Newly wed!

Saturday will be a day to remember, it's the day Beata and I got married! Lots of pictures were taken, but they are not at our disposal just yet, they're being developed by our professional photografer Aloha (whom we flew in from Bangkok). So we, as well as you reading this will have to wait patiently to see pictures from this magical day.

It was in some ways a very stressful day with a packed schedule. Early in the morning we had our first photo shoot down by the beach, after that there was just a small window before there was time for "the villa shoot" in our beach villa at Westin hotel. After that Beata had to sit with the make-up artist plus fix her hair and dress. By 18.30 we got a ride in something that can only be described as a golf car (Nelly loved it) to the pier where the ceremony were about to start. Just one more photo shoot with the sunset as background and then the ceremony started.

"Bottles & Cans" by Angie Stone feels like "our song" so that was the one we'd chosen to play as we walked up to the... I don't know his official title but the jolly guy who was about to conduct the marriage ceremony. He talked for a while about mutual respect and what not, I don't really remember because I was mesmerized of how stunning Beata looked with the gentle Malaysian sea breeze toying with her hairdo. Nelly was of course also present, wearing a pink and white princess dress plus a ribbon in her hair... well she ain't got much hair, but you get the idea. Right after the ceremony our babysitter Gaya took her back to the villa so that newly wed mom and dad could enjoy their dinner.

The always smiling Westin personnel set the table (we're still on the pier that you can see on top of this blog). The food was unbelievable. My memory fails me right now so I can't tell you exactly what we ate. But the starter was tuna something, and then a juicy steak with mashed potatoes & grilled vegetables. And the dinner ended with a creme brulé look-a-like-kind-of-thing.

After dinner we were offered a ride back to the villa but Beata and I felt like walking. When we got back home we found out that the Westin staff had "prepared" it for us while we're gone. There were roses from the front gate leading up to our bed on which we found a present to us, as well as a beautiful heart shape made out of even more roses. I don't know what they were implying ;-) . Plus we got champagne and chocolate covered strawberries, it was beautiful. And since Nelly was sleeping we had all the time in the world to enjoy it, which we did out by our own private pool which was decorated with roses, candles and balloons. It was magical. A perfect ending to a very special day!

Many thanks and best wishes to everyone in Langkawi who helped us with the event and to all our friends and family back home who thought of us on this special day.

From hell to heaven

Kuala Lumpur was no hit for us. Not that I dislike the city, I'm sure it's great, problem is I was busy doing one of the following.

• worrying about my daughter
• cleaning up vomits
• talking to the hotel doctor

This morning when we're on our way to the hotel reception to check out and leave for the airport she threw up again. God I hope it was the last time. Poor little thing.

Anyway, long story short, we've traveled from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi and checked in to Westin Hotel, and tomorrow we are getting married here!!! And this place is a big slice of heaven, I kid you not. Finally this is starting to feel like vacation! What a place Westin is, you really have to be here to believe it. Our villa is huge, (if tipsy one could probably get lost in the bathroom). It has it's own private pool, and from the pool we have a panorama view of the sea. And what's even more important, Nelly seems fine again. Please, please, please stay well angel. Tuesday and Wednesday are not days that Beata and I ever wanna experience again, they were tough! The luxurious surrounding that we are now enjoying at Westin feels very well deserved.

Nelly feels fine again!

Today was a great day. Nelly was feeling fine all day long, smiling as always and flirting with everyone we met. In fact, everything felt so back to normal that mom and dad could hire a baby-sitter for the evening and enjoy a nice late dinner at the poolside restaurant.

We didn't get to see much or do anything special in Kuala Lumpur at all, but what a relief that she feels better again!

The Frequent Flyer

This is our fantastic Nelly traveling! Picture taken at Arlanda while waiting for boarding.



She succeeded to charm everyone she met on her 3 days long journey to Kuala Lumpur.





In Frankfurt she made a new friend in Maxi.

Beata's friend Zielak and her husband Daniel, who live in Frankfurt (can you belive our luck!), took care of us when stupid Lufthansa failed to. Zielak and Daniel were fantastic to say the least, words can not express how grateful we are to them for everything they did for us under our 48 hour stay in Germany. We hope that 'll get the chance to reciprocate.

Unfortunately our little Nelly is still sick, 2nd day now. We're doing everything we can to make it go away as fast as possible. The doctor at Mandarin Oriental Hotel has been great, hopefully the medicine will start working soon so that Nelly will smile again like she usually does.

Nelly

Our wonderful, precious Nelly is sick.

First impression of Kuala Lumpur

Wow, people here are really friendly and service minded. Nelly is already a super star over here. After checking in at our hotel it was time for dinner. It was getting late, Malaysia time (for us it felt more like afternoon). Anyway while we are eating I can't tell you how many from the staff that came by our table to play with Nelly. One of the waitresses started playing hide-n-seek with her and also carried Nelly around while mom and dad enjoyed their food. Nelly was introduced to the entire restaurant staff while we ate and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Something similar would never in a million years happen in Sweden.

Lufthansa, no thank you!

I like planning and I like to do it right. As we travel with our 11 months old daughter, we decided to keep on the safe side when possible. For example we bought plane tickets for the trip early, and by early I mean September last year!

We had three basic requirements:

• to be able to take a baby stroller to the gate (very convenient and necessary to be able to handle a long trip, especially if you have to change your plane and wait a few hours in between your flights).
• to book a baby cot on the plane
• max. one stop on the way to Kuala Lumpur (in our case Frankfurt).

After paying quite a lot extra for all the luxury mentioned above, booking the seats and a baby cot for five months in advance, I was hopeful that even though the trip is long, it is going to be quite smooth.

Unfortunately I was way off! Once we reached Arlanda, we had to fight to be able to take the stroller with us and when we finally succeeded to convince the check-in personnel about our right to do that (directing them to Lufthansa’s own rules and customer service), they found a way to punish us: we were made to throw away 25 jars of baby food because our suitcases were too heavy.

One might think that the beginning of the journey was rough enough, but one would be wrong! Our flight from Arlanda was delayed two hours and when we finally reached Frankfurt we were told that our Kuala Lumpur flight (which was also delayed by the way and still at the airport) refused to wait for us ten minutes!! And that is how we missed the 13 hours long flight.

After watching lots of American movies I had this illusion that as compensation we are going to be moved to business class for the rest of the trip, offered nice drinks and fly the next possible flight. Well.... business class my ass! Not only we didn't fly the next day, but we also didn't get seats next to each other and had to fight like lions in order to get a baby cot for Nelly!
The best offer that Lufthansa could come up with was to make us wait in Frankfurt for 48 hours and they were willing to pay for one night at a hotel! They refused to pay for lunches, dinners as well as the second night in Frankfurt while we were waiting for the flight they booked for us.

As if this was not enough while we finally were flying to Kuala Lumpur, we got to know that we had to make a stop in Bangkok and leave the plane for one hour, just to go through a stupid security control again and get back to the same seats…

I’m not sure what was my mistake – that I planned everything too carefully or that I have chosen Lufthansa!