Discovering Melbourne, 9 - 13 Oct 2010

The company had scheduled a Roundtable meeting in Melbourne on 11 – 12 October. Originally it was planned that my Manager would be travelling to Singapore for local meetings and then to Melbourne for the Roundtable meeting. However, due to some medical reason, she had to change her travel plan. As such, the company had requested for me to travel for the meeting.

I was delighted and definitely happy to accept the task as every travel is a great learning opportunity for me and also a good chance to meet the clients.

So I booked myself on Qantas flights from Singapore to Melbourne.

Day 1: 9 October, Sat – QF 9 Singapore – Melbourne.

Qantas fly the Airbus A380 on weekend and thus I was lucky to get my 2nd visit on the A380. Flight was smooth and service was great.

Day 2: 10 October, Sunday

Arrival in Melbourne at 6am in the morning. I took the Sky bus from the airport to the city station (Southern Cross Station) and then got a taxi from there to my hotel. I was booked into the Amora Melbourne located at 649 Bridge Road, Richmond, Vic 2131. It was located outside of CDB but very near to the factory outlets.

As it was still too early for me to check into the hotel room, so I decided to do my shopping first. Yes, I had a short list of shopping items to get from Melbourne. My family’s members are great supporter of Jurlique products. It is very costly to buy them in Singapore but in Australia, they cost ½ the price of Singapore. Each time when we visit Australia, we are surely to stock them up.

So my 1st stop was the Chinatown Duty Free shop which is located in Little Bourke Street.

I took the Tram services from the hotel to Swanton Street. It was very fast and easily accessible. I took the opportunity to explore all the shops along Swanston Street. They have everything and anything – from souvenirs, branded goods and essential needs.

At the Duty Free shop, I bought the Jurlique Essential oils and also some nougat for the families.

After a fulfilling trip, I went back to the hotel for the check in and prepared the meeting items.

In the evening, I had dinner with my Australia colleague and the 2 facilitators for the meeting. It was a good introductory dinner.

Day 3: 11 October, Monday

The meeting was scheduled to start at 9am and there was coffee and tea at 8.45am for the delegates. I had the chance to meet up with all my Australia’s clients and greeting them in person made the difference than on the phone. Some of them even mistaken that I was based in Sydney…: )

The meeting went very well throughout the day and lunch was a good time for networking too.

In the evening, we hosted a dinner at Boheme café which was about 10minutes walk from the hotel. Dinner was delicious and the atmosphere was relaxing. We talked and chatted about different topics and it ended on a happy note.

Day 4: 12 October, Tuesday

2nd day of the meeting also went smoothly, no major hiccups. The meeting was closed around 3pm and we bade goodbyes to each other and promised to keep in contact via emails/phones.

In the evening, it started raining, so I packed back dinner and ate in the hotel room.

Day 5: 13 October, Wednesday

Had a morning meeting with one of my new subscribers. It was my 1st solo meeting and I was glad that it went well and took note of area to improve for my next meeting.

After the meeting, I went back to the hotel to pack and got ready to leave for the airport. At the city station, I was hoping to visit the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne. Sadly, it was closed on a Wednesday, so I missed the opportunity to see it.

Thus, I went straight to the airport, did my check in for the flight. As I was still early, I had a quick lunch and did some duty free shopping before boarding the flight for home sweet home.

Melbourne – a place I last visited 10 years ago and re-visiting it give me a sense of belonging and I had really enjoyed this work trip.

I was telling Adrian that maybe Melbourne can be our next family vacation destination….till we meet again,

G’ Day Mate!!

三人行 的 第 3 个星期 天

Today is a super fun packed Sunday for us.

Trial Bento - today morning I prepared breakfast for Anthea and Anders. Last evening I bought the heart shaped cutter for Daiso and decided to use it on the sandwich. Anthea was very happy when she saw the sandwich and said: “mommy, it's very nice.” She said next time she can bring it to school for her tea break. She even chose her 1st bento box from NTUC Xtra when we saw it. Now I am even more committed into Bento..haha.

