bintulu, so we got to see all of the missionaries. Sharon passed the interview (no surprises hehe) and we were now all set. I had bought the plane tickets to return to the US earlier that morning, so we now had everything we needed! We were so happy!
Sunday night when I checked my email, there was a message saying there was a problem with the airline reservation and that I would have to call immediately to clear it up. It had been sent right after we left for Bintulu on Saturday Morning. I quickly called the number (despite being sick) and spoke with an agent who said they needed to mail the tickets to us since it wasn’t an e-ticket flight. This really had us worried since Malaysia’s post system is notoriously slow, and we were leaving Friday morning for KL. I tried to see if there was any other way, but the guy kept reassuring me that it would get here on time since it was being shipped by FedEx Second Day mail. We were skeptical but we really had no choice, so we agreed. Thus began the worrying over the plane tickets.
Monday morning I received another email saying I needed to call immediately about the Reservation. To make a long story short, here is a transcript of my final call with their Agents this morning (Tuesday Morning):
Ma’am, I realize this isn’t your fault, but let me explain my situation:
This is the eleventh time in the past 2 days that I’ve had to call this number and speak with an agent. I’ve been told all kinds of different stories why my tickets could not be ticketed, and have had to change my itinerary 5 or 6 times. I’ve been told to wait 3-4 hours on two occasions, and 4-6 hours on two other occasions and they all promised me the confirmation would be sent within that time. Needless to say, after more than 24 hours of waiting for this confirmation message, I still haven’t received any. I called an agent last night (it is morning time here) and she promised me that my trip would be ticketed and I would receive the confirmation email within 4-6 hours. That was 9 hours ago now.
My fiancee and I are flying to the USA to be married, so these tickets are very important to us. My fiancee is very nervous because the trip has not been ticketed yet, and I’ve been sick the past few days so it has been a nightmare for us. I promised her last night that the trip would be ticketed by morning because of what the agent promised me, and now it has still not been ticketed. I really can’t wait any more, I need to get this situation resolved now. We cannot go on like this.
I am calling you to find out why my our trip has not been ticketed yet like the agents have told us it would be.
Wow. So much worrying and so many times I had to call them. I have their hold music memorized. I spent about $15 on the calls. I was told to wait 4-6 hours so many times. Even the last time I called this morning that was her answer. Our flights had been changed so many times. Anyways, just after lunch time, I received the long-awaited confirmation email that our tickets had been confirmed! Finally! Sharon and I were both really happy. I will be returning to the USA this Saturday, flying in to the Las Vegas Airport with my darling Sharon. I am still a bit sick and I have a ton of work to do before then, but I’m hoping that I will get feeling better before we fly, and that I can finish a lot of my work first. I guess all’s well that ends well, so we are happy to be COMING BACK TO THE USA!
As a side note, I was looking at my site stats and it said that someone found my site by searching for D&C 90:24. Sure enough, when I searched google, my study journal was on the first page. Some other wierd searches include:Singapore Airport Electric Shaver, and Iban Alcohol Problems. Haha
Another Sidenote: If you read a post, comment on it! I always comment on posts when I read them, and it really is nice to see what other people think. There’s a comment form just right down below this, just enter something and press Submit! It’s not going to explode your computer, I promise*!
* Promises made in a sarcastic tone are not binding in a court of law.
Topics: Miri, My Life, Sharon | 4 Comments »
March 30th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
I must say this is a great article i enjoyed reading it keep the good work
March 31st, 2009 at 2:33 am
Ok, this is the first time i left a msg here after reading your blog so many times. It was because i don’t like to simply give my email to others. So if some weirdo send email to me, you gonna be in trouble..LOL..well, just feel so happy for you and sharon. It has been trials and trials for you guys. I can’t wait to meet you guys again in less than 2 weeks time. woo hooo…
March 31st, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Ivy, thanks for the reply! The reason it asks for an email is so that I can reply to people if need be. The email is not shown on my blog anywhere, so there’s no chance of you getting any junk mail (except from me, muahahaha)
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:47 am
Leighton, I read your posts faithfully, and am so impressed with your persistence and faith! We are so looking forward to meeting Sharon–as I said before, she must be very special to be marrying our very special grandson! You and she are always in our prayers and the temple prayer roll in S.A. We already have our reservations to fly to SLC and hotel reservations there and plan to be in Bountiful for the wedding! We would like to treat everyone to dinner after the wedding if you don’t already have other plans. Love you . . . Granny.