Langkawi Islands

(This post is for you, E. Be warned…)

When the Noramlys travel, you can almost guarantee that things will not go as planned. Over the years, we have, between us:

had a passport stolen in a foreign country (daughter and me on separate occasions), been in a traffic accident that totalled a 4WD (me), broken a collarbone (me), missed planes and trains (lots of us), been robbed and dragged behind a car (me), narrowly escaped arrest for immigration violations (me), been involved in a massive airline strike and stranded for hours at airports and spent days trying to get home (all of us), been booked on a flight out of Beijing that didn’t exist and consequently had to commuter hop across China to Ulan Bator (husband), arrived without luggage (all of us, but particularly husband who actually rarely arrives with his luggage), been on a plane that turned back twice over the Pacific for mechanical failure (husband; on the third try he was almost the only passenger on a huge PanAm jet), been refused entry to Italy and narrowly escaped deportation (daughter), been caught in the middle of revolutions (husband and me, several times in different countries), been turned back by floods (husband and me), been on a plane that suddenly aborted a landing into Caracas in a rainstorm at the last moment, without explanation (husband and me), had someone take her bag by mistake at the airport and take it to his hotel (daughter), have a bag stolen at the airport (me), had numerous bags rifled by airport employees (all of us), spent a holiday in the Sahara in December on the only days of the year it rained (husband and me), been lost trekking in the Sahara (daughter), had the boat we were on start to sink (husband and me). I could go on and on.

So how did my daughter’s visit compare this time? Here’s the list:

Luggage didn’t arrive, even though they were arriving on different flights from different places.
Luggage had been broken into and camera memory stolen.
On way back, a sculpture was broken.
Daughter – bad cough and not up to par for the first week.
Son-in-law – very bad food poisoning.
Grandson – broke his forearm.
Sis-in-law who came with us to Langkawi broke blood vessel in foot and couldn’t walk.
Daughter suddenly realised that her passport contained a stamp that said she couldn’t use it again, just before she was due to leave for Australia. This necessitated frantic gathering of necessary documentation, waiting in queues etc, only to be told that she needed a new Identity Card first, which meant more frantic scurrying around and waiting – great way to spend a holiday. And don’t forget, there’s a two year old involved here.

Yep, we all had a great time.

But if you ever travel with the Noramlys, be careful. Be very careful.