I’m in Singapore these couple of days for a Digital Advertising Conference. Aww man getting here was quite an adventure.
You see the conference was starting at 9AM today and at the same time last night in KL there was supposed to be a digital event that I wanted to attend (in the end the event got canceled but that’s another story altogether). So I arranged for me to take the 6.15AM Air Asia flight to Singapore that morning. Do you know what that means?
That means that you have to leave home for the airport by 4AM and wake up by 3.30AM. That means… NO SLEEP. So the night before I got whatever few hours of sleep I could and when 3.30AM came I dragged myself out of bed and to the airport. I wasn’t traveling alone this time. I was going with a number of friends so we all met at the Old Town in LCCT and were having breakfast there somewhere around 5AM plus.
One by one of us gradually arrived at Old Town and we were just chilling there, having breakfast and talking. Our ticket said that our flight was leaving at 6.15AM and the gate closes at 5.55AM. At 5.50AM though Desmond just placed an order for a set of soft boil eggs. That’s 5 minutes before the gate closes. I didn’t think anything of it but I gave a passing remark nevertheless “Wah Desmond… brave ah… living life on the edge ah?”.
5.55AM came and the eggs never showed up. It was about then that we decided it was time to stroll to the gates so we packed up and walked over. When we got there we realized that half of us in our group did the self check-in but didn’t get a stamp that we needed in order to cross the departure gate. We split up, one group led by Desmond and another group led by me.
I waited for them for a while until I realized that I was at the wrong Departure Hall entrance. Singapore was under International Departures but its entrance was all the way on the other side. When I learned that I started walking to the new entrance. Then I got a call from a friend of mine who was the earliest of us all. He was already at the gate. He said “Oi… I board the plane first ah. They’re already calling all your names’.
It was then that I realized how late we were so we ran. Once we got past the security check point we noticed the door was already closed. I ran towards the door and they let us through. I couldn’t see Desmond’s group at all so I thought they were far ahead of us already. So in the darkness of the morning we all ran from one side of LCCT to our plane which seemed to be at the other end. Throughout the heavy foosteps and panting we kept wondering “Of all times…. of all times this time our plane had to be the one at the furthest end!”.
Some 200-300 metres of running later we arrived at our plane. There I stood on the tarmac in the darkness while our plane’s door was already CLOSED. Everything went slow motion for me as I slowly lifted both my hands in disappointment! I had missed the flight just by 10 minutes and probably would have made it IF IT WEREN’T FOR THOSE DAMNED EGGS!!!
Then I heard a voice call out to me. I looked to my left and noticed an Air Asia staff looking over at my wondering what the hell I was doing. She said “Excuse me Sir! Wrong plane. Your plane is over here.” *gestures.
Still in slow-motion I turned my neck to see further down to my plane was another plane parked with its door wide open. The light from its cabin bursting out into the darkness. It was like I just saw the Gateway to Heaven. I breathed a sigh of relief and rushed over there but the nice Air Asia staff “No need to rush no need to rush… still early”.
I got on board the plane and noticed that Desmond and his group wasn’t there yet. So I called Pinky who was with them.
I wanted to ask her to tell everyone to FRIGGIN RUN but she wasn’t answering the phone. I later found out why.
Because she WAS ALREADY RUNNING… along with all of them.
Here’s what happened according to Desmond’s side of the story.
After we left Old Town and split up so that his group can go get a stamp on their tickets Desmond wandered off. First he went outside the airport to have a smoke. After that he strolled back into some shop there and bought some cigarettes. Then he walked back to the place where he was supposed to get his ticket stamped and saw the longest queue there. That’s when he realized that his cigarette was going to be one expensive cigarette. In a stroke of luck he managed to see Pinky at the front of the queue so he managed to ask her to stamp his ticket.
Once the tickets were stamped, madness ensued. They rushed to the departure gate. Once they passed security cheque point and passed their ticket to the attendant at the departure gate the guy warned them “Lari ah! Jangan Jalan !”.
So they did as told. Just like how I had done some few minutes before them. They were running the LCCT Marathon. Every Air Asia staff they passed by shouted
“LARI LARI LARI !!!”
Like they were given so much encouragement they couldn’t stop!
Finally they managed to get to the plane on time. The minute they sat down and buckled up the plane started moving. It was 6.15AM sharp when the plane’s door closed. We had all made it just by a minute or two.
Desmond said this was the first time he had to chase after a plane. It wasn’t mine… but this was one of the most exciting. I’ve seen worse though. I know of a couple who even 30 minutes before their plane takes off in Penang they can drive out and have breakfast at a Bak Kut Teh stall nearby.
Do you guys know anyone like that who’s very chill on taking flights?
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space