July 30: Return flight

It was a great sense of relief when we finally touched down at KLIA. My anxiety wasn’t really over until we had passed through Malaysian immigration (checked personally instead of DIY electronic identification, as we had a child with us; myself all ready to explain with letter of authority from her parents and copies of her British birth certificate and notification with Malaysian High Commission, as well as copies of parents’ passports as well); collected all 3 suitcases and went through the Custom’s Green Lane and FINALLY handed over custody of Jun to her grandmother without her crying like how she did when we were at the departure area in Heathrow airport.

On the day of our departure for KL, we left Dartford around 10am as we promised Nee that we would send her back to Canterbury. Though her things were already in Brighton, she had to clean up the place before handing over the house keys to the landlord.

In Canterbury, we had lunch at Marks & Spencer’s Kitchen, M&S’s new restaurant outlet, which is proving to be popular. In fact, at GBP5.99 for a cooked English breakfast (two sausages, bacon, two eggs and toasts) with proper tea (unlike most hotels and restaurants) it was value for money.

I took over the wheel for the journey from Canterbury to Avis’s drop-off centre near Heathrow airport. Beng navigated with directions copied from an internet source. By the time we reached there it was past 3.00 pm and after sorting out the inspection and payment, by the time Avis’s shuttle van took us to Terminal 3 it was almost 4.00pm, more than 4 hours before our flight at 8.30pm! A lot of time is required when travelling international, especially when we had to allow for unfamiliar routes and likely traffic congestion, which M25 is now famous for.

The idea of having to look after a three-year-old girl during our return flight with two transit stops spanning almost 24 hours did bother me. It was at the back of my mind while I worry over the ‘Ba Chang’ on my way there.