Volley Ball session – ever since we watched the Channel 8 Drama series “babes,beach,ball.” Anthea seem to fall in love with this sport. Every day she will come home and tell me that she plays volleyball in school. Last evening, we bought a ball from Daiso and she was very happy with the new toy. This morning, we went to the open ground downstairs and played volleyball. Our neighbor gor gor also joined us for the game session. Both Anthea and Anders had a wonderful time and were perspiring so much... : P

I prepared a simple lunch for the children and they happily finished up their lunch.

Teacher Badaria wedding – Teacher Baida was Anthea ex-childcare teacher. Ever since Anthea change childcare, I still keep in touch with her. She is a very good childcare teacher. Today is her wedding and she had invited us for the wedding lunch. So I brought Anthea and Anders along, her wedding venue is just walking distance from our house.

We had a good time at the lunch and managed to catch up with some of the parents. The only regret is we did not get to see teacher Baida at the wedding. We missed her as we went quite late. Still we want to wish the Very Best in her marriage.

The children had their nap late, so we did dinner on our own instead of the original plan of eating at my In-laws house. At the same time, I am following the Olympic Woman Table Tennis GOLD medal contest and Singapore had won its SILVER medal... : )

“Web-chatting”

It has been a busy day for me, as usual...haha. In the morning, I prepared breakfast for the children. Anthea enjoyed her ham & cheese sandwich with scrambled eggs. Anders had his cereal and breads.

Then they went to the neighbor house to play with the big gor gor while I busied with preparing lunch. I managed to cook one of their favourite soup – corn & carrot soup. Also I prepared the steamed minced pork with egg dish. I noticed that whenever our tingkat dinner had this dish, Anthea will keep asking me for more of the minced pork.

The children had a good lunch and I was especially happy to see Anders finished his whole bowl of rice and soup. Usually he will only eat about ¾ of his bowl and said that he is full. Today is really an exception.

Last night we had dinner at my PIL's house and my In-laws was telling me about how nerve breaking it was to watch the "LIVE" woman table tennis match. My FIL said he nearly had a heart-attack...oops...luckily the Singapore Team won the match and Singapore is guaranteed of SILVER for Olympic 2008. Finally, after 40 over years of waiting. Tomorrow there will be a LIVE Telecast of the final between Singapore and China @ 7.30pm. Guess everyone will be glued to the TV.

Also last night for the 1st time, Anthea and Anders had the chance to see Adrian “LIVE” via the video call on MSN. The 2nd hand laptop that we bought does not have a built in camera, so he can only borrow his friend's laptop. Both Anthea and Anders had a great time chatting with the daddy and were happy to see him on air.

Hmm...now that we know that we can be connected via this channel, guess we will need to call Adrian HP lobang soon..haha. Prior to Adrian oversea detachment, I had been advised by Clement and Angie to get a laptop with webcam, I know this is a good option but we didn't managed to get it in time. So for his 2nd trip, we will be wiser.

Bon Voyage to Daddy !!

Today is D day for Adrian to go for his 2 months oversea working trip. He has departed on SQ 326 from SIN-Frankfurt and connects LH from FRA-TLV. At this time, he should still be onboard SQ flight.


In the morning after a good breakfast, we changed and got ready to go to the airport.
This is his 1st time travelling on Singapore Airlines for his working trip. He was very happy about it because he always drooled when he heard our extended families members always travel SQ for business trips... : )

The scheduled departure time was 1345hrs and we were at the airport Terminal 3 around 11am for him to do his check in. He was glad that he did not need to pay extra monies for his slightly excess baggage.

We walked around the Basement of Terminal 3 as this is our 1st time visiting the place. There was a very big food court and quite a few shops around the area. We had a simple lunch at the food court with the extended families joining us.


Adrian felt very appreciative towards his Parents, Brothers and Sisters-in-laws. Well, it has been a family tradition that whenever anyone in the family travels, we will make it a point to be at the airport either to say: Good Byes or Hellos, if time permits. This is how strong the family tie is. He enjoys their companionship and I know he will miss all of them for the next 2 months.

