Around South East Asia: Part One

In which I got readied for travelling abroad (post lock-down)

The year 2022 was about to complete and my plans had been getting cancelled repeatedly. Finally, I booked the Women Special Singapore Malaysia Tour of 6th Dec 2022. I wanted to club it with Thailand but never mind. I never plan small tours since it's a once in a year thing, but something is better than nothing. The visa process was not as tedious as that of Europe. I just had to submit the documents to the Veena World Booking Office, and I was sorted. The documents included: passport, full vaccination certificate, last six months' salary statements, leave sanction letter, last six months bank account statements, passport size photos as per specification rules by Singapore and Malaysia. Other documents like hotel reservations, flight bookings, etc were taken care of by Veena World. While I had submitted the documents on 1st Nov, 2022, I was eagerly waiting for the visa mailers. Since this is a group tour and the visa application is online, the documents were sent in the group lot. Days passed by and I am a person who does not start the preparation until I receive the visa. Finally, I received Malaysia visa on 25th Nov 2022 and Singapore visa on 29th Nov 2022. The Dec 2019 fear was still there but if you want to travel, you must take the risk. For the first time, I had to pack for 7 days and that too without my heavy woollen and yes with an umbrella! I had already decided not to do shopping or buy any souvenirs. Still foreign currency was a must. I purchased 200 Singapore Dollars and 200 Malaysian Ringgits from Vasai Office on 2nd Dec. We got a WhatsApp message from our Tour Manager Mandar Jadhav. It elaborated on the Reporting Time and Place on 6th Dec, Airlines and baggage details, Foreign Currency, etc. Tour Details of Day 1 were also included in the message. One duffel trolley bag and one handbag were my luggage. I always pack as much luggage as I can pick up on my own. Well, the packing style varies from person to person. The most important thing to be packed was the PASSPORT. I gave one set of passport and VISA copies, flight details, hotel details and itinerary to Mummy. So, in this way I got ready to realize my international travel dream (post lock-down) for the next 7 days, make new friends, get to know more about the places I would visit, capture memories in my camera and my eyes and have loads of fun.

Departure from CSMIA (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai): 06.12.2022

My passport was checked, and I entered the Gate 2. I queued up for the boarding pass of Malaysian Airways. Here I met the first person on tour, Leela Barelia. I collected the boarding pass and checked in my luggage. Done with this, we proceeded for the Security Check and then the Immigration Counter. Then we reached the Gate No 78, traversing through the arrows and escalators. I had dinner at McD in the meanwhile. The boarding started at 11:10pm and we queued up as per zone indicated on our pass. I called up mom and informed that the flight will take off at 11:45pm and my next call will be tomorrow after reaching the location. We were welcomed by the Malaysian crew. We were flying to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I had a window seat. My neighbor was Varsha Parab. We got our headphones and security instructions displayed on the screens. 

The Malaysian MHO 195 seats were divided as AC | DEFG | HJ. My seat was 42A. The screen displayed the map with distance and time statistics and the travel route. As the plane took off, I saw the million lights view of Aamchi Mumbai from my window and bid goodbye to India. The meal was served at 12:30am: mix vegetable sabzi, rice, half roti and slice of cake. 

I watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone for a while and then dozed off. I felt suffocated and woke up all of the sudden at 4am, went to the washroom and splashed hot water on my face. Then I could not sleep at all. It was already morning in the sky since we travelled 2:30 hours ahead of the IST time. So, I was watching the view from my window, land and sea and a rainbow too. As the plane descended towards the Kuala Lumpur Airport, I viewed the series of palm trees. Finally, the plane joined its flock at the airport terminal. We got off from the plane assembled at a location and Mandar gave the further instructions. We then queued up at the Immigration Counter to get our passports stamped after the biometric check. Mine took a longer time; they doubted as if I had run away from home. The same was the case at Mumbai Airport last night. Few questions were asked on whether this is my first international tour, and I said this is my 11th country. Post checking the UK and Schengen visa, I finally got the stamp. And ofcourse the Malaysian visa. We proceeded towards the luggage belt. We picked our belongings, freshened up and walked towards the arrival gate. The couch captain Mr. Kumar and Malaysian tour guide Yeeshwari welcomed us. We boarded the bus, luggage was loaded and started our journey in Malaysia, truly Asia! 

Co-travelers do share in your experience so far in the comments below.

Read next: Around South East Asia: Part Two