Korea Trip – Hotels Searching (Part 1)

Date: 20th May 2013

When May is approaching, it is time to think of where to stay in Korea. After considering that this time of travelling is together with kids, we have decided not to go to Jeju Island (although deep inside my heart I so much wanted to go). Really hope can visit Jeju Island in the future!

 

As promised by Hubby, besides holidays with the kids, this round will be a shopping trip for ME! Haha... So I told him to stay near Myeong-dong so that the shops are just within my footsteps. He surveyed a few hotels nearby Myeong-dong, finally we found one which can fit in our requirements for a family trip stay and also within our budget. It is the Nine Tree Hotel at http://www.ninetreehotel.com/. Their website is very tourist-friendly too!

[Nine Tree Hotel provides enjoyable experiences, comfortable rest spaces, and reliable services to its guests. Nine Tree Hotel is a new business hotel run by Parnas Hotel Co., Ltd., a premier hotel company that owns and operates Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas and InterContinental Seoul COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul.]

This hotel really provides very good before sales service. Whatever small questions or requests which I have, they will reply to me promptly. Thumbs up to their good hospitality! I do hope that their after sales service will be as good as well. They even suggested to me to book the hotel rooms at other online hotel booking websites instead of direct booking with the hotel as the price offered will be much cheaper. Thanks for the tips on this!
 

We booked the ‘Family Twin’ room. According to the hotel’s staff, this room is good enough to fit our Family of Four (2 adults + 2 kids). Below are some photos posted on the hotel’s website. From the photos, the room looks quite decent. Hope the actual room will look this nice too ~

 

 

 

 

I very looking forward to experience it myself in this hotel. Hope they do not let me down.

 

Online reviews by previous travellers commented that the hotel room space is very small. I guess as much by looking at the photos provided on the hotel's website. For the price we have paid, I do not expect it to be a luxury stay too as long as the room is comfortable. Just a room to sleep at night and a bed for the kids to rest when their Mummy is out for shopping... Hehe!

Finally, after comparing at a few websites, we made the booking at www.agoda.com.

Price offered at Agoda.com (5 nights): MYR 2,214.07 (USD 732.74)
Price offered at Nine Tree Hotel (5 nights): 968,000 Won (approximately MYR2,626.00)

Total savings: Approximately MYR 412.00

 

OK.... to be continued ~

Family Trip to Korea!

Date: 20th September 2012

I was browsing through some information on Korea only to realize that it has been 8 months since we booked our air tickets to Korea. Eight months ago, a sudden decision of going for holidays came into the mind but at that time Nico was still too small to travel in such a long-hours flight. So to travel during that period was a bit too troublesome for the little baby. So last year, I did not manage to travel for holidays.

Coincidentally I bumped into AirAsia promotions with the travelling dates for second half year in Year 2013. It was quite a sudden decision, without really sit down to consider where to bring the kids, I bought the air tickets to Korea for our family of four. Thinking that it was a long trip and flying with Airasia X, I bought Nico one seat for himself instead of putting him under infant group.

Time flies! During that time when I bought the air tickets, deep inside the heart was thinking... 'Aiyo, one more year to go, still a long way! When date is nearer only think about it.' And now, it is only 3 months++ away from our holidays. Excitement seems stronger from day to day. And the planning shall start from now I supposed :) A 7-days trip... seems a bit too long. Hope the boys can take it!

Our total spending for the Air Tickets to Seoul for 4 people is RM2,896.00.

My sister's family was supposed to book the same flight with us to go to Korea. But she was late in the promotions bookings. So her family will be flying with MAS and we will meet up in Korea as the air tickets price at the time she wanted to book for MAS and AirAsia were about the same price, around RM5,200.00. So they chose to fly earlier with MAS and we will meet each other at Seoul then. Thinking of the 4 kids can go for holidays together again, it is really a joyful thing! We are sure the 4 kids will enjoy each other companion very much. So looking forward to it :)

After some survey and discussed with Hubby, in April, we have decided to upgrade our seats to AirAsia X Premium Flatbed. More about this premium flatbed upgrade information can be read at: http://www.airasia.com/my/en/inflight-comforts/seat-options.page?section=airasiax#flatbed

We paid a total of RM1,248.00 for 2 ways which the price looked reasonable to us. But the down side of this is that you can only know your status of upgrading 1-3 days before the departure date. Fingers crossed! It will be a bit too troublesome if we get to know that status only when the departure date is so near. If the upgrade fails, meaning I need to rebook my seats numbers, in-flight food, luggage, etc. Just hope that we got to upgrade the seats so that at least the boys can sleep comfortably in the flight. Praying hard for it! Hehe... :)

Note: If we do not get to upgrade the seats to the Premium Flatbed, the fee is refundable.

