I have never been to Miri. Therefore I was very excited to receive an invitation from a distant aunt to attend her daughter’s wedding. So much so I had surveyed the price of the tickets at least 2 months before the given date. My flight options were quickly narrowed down to Air Asia.

Thankfully they have a flight+hotel promo and coincidentally the hotel that I picked was also the reception venue for the wedding. Initially I did not purchase any pre-booked meals for my flight. However, when it got rescheduled, I decided to get Pak Nasser’s nasi lemak for my flight to Miri as my breakfast meal. I did not get any extra luggage because I aim to travel very light for this 2D1N trip.

The total cost for my trip with Air Asia was RM578.49 including tax.

The itinerary was a 0620H take off from KLIA2 on Saturday and arrive Miri by 0850H. Then the flight back is on Sunday at 1540H due to arrive by 1750H. Then comes the question, how early should I get to KLIA2 from Melaka which is a 1 hour 30 mins drive away on the highway. I decided to stay at the Capsule Transit Hotel in KLIA2 (landslide). I parked my car at the Long Term Car Park (LTCP) and took the FREE shuttle to KLIA2. When I came back from Miri, the total parking rate was RM52. You could check the daily and hourly rates at the website. Just remember to pay it with cash.

CAPSULE TRANSIT KLIA2 – LANDSLIDE

I could easily book the room at the airport but several reviews that I read said that it can be fully booked really fast. I did not want to risk sleeping at the airport in the open considering that I am a petite lady, an easy target to get mugged or harrassed. Even by another female. So I made my booking through Agoda which costs me an extra RM20 from it’s usual rate. Even then I was still excited to get the experience and so I just paid RM196 for it. I could stay there for 12 hours which gives me access to it’s services like a bed, hot shower, bathroom, a goodie bag etc. I was elated that they have towels and bathroom slippers. I was also counting on the toileteries in the welcome bag which also has a pair of ear plugs, a bottled water, toothbrush with paste and an eye mask to sleep.

I checked into the capsule hotel just after 9pm – I had dinner earlier at one of the restaurants at the airport. I also did my Jamak prayers at the musolla available near the arrival area before I go down to the Transportation Hub floor (where the hotel was) because I just want to shower and then rest once I get into my room.

The bathroom reminded me of my dorm in boarding school. You bath with a fairly confident looking latch on the cowboy-ish door and hang your towel on top of it. There was hot water, shower gel and shampoo in the bathroom. I chose to stay in an all-female area but I still have to get out of the area to go to the bathroom. I did not know that first time around, so I had taken off my hijab freely only to discover that I need to put the towel over my head because the men could still pass the female bathroom to go to the main door.

Since I am petite, I could actually stand in the capsule room. It has a comfortable mattress, a comforter with two pillows. The only privacy I had was a blind that I could roll down as my door. It can get quite chilly at night despite the closed ‘door’. The area is hauntingly quiet out of everyone there being respectful towards each other of wanting to rest and all. In fact, it was so quiet that I could hear the background buzzing noise of the airport. Hence, the ear plugs to help with our sleep. However, I still felt anxious because although I tried my best to not concentrate on the sound, it still gets to me. Plus, I was so worried that my alarm would disrupt other people from their sleep because we only have blinds as doors. Which leads to a cycle of thoughts where I’d questioned ‘what if I don’t hear my alarm if I put the volume down?”What if I miss my flight?’

In the end I had very little sleep due to my anxiety. I knew I slept because I dreamt there was a sink in the room – which they didn’t but it wasn’t a very sound sleep. It was fairly disrupted. I was up by 0430am. Went to the bathroom to relieve myself and took another quick shower before I checked out of the hotel. I don’t think I would stay here again if I had a very early flight like this one. I would stay if say my flight was at 8 or something because I know I will automatically be up by 6am. Even without the alarm. Giving me more time to prepare myself.

Anyway, since I’ve already checked in online, I just made my way straight to the departure lounge. I kept telling myself ‘no coffee, no coffee, or you’ll pee’ and had plain water instead. I performed my Subuh prayer in the plane just like everybody else. We took our wudhu earlier and just prayed when the time came in our seats. The flight to Miri was uneventful and we actually arrived 30 mins earlier than scheduled.

Later I will share about the wedding and my stay at Meritz Hotel.