Teaser 1: Preparation for Gold Coast Australia
Only God knows how exited I am for our next trip to Gold Coast, OZ. Too exited as a matter of fact! It was in the year of 2010 that we last fly internationally. Yes! Too long! I've dedicated 2011 for pregnancy and 2012 for raising up a baby and now I am finally ready. Alhamdullilah.
However, there are a couple of things that I need to settle before we go. Not even a couple a but a whole lot!
1. Ticketing - We bought online through one of those Air Asia promotion. Basically around 700++ for a basic adult ticket (without meals and luggage). So, we had to purchase some meals (save 20%) for the in flight. I decided to take up 2 meals each (as kids, I thought would require interval meals), they go hungry fast. We also decided to take up 20kg each for luggage and man it is costly. Nenma and Tok Ayah went for the hot seat and we bought the much cheaper ones so that we can sit together. So total cost for ticket? About RM 3k for 2 adults, 1 child and 1 infant.
Web Check in can only be done within 14 days of departure and I had done it! Check!
2. Accommodation - Booked and ready to go! How much is the total cost of the apartment that we rent?
Well, for our family, we rented the 2 bedroom apartment so that I will be sharing with my sister and her husband. RM200 per night, which I thought is totally reasonable!
You can check out the hotel here. The official website here. The hotel management is totally helpful with our inquiries and all emails were replied almost immediately.
3. Transport - After having a lengthy conversation with Mr. Bobby, we decided to rent a car. Why? Because we need to hail Ruzain's stroller to everywhere we go and we think there should be some flexibility. If you are bringing a 1 year old, you would want to be able to change him and feed him appropriately and according to the time (we definitely won't want a cranky baby). How much is the car rental? I decided to go with this company car2go as the package they given us is quite reasonable. RM 180 for 4 days + car seat + booster + GPS. In OZ, kids and babies should stay buckle all the time. Parking? No biggy, all theme parks parking are free and those around Surfer's Paradise is easy accessible but slightly expensive. Google all the parking available, I'm sure you will find one which is suitable for you.
Hyundai i30
4. Attractions - We bought some through online: Movieworld and Seaworld. At the time of our purchased, there a great promotion for the VIP ticket. Buy 3 free 1. Such a great bargain! Others like the Currumbin wildlife and Paradise Country were bought during Matta Fair. If you buy during the expo, you will have the chance to get promotional tickets like I did. I bought 2 adults and they throw in kids for free! So, choose the methods of purchase carefully and thoughtfully ok.
5. Visa - We received special pricing for Visas. Yippie! One of my closest Uncle works for a travel company and we are able to receive the Visa for a special price.
6. Groceries - Since we are arriving late at night. I had made some groceries purchases online and they will deliver our ordered items to our rooms. The hotel management has been notified of this. So, we plan to have breakfast at our apartment just before out day one outing there. Insyallah. If you want to make some sort of arrangement like this, check out their website here. It's easy and you won't need to kill some time at the grocery or supermarket there.
Basically, that is just some of our planning prior to the trip. With God's willing insyallah, hope that everything will go as plan. The kids and I just started to have a flu bug which I hope will get better in time.
Share with me your plans if any! or things that I may have forgotten. Yikes!
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