The initial idea was actually a trip to Turkmenistan for all of us to visit my husband Mohd Fairusham who has been working there since December 2008. It's a rare opportunity to go to this unheard of country before, so it's best to go while he's there. Then the issue of Letter of Invitation (LOI) came up. Only immediate family members were allowed and would get LOI from the Turkmenistan Government to enter the country. So we changed our minds, let's go to a midpoint country between Malaysia & Turkmen, everyone spends a week there for a good vacation and then my kids & I join my hubby in Turkmen while the rest return home. Choices were Bangkok (too near), Abu Dhabi (too expensive n not very interesting) and Istanbul (Yup, a good tourist spot!) So Istanbul it was, and we started fixing dates, checking leave availability, scouting for cheap tickets, hotels and got our own travel checklists sorted. We managed to get MAS Supersaver tickets for all and very afforable apartments via Booking.com, most by coincidence though. I also surfed TripAdvisor.com for more tourism info on the country. Tickets & accommodation matters were sorted out by end October 09.
After that, we started shopping for winter clothing. I settled for minimal purchase, since we won't be needing these clothing very much after the trip is over. Then going through the checklist one-by-one, from applying my unpaid leave, preparing work handover notes, changing currency, preparing the travel documents, clothing packing, to foodstuff for my 1-month stay in Turkmen and other stuff (books, toys, games) for the kids to keep them occupied. As time went by and the date drew closer, the excitement built up until the day finally arrived, 22 Nov 09!
But wait, an unexpected crisis occured during our flight check-in. Me & kids only had one-way tickets while the rest had return tickets. My onward ticket to Turkmenistan was with my husband who purchased it via Turkmen Airlines. This was a problem we did not anticipate. Me & kids were not allowed by MAS office to board the plane, saying that we would face problems at Istanbul immigration upon arrival, which required either a return ticket or an onward ticket. My father met several MAS officers and finally the Duty Manager to explain that we had onward tickets but with my husband who will join us in Istanbul. He had to convince this officer that we had onward tickets, he had to call my husband in Turkmen (alhamdulillah my dad's HP had roaming, mine didn't!) and do more and more convincing. After almost an hour, the office finally let us go with some letter documenting the booking reference no of the onward ticket given by my husband via SMS. *pheewww*
The irony of it all was that, some weeks before, my husband wanted to join me only 4 days later due to leave issues. But at the last minute, he managed to get his leave and thus able to join us on the same day 23 Nov, just 3 hours later. The duty manager informed that me & kids cannot exit the immigration without this onward ticket and had to wait until my husband arrived at Istanbul. Alhamdulillah he managed to join us on the same day and waiting 3 hours at the Istanbul Airport immigration is not as bad as 4 days!
So here we are after all that, waiting to board the flight to Istanbul scheduled at 12.30 am 23 Nov 09. And in 12 hours, we'd be there!
After that, we started shopping for winter clothing. I settled for minimal purchase, since we won't be needing these clothing very much after the trip is over. Then going through the checklist one-by-one, from applying my unpaid leave, preparing work handover notes, changing currency, preparing the travel documents, clothing packing, to foodstuff for my 1-month stay in Turkmen and other stuff (books, toys, games) for the kids to keep them occupied. As time went by and the date drew closer, the excitement built up until the day finally arrived, 22 Nov 09!
But wait, an unexpected crisis occured during our flight check-in. Me & kids only had one-way tickets while the rest had return tickets. My onward ticket to Turkmenistan was with my husband who purchased it via Turkmen Airlines. This was a problem we did not anticipate. Me & kids were not allowed by MAS office to board the plane, saying that we would face problems at Istanbul immigration upon arrival, which required either a return ticket or an onward ticket. My father met several MAS officers and finally the Duty Manager to explain that we had onward tickets but with my husband who will join us in Istanbul. He had to convince this officer that we had onward tickets, he had to call my husband in Turkmen (alhamdulillah my dad's HP had roaming, mine didn't!) and do more and more convincing. After almost an hour, the office finally let us go with some letter documenting the booking reference no of the onward ticket given by my husband via SMS. *pheewww*
The irony of it all was that, some weeks before, my husband wanted to join me only 4 days later due to leave issues. But at the last minute, he managed to get his leave and thus able to join us on the same day 23 Nov, just 3 hours later. The duty manager informed that me & kids cannot exit the immigration without this onward ticket and had to wait until my husband arrived at Istanbul. Alhamdulillah he managed to join us on the same day and waiting 3 hours at the Istanbul Airport immigration is not as bad as 4 days!
So here we are after all that, waiting to board the flight to Istanbul scheduled at 12.30 am 23 Nov 09. And in 12 hours, we'd be there!
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