[ADL 12:04 AM becomes KL 9:34 PM, Dec 17, 2005.]

So this is it – the long anticipated and much awaited Grand Overseas Family Holiday. We’ve had our first flight leg, and, all things considered, it was of a pretty high standard. I’m sitting outside our transit departure gate, and we’ve got about two hours before we leave for the next segment.

The Malaysia Airlines people have got the ADL-KL trip sorted, with heaps of entertainment on the somewhat grainy LCD screen embedded in the chair in front, along with plenty of nibbles and a good airline meal (apparently, not a contradiction in terms). For the price of an overseas airline ticket, and the according discomfort of economy (no-)class, the standard and quantity of food was excellent.

Flying was uneventful. There were a couple of bumpy moments which caused the more excitable among our company onboard to exclaim, but mostly it was smooth sailing. I enjoyed plenty of engaging things to keep myself occupied, from the marathon-length “The Aviator” to the joys of 1000 songs in my pocket.

And now we have arrived at the airport. It’s smaller than I would have thought, with a couple of multinational fast food chains taking pride of place and a glut of top brand fashion outlets strewn throughout. The star-style layout means that the central area can be very samey, with the spokes of the star leading to gates.

The first experience of currency conversion this trip too – AUD$10 gave us RM27.50 to spend. Tim’s fries from Burger King were RM3.60, including tomato ketchup (way different to our beloved tomato sauce) and chilli sauce. My Starbucks frappucino was RM13.00, with cream. Note that Starbucks, despite common opinion, does not rank highly in my esteem of good coffee. In my own very humble opinion, it’s just the taste of fast food coffee to which most Americans are accustomed, made worldwide by successful business planning. I took a few photos but there’s not much more to see around here with real photographic merit.

I’m reminded of the place between worlds in The Magician’s Nephew, C.S. Lewis’ followup commencement of the Narnia series. We’re here, just waiting to be on our way elsewhere. This seems more widely applicable than just travel to me, despite the late hour… Speaking of which, already I have experienced some profound thoughts on the way. I’m sure this is just the first glimpse, but the world is yet huge and amid the magnitude of numbers I seem to pale and dwindle into insignificance.

It’s easy to magnify elements of the travel beyond their deserved proportion. I trust that I’ll find London a thousand times more interesting than the plane trip, but this bit is a stack of fun nonetheless!