Planning our next visit to the UK might be a strange first thing to do on return to KL but that was one of the things I set to doing this week, that and recovering from jet lag.
Jet lag is a very strange phenomenon indeed. All Lawrences touched down in KL at 2215 last Saturday after a long old journey that had involved a hire car drive from Norwich to Central London, a lovely walk along the south bank of the Thames, a play in Battersea Park, flights to KL and changes in Dubai. We were suitably shattered and also full of food, having been fed about ever three hours. All week we have tried to go to bed at 'normal' KL times but having fully adjusted to UK times in the five weeks we had been there adjusting back was easier said than done. There have been times this week when I have been shattered at 2.00pm, shattered again at 8.00pm and then wide awake at 11.30pm. Finally, last night, I went to be at 10.30pm and then woke up at 9.00 am feeling like I was getting that hang of timings at last. Phew. You know how they say that going west is easier than going east? Well the famous 'they' might just be right.
And while recovering from time differences I have managed to book our next visit to the UK. Apparently the market for flights to the UK is very competitive, although there appears to be precious few discounted fares currently. The big players and would-be big players (KLM, BA, Emirates and Malaysia Airlines) all charge pretty similar prices (RM 4000 to RM4500 return) while there is little difference with other lesser players. Imagine my delight then when I found Vietnam Airlines could get all of us back to Gatwick for less then RM13000 next Easter. Because Lexi and I's schools' holidays don't overlap fully booking trips is not the easiest thing in the world so we will need to do a staggered trip to and fro, but we can make it all work. Paying for the fares was a bit more tricky though. Vietnam Airlines, in its wisdom decided on its website that the maximum number if children who can be booked at one time is two. Wake up www.vietnamairlines.com not every family in the world conforms to the expected stereotype of four people. To make the booking work for us I had to book adult fares on the website and children's tickets via the Vietnam Airlines office, who to make matters more complex, would not accept credit card payments. "You need to pay in bank transfer or cash, Mr Robin," a nice lady called Lily told me, while also missing my very unsubtle noises of frustration. Thanks to the 13 emails between the fragrant Lily and I plus a bit of a gamble that flights would not sell out I can cautiously say that it is going to work. All being well children and I will see the inside and then outside of Gatwick Airport on 28th March 2015. Lexi will arrive a week later, enjoying one week of full family time before I return to KL and then one week after that she returns with sprogs in tow.
One thing that really did work surprisingly well this week was a visit to Jump Street. Jump Street is a warehouse full of trampolines in various guises and was pleasantly, although not fully jammed, with children and some Dads, jumping around. Edwin really enjoyed the foam pit, the hi-light of which involved jumping off a one metre platform onto a trampoline and then into a pit of large foam cubes. Rupert loved the dodgeball with trampolines area and Trixie bounced until she was a pleasant, sweaty shade of pink. The venue itself was well organised too. Each jumper could book sessions of an hour at a time and each hour had different coloured wrist bands to prevent overstaying. It was also good value at RM20 per hour. (I enjoyed it too and have to thank the dare-devil antics of one of my colleagues for persuading me to bounce onto, off of and into things too!)
School starts properly next week.