A Kuala Lumpur summer - Three of us in Melia Hotel

There were 3 of us in this KL trip and my friend recommended the Melia Hotel due to its location. This is one convenient hotel alright because the Bukit Bintang monorail station is really literally just outside the hotel. Oh and just opposite the hotel is Berjaya Times Square as well!

The Melia Hotel is a 4-stars hotel according to some websites and the room is indeed reasonably spacious. Well, at least there is enough space to add one more bed and we can still walk around freely!



The only problem we have with the Melia is perhaps... their service. These were what we hated:

• We specifically asked for a non-smoking room in our booking but still we were given a smoking room due to "hotel fully booked and not enough rooms". Hmmm...
• When we made the booking, we already specifically asked for extra bed because there were 3 of us. Of course they ignored this request as well so we requested for the extra bed again during check-in (and of course agreed to the additional cost). After checking in, the counter staff told us the extra bed will be sent over to our room shortly. Well, it didn't happen when we returned to the hotel later, and we had to ask for it again, and also to remind them the third person need to bathe as well.

The doormen and porters were friendly and helpful though!

A Kuala Lumpur summer - Why drive to KL when you can take a coach?

Seriously, I own a car, but I've never driven up north to KL before. Why drive when I can take a coach? Firstly, I don't have to prepare small change for kopi money along the expressway. Secondly, I don't have to prepare all my cash and valuables for the robbers/kidnappers/car-jackers along the way.

Ok, I know if I drive, I might be able to reach KL in 3 hours, compared to the 4-5 hours journey on a coach. But hey, these days the coaches going up north are getting better, so it's actually not so bad wor!

On this KL trip, we're taking the Aeroline from Harbourfront. It is not our first time taking Aeroline coach, but they seems to have improved their service since the last time we took their coaches, which is really cool. And did the fare goes up with the improved services? Seriously, I don't remember how much we paid previously lah!

So we started off by booking our tickets online. It's a flat rate of SGD50 per trip, you can choose from the different timings they have, and you can even choose your seat! Machiam buying air tickets lidat!

On the travel date itself, we just had to bring the reservation slip or number to the Aeroline counter to collect the actual boarding pass and then wait for the coach.

So what are all these services that I was talking about?

• You get one bottle of mineral water.
• You get a small cup of 3-in-1 coffee/tea/milo.
• The meal has improved from fried beehoon/pasta to airplane-quality 3 mini-course meal. I said airplane-quality, so don't expect gourmet standard lah, but still edible lah, and very filling (at least for us).
• Instead of the previous everyone-view-the-same-video on the common TV, now you get your very own entertainment system that consists of some of the latest movies, music (didn't try this because I have my own mp3), and even simple games (looks kiddish but I caught my friend playing at some point. Guess they are good for passing time lah).
• THIS is my favourite. You get a powerpoint to charge your handphone/notebook/tablet or whatever! Now THIS is really useful for a 4 hours journey.

After the 4 hours ride, we ended up at the Corus Hotel which is good if your hotel is somewhere near it. Else you'll have to pay a charge-as-they-like taxi to bring you to your hotel, like what we did.

Oh, one note on travelling to KL though... try not to come back on a Sunday night, unless you don't mind adding another hour or two to your journey back... whether by car or by coach...



P.S.: This post is not sponsored by Aeroline and there're lots of other coaches going from Singapore to KL. I've tried Grassland but didn't really like their service, but I heard Transtar is not bad. So go try try bah!