Boo-Boo #3: Lost Identity Card (I/C)
I'm not even sure I can post this info legally in a blog without dire consequences but a confession's a confession and this has GOT to be the worst of all three.

December 4, 2006
Countdown to KL - Penang flight departure: 2hr...
A van brings us from the resort to the airport that last day. Before we leave the hotel, the van driver reminds us, "Brought everything? Passport? Airticket?" I ignore him, just like I ignore safety briefing on planes before take-off.

Countdown to KL - Penang flight departure: 1hr...
It usually takes 30-45 minutes to get to the airport from the resort but we get caught in a jam in town, a nasty car accident involving four cars! We arrive at the airport, hurriedly thank the driver and have our bags scanned at security. Walking to the airline check-in counter, I search my wallet for my I/C because we have to check in using that. Not there. I look elsewhere. No luck. I tell Roger.

Color drains slowly from his face.

All I remember is this: On our first day in Penang, I had taken my I/C out from my wallet and had it put in a new little black pouch. I hung the pouch on my brand new AirAsia lanyard - which we bought onboard the budget airline plane on our way to Penang. I put it in the black pouch because I didn't want to leave my I/C in the hotel room just in case I needed it. But by the end of the day, my neck was sore from the heavy lanyard: both phone and pouch were hanging off it.

So the next morning, I put the pouch (with my I/C) in the room safe deposit box. Decided I really didn't need to have my I/C with me at all times anyway.

That's the last thing I remember.

Standing there in the middle of the airport, with the contents of our bags spewed all over, I look at Roger and manage to whimper a very pathetic, "How?..." That's exactly how I feel: very lost, very helpless, very pathetic, heart sinking very fast.... It's like when you were in school and your teacher announced, "Test today!" and you've completely forgotten about it. That second of realisation, that resignation, the defeat...

Roger makes a desperate call to the organisers to look for my I/C in the room.

Meanwhile, we ask the airlines if I can make it back to KK without my I/C. I can still board the Penang - KL flight, they say, because I have my driver's license with me and flights between states in Peninsula Malaysia are "domestic".

I can't, however, check-in for the KL - KK flight because KL - Sabah / Sarawak flights are not considered domestic flights. I have to have at least my I/C or my passport. And even if the airlines DOES let me go onboard this KL - KK flight, the KK immigration won't let me into the state without neither document.

Rog and I discuss our options if we didn't get the I/C in time:
(1) that he flies home first and I forfeit this KL - KK airticket. That I'll stay in the airport hotel in KL and wait for the organisers to drive back to KL the next day and hand me my I/C. Then I buy a new ticket and fly home OR
(2) I forfeit this KL - KK trip, get a new ticket from KL to Labuan (since Labuan is technically a Federal Territory and I don't need ID to get in and it's much closer to KK) instead, stay there with family and wait for Roger who'd go home first, get my passport from our safe deposit box in KK and fly to Labuan OR
(3) we beg and sob at both AirAsia and Immigration counters...

Countdown to KL - Penang flight: 45 mins
R gets The Call from the organisers. They found the pouch - in the safe deposit box and they're rushing over to the airport immediately. But it usually takes 45 minutes to drive from Batu Ferringhi to the airport. And we had just ... 45 minutes left before the plane takes off.

We sit at a restaurant, anxiously waiting. We hear the boarding call. I look at Roger, he looks me.

We decide I should board the plane first, carry his hand luggage (backpack and equipment bag) while he wait for the organisers who are on their way to the airport. Then, once he gets my I/C, he'll run all the way to the plane. We ask the organiser, where are you? Gurney Drive.

Countdown to KL - Penang flight: 30 mins
I struggle with his backpack and his equipment bag and make it to the departure gate. I explain to the airline people that my husband is outside waiting for something urgent and if they can hold the plane till he boards. They are diplomatic, they'll make the announcement first and after two minutes, he doesn't show, they'll close the gate. The bags are heavy, my heart's heavier still.
I settle in the plane, reserving a seat for Roger. The cabin crew ask us to switch off the phones, I put mine on silent mode and wait anxiously for Roger's call. What if he misses this flight? Then I'll just wait in the new low cost carrier terminal in KL for him. He'd have to buy a new Penang - KL ticket. What if we miss the connecting KL - KK flight? Then we'll have to buy new tickets. I can't bear the thought of leaving him alone in Penang. He couldn't bear to leave me alone in KL. This suck big-time.

Countdown to KL - Penang flight: 15 mins
No sign of Roger.... I begin to get really, REALLY worried.... Every passenger is onboard, the crew is counting heads, I hold my breath....

Countdown to KL - Penang flight: 10 mins
He walks in!!! But he's shaking his head. He says the organisers called, they are stuck in a jam downtown Penang and can't make it. Roger can't wait any longer. He sprints to the plane. The minute Roger walked into the plane, the crew shut the door.

He barely put his seatbelt on when the plane begins to taxi down the runway. AirAsia Flight AK6315 took off at exactly 14:55:00. A damn record, if you ask me.

KL
Throughout the flight, we run over all options again in our heads. What ifs. We land in KL airport and wait for our luggage.

Then, I have a brainwave. For the first time in five months.

I call an ex-colleague, the Front Office Director of the resort I used to work in, Mike T, on his cellphone. I'm diverted to his voicemail. I call his office's direct line. His secretary say he's in a briefing. I ask for his assistant. He's resigned, she say. ARGH! I send Mike a text-message, explaining what's happened and asked for his advice. I brace myself for more waiting.

Almost immediately, Mike answers my message, What other documents do you have with you now? I say, just my driver's license. He answers quickly, make a police report at the airport. Declare lost I/C. Fly home with the report and the driver's license.

Gratefully, I tell Roger Mike's suggestion. He's doubtful. Can it be that simple?

We collect our bags and head for the police room in the airport. We tell them about the "lost" I/C and they are so helpful. Mike calls me immediately after his briefing, consoling me, telling me it's OK, there's no problem at all.

Long story cut short, we get our report, check in at the airline counter, hold our breathes, waiting for rejection. None came. It is smooth-sailing all the way home.

YAY MIKE T!!!!!!

Roger calls me an illegal resident now. But we're just glad we're home together.