the flight out mishap

well waddya know, my first international flight out since 2010 and what happens? i get stranded during transit. lol.

au revoir

me is going to London! *peace*

my initial departure time was supposed to be at 0955, but after rushing to the airport this morning and getting stuck in seemingly the most slowest check-in line ever, i found out that the flight got delayed to 1245. i overheard a passenger also heading to London saying there was no way to make it to Muscat on time for the connecting flight, which was true. our initial flight layover was only 1.5 hours.

not my fault. you late, you fix.

i need to get a new pair of Sketchers. the ones i wore this morning got eaten away in time, the soles were practically coming off. i've had them since 2009. i'm not sure if i could have them resoled, since they're shape ups. luckily i had another pair of shoes in the car.

for our troubles, they gave us a complimentary Burger King breakfast voucher to use while waiting to board. i think it was meant to be used at the BK located at the satellite building, but i wanted to express milk in the baby room before boarding so i redeemed it at the outlet on the arrivals floor. in my rush this morning i didn't have time to empty out the boobs T___T.

breakfast voucher

not to my taste T___T

i've never heard of Oman Air prior to this. the A330 took off from KL at 1320, and the journey to the middle east took 6 hours (better than Significant Other's flight, straight 13 hours from SGP, but he's on the A380). the main problem with these long flights i've been thinking about was where to express milk. in fact can we express milk on the plane? the lavatory itself was too cramped already, are we allowed to hog it for 20 minutes? haha.

the airline interior

erm... movie time?

overall the crew service during the flight was good (as in no snottishness emanating from them unlike some airline i know). i was initially seated beside a young boy but i changed place with the father who happened to get a seat alienated away from his family. i didn't mind, i'd have wanted to have done the same if it was me. future karma, you could say.

being economy class, leg room sucked but other than that i guess it was okay. seating was 2-4-2 so it was easy for anyone to clamber out to get to the lavatory. the food was edible, being Oman Air the food served on board was halal. i was kinda amused when i saw the catering service providing for the airline as they were getting the plane ready for takeoff - Brahim's, lol. Significant Other used to buy those instant meals whenever he traveled overseas for Baker Hughes.

Brahim's... bahahahahah

during the flight i:
- got to watch two movies, one included The Internship (Owen Wilson! the funny guy),
- went to lavatory once (i prefer not to 'go' on a plane, only when necessary),
- got served food twice,
- snoozed for awhile, and
- given a hot towel to freshen up.

we arrived in Muscat at 1520 and as expected, our connecting flight had already left, bahahah. a whole bunch of us got stranded in transit, half of whom were supposed to be headed to other destinations, some being Kuwait, Doha, Munich, Zurich, to name a few.

i got rescheduled to board British Airways to LHR later at midnight Muscat time, so i got a hotel transfer while waiting for the flight to depart. even the family i gave up my seat for was stranded, they were headed for Qatar (i suppose he works for oil and gas) but those headed to Doha seemed to have vanished early - i guess their reassigned connecting flight was early. we all signed transit visas and got chauffeured away to a hotel that was nowhere close to walking distance from the airport.

our transit visa valid for 24 hours

for our troubles, i got an Oman stamp in my passport =P. oh just so you know, the weather in Muscat is hottttttttt. the time in Oman is GMT +4. Oman drivers drive on the left side of the road, and their currency is Oman Riyal, which i don't happen to carry with me. lucky i still had that burger leftover from this morning. haha.

welcome to Muscat

as you can see, their buildings are very squarish and in similar colors too

the hotel we stayed at

welcome foyer

in case you got lost

camwhoring in the bathroom

spacious room for ONE lol

the last time i pumped was at 10am Malaysian time, which is almost more than 8 hours. i wish i brought d3 along. how i miss her. for the next two weeks i'll have to strengthen my relationship with my freestyle, what fun.

pumping time!

last Monday i came down with plugged ducts on my right side, which hurt like hell and made me come down with a fever @_@. it hurt so bad even after popping 4 panadols it didn't help much. i ended up taking antibiotics from the Dr.

i reallllly need a hot shower and a short nap. my iPhone needs charging too. cellular data really drains out the battery -___-. kinda regret not buying the same powerbank Significant Other bought recently (in my head i can hear his voice telling me, 'i told you so' tsk).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

one hot bath and a nice short nap later... i'm awake and was in the midst of pumping another round when i got a call from reception asking me if i had dinner or not. i said no, i only had my measly burger which i hoped would last me until my next flight. but apparently they provided dinner for us downstairs as well, all thanks to Oman Air, lol.

food. yumms.

i had only 10 minutes before the transit bus arrived to bring us all back to the airport. the small buffet they provided was quite nice. i especially liked the chicken stroganoff and the mushroom soup.

checking in at the airport. those two are also headed for London

halfway to London!

at the airport after checking in i dropped by the perfume counter to spray perfume haha. i didn't have a single piece of extra clothing with me, only my camera and my medela, lol.

now i'm waiting to board British Airways to London... via Abu Dhabi? or so that guy behind the counter told me, after asking him how long would this flight take. i'm off now. i'll let you know when i finally get to my destination (to me at the moment, i feel like i'm in some sort of Amazing Race for all that has happened so far, haha).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

British Airways to London via Abu Dhabi was even longer than my first flight out @_@ yeah flying to Abu Dhabi took only less than an hour but the stopover took 1.5 hours so it was 0230 when we took off from Abu Dhabi, and arrived at LHR just before 7am.

old skool BA

when i boarded the old school Boeing777 (lol elly prefers this aircraft very much over the new A380) i asked one cheery looking stewardess how long would the journey take, and she happily replied '11 hours, but it would feel faster if you sleep during the journey!' @_@. even the lady who boarded at Abu Dhabi and sat one seat from me told me the flight would arrive at 7am. lucky this time we had an empty seat between us, so it didn't feel so cramped. the aircraft seating was 3-4-3, i got a seat by the window so i only had to get past her to get to the lavatory =D.

the interior. looky a blond FA!

someone travelled with a young infant, they got the seats that came with a baby cot as explained by people who travelled with infants (teeny wished i brought dira to lug around with me for company haha. or mostly just to experience travelling alone with an infant. must be challenging i expect).

didn't really do much on this plane except to watch at least 2 movies, slept (they kept the lights dimmed throughout the whole journey anyway), and only got served breakfast just as you could see the sun's rays breaking the horizon in the distance through the window.

breakfast

first view of London - Thames River

immigration as expected took long, i had to pump in the bathroom first because i was so smart to keep my things in the overhead compartment and didn't want to trip in the dark (with all that darkness i could practically pump at my seat lol). luckily during the whole missed connecting flight my bags where happily going round and round the conveyor belt when i went to collect them.

and i found fil and Significant Other happily/patiently waiting for me at arrivals =D.

took me a whole extra 12 hours just to reach my destination. phew. i had so much fun just getting here haha and btw, London in September is COLD! gahhhhh. now i know why i could withstand Houston weather the last time - i was eating for two. now? it's just me, skins and bones HAHA. i really thought i had mercury blood last time. guess not. phooey.