Total amount spent as of now for the flight tickets: RM4,144.00 (included the Premium Flatbed upgrade fee).

Counting down to the holidays time!

Wife or Mother? Or Whatever?!!

Okay... today I on leaves again at home. Reason being to take care of Kimi who is suspected to have HFMD at his school. I got a call this morning when I reached office, informed by Kimi's nursery's Principal that she found an ulcer in Kimi's mouth. So she suspected Kimi might be one of the victims from their recent HFMD cases at the school. She asked me if I was convenient to pick up Kimi from the school and to bring him to seek doctor's consultation. I replied to her, Okay.. I will settle some work at office and try to be back at the school in half an hour's time. Alternatively, they will isolate Kimi from the rest of the children while waiting for me to pick up Kimi.

Well, after I reached the school, I saw Kimi's mouth to be covered by a face mask. He ran towards me and informed me that, 'Mummy... I am sick! You see... I wear a mask.' He jumped up and down while teacher was explaining to me where was his ulcer, etc... Okay... enough of all those, I told her, well, I will pick Kimi back home then.

I brought Kimi to a child's Specialist clinic nearby. After a thorough check by the doctor there, Kimi was a totally healthy boy with no symptoms of HFMD at all. The tiny little dot in his mouth is not an ulcer. Actually it has been with Kimi for some time already. Doctor explained the medical term of it to me, but I couldn't remember the exact name of it. Doctor after that told me, Okay, in layman term, treat this tiny little dot as some sort like a birthmark in the mouth. Hehe... A good explanation though :)

So, there goes my one day leave at home with Kimi. Of course, he enjoys it and he does not need to go to school and can spend the rest of his day with his Mummy!

From this incident, I have a sudden thought of... Why every time when problems happen or any sudden/emergency arrangement which is not in the plan, the person to look after is always the Mummy? Why Mummy must always sacrifice in this picture? Mummy also needs to work... Mummy also needs to find salary... Mummy also needs to cook for the family... Mummy also needs to pack the nursery bag for her child... Mummy this and Mummy that! But why must be Mummy? Why once a while, Daddy cannot comes into the picture to lessen the burden be it just a little bit only? Why occasionally Daddy cannot be the one to answer the sudden call and be there for the child?

Today, I use my blog to grumble a bit so that I can shout out my the imbalance mindset I have right now. When can a hubby start to appreciate the contributions of a wife (to him) and a mother (to his children) openly? People celebrates Father's Day, Mother's Day, Teacher's Day, etc... but why is there none a day that hubby celebrates big for his wife on a Wife's Day? Woman... after married, I think work for 365 days in a year non-stop for her family.

Yes, we do go for holidays... If without the kids, mind is always left at home to think of what are the kids doing at home... Do they have enough food? Do they sleep enough? So a holiday equals to no holiday ..... If holidays with kids, worse! Then woman will be a 'slave' for the kids during the holidays. Change for them, carry them, feed them, etc... A supposed to be holidays, end up become a 'slave' day... Yeah, I must admit, although it is tired, holidays with families can be happy and enjoyable at the same time! So with this happiness, a woman feels contented with her holidays despite the tiredness throughout the holidays. And this woman which I mentioned here, is ME! Silly right??!!

Sigh ~ I am not sure what I am writing here but just want to let go some of my feelings recently. Perhaps I am just too tired on my daily work, or perhaps I am not good enough to be a wife/mummy... Or perhaps... I need a break??

Okay... enough of grumblings... I think this is the first time I am using my blog to grumble on my daily life. Haha! Hope I won't be doing this again on my future blog posts... :)

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

 
Kimi appreciates his Mummy on this day, but not his Daddy! It is okay... I will make sure on Father's Day, I will do back the same thing to him! Treat it like a normal day for him too... Although I know he won't mind all these type of celebrations at all, I still want to tell him that.... Oops, Hubby, sorry ya, I forgot today is Father's Day! Hehehe.... I am very childish right??

From Kimi to Mummy with Love ~

A recent self-portrait of myself at my office when I was too bored doing some work ~ This year marks the 10th years of working in this office... Will I have another 10 years? Mmmm.... pondering ~

 

Okay, life goes on….! Tomorrow will be a brighter and sunny day !
Happy Weekend to everyone ~