Have Perut Will Travel...: AEROLINE: Penang to KL [Smooth as Silk!]

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Monday, 1 January 2024

AEROLINE: Penang to KL [Smooth as Silk!]

Penang Day 10: We're going home!

10 glorious had passed us by in a flash. Clichéd as it may sound, but time did fly when you're having fun.

We awoke at a quarter to seven confident of making it to Queensbay Mall before 9:30am which was when we thought the Aeroline bus would depart.

Half an hour later I casually glanced at our bus tickets to discover in horror that our bus was departing at 8:30am, not 9:30am as first thought!

With Brendan just about to shower it was a mad scramble to get ready and hail a Grab car. Thankfully we invested a fair amount of time to pre-pack all that we could the night before, leaving only our pyjamas and toiletries to be packed this morning.

We got ready and hailed a 6-seater Grab car for a fare of RM43.00 (approximately USD/EUR) that picked us up at 7:48am.

The Grab driver said we were fortunate to have hailed him when we did since most major roads in town would shortly be closed for a "fun run". He was experienced and knowledgeable who expertly 'maneuvered' his way around the streets of Georgetown.

We arrived at Queensbay Mall at 8:03am which meant that the drive barely took 15 minutes!

As a token of our appreciation for his expert navigation and constant assurances that we would make it on time. We gifted the driver Abang Mansor with a RM5.00 tip (approximately USD/EUR1).

The bus eventually departed Queensbay Mall at 8:35am and drove across the 2nd Penang bridge at 8:50am, and past the Bandar Cassia toll plaza at 9:05am.

The drive was as smooth as silk and a little over 2 hours later we arrived at the Petronas station at the Simpang Pulai R&R for a potty break.

We resumed the silky-smooth drive at 11:15am, but encountered a slow down in traffic half an hour later near the Ladang Bikam R&R. After a while the traffic cleared and we were on our merry way again. False alarm!

Traffic was smooth for the next 2 hours then slowed down again near Rawang due to an accident.

We eventually arrived at the Jalan Duta toll plaza at 1.20pm, the entire journey taking a total of about 5 hours. What a contrast it was to the almost 10-hour ordeal we endured on our trip to Penang!

We then arrived at Corus Hotel at 1:45pm and hailed a 6-seater Grab car driven by Sim Ming Siong driving a new Perodua Alza bearing the registration number VCP9395. We watched him approach us on the Grab app but then stopped at Ascott Star. He then called me to ask for our whereabouts, to which I explained that we are waiting for him at the Corus Hotel.

He insisted that we were at the wrong place despite the Grab app's pin clearly showing the pick up point at Corus Hote. He then began to be verbally abuse us, then cancelled the ride! We then hailed another 6-seater Grab car for a fare of RM27.00 (approximately USD/EUR) and got home at 2:00pm.

We will probably go on another trip somewhere in March to celebrate my 55th birthday, so in the meantime we will post the usual weekend escapades.

I have to work on my New Year's resolution, so take care and Happy New Year everyone!