MATTA FAIR 2009 - EUROPE HERE WE COME

We have been waiting for the biggest taravel fair of the year which happens twice annually, first in March and another in September where great bargains are offered. Yesterday was the first day of the Malaysian Travel and Tours Association (MATTA) fair and I was there to hunt for a bargain. Coming on the first day which is a working day is good as it was a working day and the crowd are not there yet.
My wife and me came to KL solely for the event after having boooked our flight on AirAsia way in advance. For that we managed to secure our two return seats at a total cost of slighly over RM300 which averaged out to about RM75 per seat per pax. That is only slightly higher than the bus fare! We would also be holding a get together with the children as my daughter Azini and her husband Lokman would be coming back from Labuan.
We came over a day earlier and stayed the night at our son's place at Enstek Labu which is about 15 minutes drive from the LCCT.
The next day I had two options. The first was to drive all the way to PWTC and suffer the problem of losing my way there and also the parking problem at PWTC. My daughter suggested that I drive to Bukit Jalil LRT station and take the LRT direct to PWTC.
I took the second option and with daughter in law's Yani's sketch of the way, I drove to Bukit Jalil with constant reference to her via the phone.
Upon reaching the Bukit Jalil LRT station, my other half's attempt at using the toilet at Bukit Jalil LRT's station was a put off as the toilet was clogged and a real shame to Malaysia. She had to suffer all the way until we reached PWTC.
Reliance Travel set up booth at the entrance to the expo and we were hopefull of buying a package from them. Unfortunately they don't have the right package for Europe during the school holiday. They offered us a package to Gold Coast Australia which seemed to be well liked by my other half but not to my liking as I prefer to do Gold Coast on our own. We moved on to the main venue and paid the RM3.00 entrance fee. We found Apple Holidays where a package to Korea seemed to be attractive. We promised Zul, the sale person that we would come back cos we would like to look around first.
At Poto Travel's booth we found what we have been looking for, a 13 days package to Europe during the May/June school holiday costing RM9046 per pax for those above 55 (younger people are charged slightly more) . They said they already have 24 pax and should we join them they will need only find another 6 pax to make the maximum 32 pax for a full group. The best thing is almost all if not all in the group are elderly people who are not in a hurry to rush around as is customary of a group package.
In their itinerary, most cities will be done over a day and with 2 nights stay in most of the cities except for Frankfurt where we will arrive in Europe after a stopver in Bahrain. We will be flying on Gulf Air. How I wish we would fly on MAS as we could chance upon our own son Azrin flying the Boeing Triple 7 as it was one of his sectors. Accomodation will be 3 star hotels. Good enough for us.
From Frankfurt we will put up the night in Stuttgard before moving on to Lucerne Switzerland to visit the Titlis mountain. Riding the cable car will cost an additional 50 Euros each as it will be an optional tour. I will take the optional tour as this will be my first experience with snow and I want to try skyiing. Could an old man like me still manage to balance myself on a pair of skis? You will see.
Next will be a 2 night stay in Paris. I studied the Hunchback of Notre Dame in my school days and visiting the Chapel of Notre Dame will be a childhood dream realized.
Amsterdam will be next. The Netherland is the land of windmills and the wooden clogs. We will have ample free time to explore Amsterdam on our own.
We will pass through Brussels, Belgium next before enjoying a three nights stay in London. Abang Awang and Kak Teh, see you in London before I fly back to KL. I will try to get in touch with a friend whom I have blogged about by the name of Nick Habgood of Azini Capital in London.
After exiting from the MATTA Fair, I had to take the LRT back to Bukit Jalil from PWTC station. I saw the written annoucement that "Tren ini ke Ampang" dan "Tren berikutnya ke Sri Petaling". When a train stopped in front of me and the doors opened up, we boarded it. After passing the Chan Sow Lin Station only that I realised I was on the wrong train to Ampang instead of Sri Petaling. We had to backtrack to Chan Sow Lin before boarding the right train to Bukit Jalil which happened to arrive at the same time.
Surfed the site of no frill airlines AirAsia for my flight to KL on the 25th of May 2009 and surprise of surprise we got the RM1 fare for the KBR - KUL sector and a RM55 fare for the KUL-KBR sector on 8th June 2009. The total for us is RM265! Dirt cheap. I wonder who is susidizing this fare.
Making the first enquiries at Reliance Travel.

Mohd Azmi joined me at the Reliance booth. He is also looking for a package to Europe in August. He has a son studying in Switzerland.

A gimmick to attract patrons to a jewellery expo at the same venue. She is quite a jewel herself.

Buy One Tour Free One Tour. It is that cheap.

Establishing contact with Anny Yulianty of Grand Java Tour and Travel for our November trip to Jogjakarta. Anny is a Director of the company. Visit their website http://www.grandjavaonline.com/ for all your travel need to Java Indonesia.