Kuala Lumpur 3N4D

We made it. It was 24 hours of travelling and we loved it. The boys were stars and barely a crossed word was said. They even managed to pull themselves away from the on board entertainment to get a few hours of sleep on the plane.

We flew economy class with Etihad and transferred at Abu Dhabi. Etihad is the national airline of the UAE and they have excellent facilities, provision and service, even in economy.

Each seat has its own screen, headphones, blanket and pillow (gone were the small TV screens in the centre of the aisle that service the 10 or so rows beyond it. Can you tell that it’s been a long time since I flew with anything other than a budget airline 😅!?). It quickly became apparent that none of the card games, UNO, top trumps, even mini chess, colouring and drawing stuff I’d brought along in hand luggage would be needed…. Ah well, fail to prepare or prepare to fail and all that!

We watched films, live TV, played games and watched the live flight progress to our hearts content. I also managed a couple of glasses of wine, purchased some data for on board WiFi and kept in touch with family waking up back at home. Happy mummy.

Landing in KL was organised, calm and easy. We boarded a monorail to the luggage collection area and stopped by an in airport mobile phone stall to pick up a local pre paid sim card which lasts for 30 days 50MYR (about £10)

I used booking.com to arrange for a driver to get us from the airport to our hotel in central KL which was just under an hour away. Really easy to book and the driver had WhatsApp messaged me before I left the UK to introduce himself and give me his car details and told me where to find him outside the airport. That bit of peace of mind cost me £16. Bargain!

We stayed at the Berjaya Times Square hotel which is attached to a shopping complex. We spent our first afternoon in KL exploring this and the hotel pool which is lovely and the boys have enjoyed a swim each day.

Jetlag. Just wow! Alfie cracked it the first day by sleeping 11hrs straight through the night. Ali and I did not. To be honest that’s the way I’d have preferred it. Alfie has ASD and can be a crabby companion at the best of times!

I’ve used the Klook app for booking most of our activities and excursions. It’s usually cheaper to do so or it’s the same price but either way you earn credits when you use the app which you accumulate to get money off of future bookings with them. Given the amount of time that we’re travelling, this should work well for us.

Our first full day in KL was spent visiting the Petronas Twin Towers for a tour which I’d recommend. The security was high but efficient, the staff were very professional and friendly and the whole place, including the shopping mall at it’s base, feels very exclusive. We then went to the aquarium a short walk away across KLCC park before hanging out in the park for an hour and enjoying some green space.

Later that afternoon we went on to the KL tower for an Asian fusion afternoon tea experience in the 360 degree revolving restaurant at the top. Although similar to the twin towers experience for the views, we still enjoyed it. The food was good, the place was more relaxed and not too busy and the staff were very helpful. The concierge called a grab car for me from his mobile because there weren’t any taxis around. Grab is the Asian equivalent to Uber, much cheaper than taxis and my new friend 🙂

I got a few hours to myself on our last day in KL. With nothing planned for our final day I had a look at klook and saw Kidzania was just 20 minutes away. Kidzania is a miniature town for kids where they check in at an airport, get some pretend money (kidzos) and then spend their day trying out careers such as fireman, delivery person, heart surgeon, chef. They then earn more money doing these roles and can spend it on activities like climbing. As my boys are over 8 they can go in alone and we’re happy to do so. I gave them some real money to buy their lunch and that was that. Security is tight and we were all given a security tag before I left them to it….for 5 hours! Off I went to enjoy the peace of the local Starbucks and do a spot of shopping in the nearby shopping mall. Simples and all for less than £33.

So we’re now leaving KL (we could definitely have stayed longer and done a lot more) and heading on to Langkawi, an island off the North West coast of Malaysia, where it borders with Thailand. I’ve heard good things and we’re looking forward to a few days of chilling by the beach 🙂