Boo-Boo #1: Lost paperbag
I'm usually a pretty meticulous traveler who doesn't make stupid mistakes like forget airtickets, misplace bag keys, etc but this time, when we went to Penang for the Penang Island Jazz Festival, I was a basket-case, a loser (literally), a stranger - even to myself. I hate to write about this but I think getting these issues off my chest will make me feel better. A result of my Catholic upbringing, I guess. You know, how a confession always makes you feel better? Only this time, we're not in a confessional, I'm not on my knees (yet) and you're not a priest. Are you?....

This entry is titled Boo-Boo #1 because there were THREE boo-boos. Sigh... here goes.... By the way, there will be no pictures in the next three blogs because noone was in the mood to take pictures.

December 1, 2006 - the day we flew to Penang. On our flights from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur, from Kuala Lumpur to Penang, Roger struggles to manage the following:
1/ two suitcases,
2/ one guitar bag,
3/ one (carry on) backpack,
4/ one carry-on bag for his guitar equipment,
5/ one pouch for airtickets, etc

... while I am in charge of just one thing - a paper bag, containing Christmas pressies for my friend's kids.

By the way, did you know that when you fly on budget airliner, AirAsia, the bags don't check all the way through Penang. We have to take them out, then check 'em in again. Traveling's tiring, it doesn't help that our stopover in the LCCT KL (Kuala Lumpur Low Cost Carrier Terminal) was more than three hours long and we started the day at 5am that morning to catch the 7am flight.

So by the time we get to Penang and organiser Paul (Augustin of The Capricorn Connection) picks us up, we are tired. I'm ready to hit to sack. When we get to the hotel room, I suddenly remember my sole charge, the blasted paper bag. and we start searching the whole room for it. I swore I had it with me in the airport, that I had put it in the organiser's car with us when we loaded our stuff in his car, and that I had brought it down from the car. Roger begins to worry that I had placed it down somewhere in the lobby and someone might have stolen it by now. So he goes down to the secretariat and alerts the organisers and they all begin a hunt for the bag because Roger is probably freaking out about it.

Meanwhile, I am upstairs in the room - sleeping - because it had been a long day. The day started at 5am, we had an early morning flight to KL and later a connecting flight to Penang. By the time we got to the hotel room, it was 4:30pm. I wake from the blissful nap at 6:30pm, call Roger and ask him about the paper bag.

They did finally find it - in the car. I had forgotten to bring it down...