It was the eve of our month-long tri-country trip with our toddler—our first out of the country with the kid. There was still hesitation within me, knowing how hard this trip would probably be—our son being at the peak of his Energizer Bunny phase. But crossing fingers, we are indeed pushing ahead with Backpacking With A Kid 2023.
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| ALL OUR BAGS ARE PACKED AND READY TO GO |
Penang is our first destination. We’ve been to this Malaysian city countless times before, but we really don’t mind. We absolutely love Malaysian food, and Penang is one of the gastronomy centers of the country, as we can attest with our previous Penang food trip. Also, we’re visiting the Akira’s grandparents who resides near Georgetown, its historic center. We’re hitting two birds with one stone, so to speak.
Only problem is, there’s no direct flight from Manila to Penang. We’d have to do this the long way. It’s gonna be a litmus test of what’s to come for the next thirty five days.
MANILA TO KUALA LUMPUR FLIGHT
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| AKIRA AND HIS NON-STOP ANTICS AT NAIA TERMINAL III |
Cebu Pacific Air has a daily evening flight from Manila to Kuala Lumpur (5J501). It’s at nine in the evening, perfect for people who wants to maximize a weekend off in KL. But for us with kids, it’s a bit of a mix.
The pros, our toddler can sleep the four-hour flight off—one less problem for fidgety kids. We, of course, have to take care not to wake him as our plane lands in KL for our connecting flight to Penang. The cons, well, he wouldn’t be able to enjoy riding the plane and seeing the map from below and the fluffy clouds. Well, there’s always next time. We have a lot of flights in the coming days for all of those things.
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| CHECKING IN AT CEBU PACIFIC AIR |
As is our custom, we arrived early at NAIA Terminal III. We made our check in online, but we were given random seats, so we requested for adjoining ones at the check in counter—which they easily obliged to. Well, unless someone else is willing to take care of our kid while we enjoy the flight, we really don’t mind, lol. We also dropped our luggage with no hassle.
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| RELAXING AT MARHABA LOUNGE |
We initially thought of doing our usual Jollibee route before flying out, since it’s gonna be a month of no Chickenjoys for us, but we decided to utilize the airport lounge instead, since I have free access. Free food wins, lol.
In all fairness, the Marhaba Lounge, even with its limited choice of dishes, always has excellent food.
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| FLYING TO KUALA LUMPUR VIA CEBU PACIFIC’S AIRBUS A321 NEO |
We flew on time. Like our Manila to Boracay flight, we boarded an Airbus A321 Neo. I really like this plane, even with its non-reclinable seat, it feels a lot more comfortable and spacious. And more importantly, it has a USB charging slot, perfect for recharging our phones while watching a Star Wars series en route to KL.
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| A SELFIE IS IN ORDER |
We also have meals for our flight—this can be pre-ordered 24 hours before traveling—and was promptly served to us as the seatbelt button was turned off. Spam Nori for me, Char Siu Chicken for Blissfulguro, and Pinoy Spaghetti for Akira.
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| CEBU PACIFIC AIR’S INFLIGHT MEALS |
I love the Spam Nori, which has a thick slice of Spam and scrambled eggs with nori. The veggies balanced the meal. The Char Siu Chicken was just okay for me, while the Pinoy Spaghetti is what it is—sweet spaghetti topped with hotdogs and grated cheddar cheese. Our son loved it.
As expected, Akira slept the flight away. And as expected, he woke the moment we landed at Kuala Lumpur, lol.
KLIA2 MALAYSIA LAYOVER
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| TOUCHDOWN KUALA LUMPUR AT ONE IN THE MORNING |
We arrived in KL at past 1AM, and our flight to Penang was still at 6AM. We roamed the empty halls of the massive KLIA2, past closed shops and a few open ones.
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| JOLLIBEE OPENING SOON AT MALAYSIA’S KLIA2 |
We were looking forward to this part of our trip, as we miss Marry Brown’s fried chicken, but alas, there’s no more Marry Brown in KLIA2. We saw a huge tarp with Jollibee’s Chickenjoy covering a shop though, Jollibee is finally opening in Malaysia! But, it’s still under construction.
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| SLEEPING AT AIRPORTS WITH A TODDLER |
We decided to simply sleep the remaining hours off until the gates opened for our flight.
KUALA LUMPUR TO PENANG
We flew via AirAsia from KL to Penang, since there’s no Cebu Pacific flight to Penang. It went without a hitch—quick and uneventful.
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| PENANG, FINALLY! |
Within an hour, we were touching down at the tarmac, getting our bags, and finally boarding a Grab cab to the hilly suburbs of Tanjung Bungah where BG’s aunt lives. Grab, by the way, is really cheap in Malaysia!
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| FIRST LEG OF BACKPACKING WITH A KID 2023 |
I could hardly keep my eyes open, being too tired and sleepy from almost ten hours of traveling. But finally, we’re on our first leg of our trip, and so far, our toddler has been a very well-behaved boy. A good start, definitely.
CEBPAC HAS DAILY FLIGHTS FROM MANILA TO KUALA LUMPUR
