ESL Blogs

On 14 January 2015, once again I had to travel to Sandakan to attend a meeting. Since there was only one direct flight to Sandakan, as usual, it was going to be a 2-day trip. I reached Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) with an ample time to spare since I had checked-in through my mobile. 

As you may have known, it's a monsoon season in Malaysia, so it's always raining, though lately it was not that bad. The flight was 2 and 1/2 hour, and there was no in-flight entertainment. So I spent my time reading book. Thank God I brought along two books with me because I just realised I accidentally brought along a book that I had finished reading when I was in Thailand. Hmmm.

When we near our destination, suddenly the co-pilot made an announcement that due to severe weather condition in Sandakan, we were unable to land at the moment. So, we had to be on air for a bit longer, maybe 15 - 30 minutes depending on the clearance from the Sandakan Airtraffic Control. Ok! with so many negatives news recently, I felt it's better to be late than sorry. Thank God, I arranged for the meeting to be held at 3:00 pm, so I still have the time to meet with my colleagues in Sandakan before convene for the meeting.

Due to various issues, the meeting took longer time than what I've had anticipated. So it ended around 5.30 pm. When I reached my hotel, it was already dark, and it was still drizzling. So I didn't go anywhere that evening except to go to a nearby restaurant to have my dinner. 

The next day, the rain didn't let up. It was very wet and windy day. So, again I can't go anywhere. Thus, I arranged for a transport to the airport a bit early. I didn't want to face of long drive just in case a few of the roads to the airport were inaccessible of which had happened yesterday.

When I reached the airport, basically I just loitered around the airport and doing nothing much. When it was time to enter the boarding room, I think I was one of the first to do so. I was waiting eagerly for the announcement that it's time to board the flight, instead, the ground crew informed everyone on the boarding room that the flight was delayed for 15 minutes. Hmmm! 15 minutes. It's ok! I can take that since it just stop raining, so maybe it was delayed because of the weather.

But after about 20 minutes, the ground crew made another announcement saying that due to technical reason, the flight was going to be delayed for another 1 hour. We were allowed to go out from the boarding room, and to be back in one hour. Everyone started to be talking to each other, and started to go out from the boarding room. 

After about one hour, we were allowed to board to aircraft. But I noticed it was a bit warm. The Chief Stewards made an apology for the delay and informed us that we will be taking off shortly. After securing the seat belt and everything, we waited and waited and waited for the aircraft to take off. Instead, the pilot made the announcement that due to technical reason, the flight had to be cancelled. He asked everyone to disembark from the aircraft and to contact the ground crew for further arrangement.

I had no other choice but to disembark. It was already more than 2 hours from the scheduled take off. Once disembarked, I just sat at the airport seats waiting for the flurry of activities by other people trying to make alternate plans with the ground crew. It's no use to jostle with all other people because the limited numbers of ground crews that able to handle the situation.

After about 15 more minutes of waiting, I went to the ground crew and asked for alternate solution. I was given two options; 1. To go to Kota Kinabalu with the last flight at 7:15 pm and will reach Kota Kinabalu around 8 :30 pm. Then I can connect to Kuala Lumpur with the last flight from Kota Kinabalu at 11:30 pm and reach KLIA at around 2:00 am. Or I can stay in Sandakan and get tomorrow's flight.

Both options were not agreeable by me since there was no way I want to drive back to my house at 2:00 am after a tiring day, and I don't want to wait another full day in Sandakan. Thus, I asked if it was possible for me to stay in Kota Kinabalu and take a morning flight from Kota Kinabalu to KLIA. I was glad that the ground crew agreed with my request, and informed me that the hotel arrangement and ground transfer will be handled by their ground crew in Kota Kinabalu airport.

Thank God everything went according to schedule the next day. I reached KLIA around 12:00 noon. However, when I reached my car, I noticed one of the tyres was flat. Apparently it hit a nail. Gosh! I went back to the car park counter and asked for help to change the tyre. I reached my home at around 1:40 pm.

It's true that when it rains, it pours. That what had happened to me last week. 

Note: 

The phrase "When it rains, it pours" means when something good or bad occurs, it usually occurs more than once and often within a short period of time.