Saying good bye was not easy and I was very worried both Anthea and Anders may cry but luckily, they didn't cry at the point when Adrian went in. When we went to the toilet, both of them started crying...OMG, it was heartbreaking but I knew I must not tear in front of them or else it may worsen their feelings. So I told myself to be STRONG and the tears were all hold back. I try to settle both of them and thankfully, my MIL and SIL were with us at that moment and they managed to help to console both of them. A BIG Thanks mom and Eve and not forgetting Baby Faith for hugging Anders..It was so sweet.


Now I am home alone with Anthea and Anders, I do Misses Adrian ...but for the sake for his career advancement, I know we can go through these 2 months giving each other our Strongest Support.

Wishing Daddy a smooth working trip and a good 2 months stay!!

亲爱的：“一路顺风“

The "Flying TOD"

Just received an email from Eve from her London Hotel –

“Our trip here on the plane was actually pretty good, mainly because Faith was alright throughout the trip. She had her meals, took an afternoon nap and was entertained the rest of the time either playing with the controls & gadgets on the seats or watching Barney on the portable DVD player. The portable player was a godsend, really :) “

It was a reassuring email from Eve, as all of us at home had been quite concerns about our little niece. Although Faith had travelled on airplane for numerous trips covering – Dubai, Beijing and Phuket. This would be her 1st long haul flight that lasted 13 hours. Glad that she did well on the plane, we are all so proud of her. GOOD JOB, Faith!!

Louis is on job assignment in London for 3 weeks or more, so it was natural choice that Eve and Faith will join him. The MNC that Louis works for is very Pro-family - they provide for the family travel and accommodation expenses as well… : )

Faith is officially the Tan Family flying toddle because of the nature of Louis job requires him to travel a fair bit. I always admired Louis & Eve for their capabilities and courages to travel with a toddle, especially when I see the number of luggage that they needed to pack… hee.

Last Sunday evening, we had our usual family (10 + 1 toddle) dinner gathering before Louis, Eve and Faith departed for London on Monday afternoon.

After dinner, we told Anthea and Anders that Faith mei mei will be taking the airplane to London and we will see her again only 3 weeks later. Anthea said: “mommy, I am going to miss Faith mei mei.” I told her: “yes, we will all miss her but 3 weeks will go by very fast and we will see her soon again.”

I am really happy to see Anthea expressing her emotion and feeling openly nowadays.

May Louis, Eve and Faith enjoy their 3 weeks stay in London, especially family bonding time.

Our New Luggage Bag

Nope, we are not going for another holiday….haha.

Recently after our Phuket trip, I was unpacking my luggage bag and realized that there was a SMALL Hole on the bottom of the bag. So I thought that I should try to claim via the Travel Insurance that I bought from NTUC Income for the family trip.

So Adrian went to submit the claim at the office in AMK Hub. He was advised by the insurance agent in order to file the report; the insurance company needed an official letter from the Airline concerned. I called Silk air and mentioned to them about my claim. The Silk air agent referred me to call their Airport handling agent which I did and lodged in a report on damaged baggage.

Last Saturday, the representative from the company came to our house to pick up the “Damage Baggage” and mentioned that they will try to repair it.

On Monday, I received a call from the luggage company and they mentioned that they are sending the luggage back to us. I thought to myself: “wow, not bad, repair is so fast.”

At lunch time, arrangement was made for the luggage to be sent to my office. When I met with the representative, I got a shocked. It was not my “DAMAGED LUGGAGE”, it was a BRAND NEW LUGGAGE BAG and it is BIGGER than my original. I asked the rep, “what happen to my old luggage”, he said: “cannot repair, we replaced a new one. If anything wrong, please call us again.”

I was impressed with the overall service that I had experienced with this baggage issue. The only hiccup was I actually logged in my feedback/comments via the SILKAIR Website but there was no response, so in the end, I called them personally. Other than this, the handling agent response to my call was quite immediate which made me think that standard in the Airline industry had gone up a mark since my airline days.

Okie, it's time to plan for our next family holiday since we have a new baggage...haha : P

"Sawasdee Phuket…"

Adrian is clearing his annual leaves end of June 2008 and he suggested that we should take a family vacation before he goes on his LONG oversea work detachment. It seem like his trip may stretch beyond 2008 till end January 2009.

(Honestly, I hope that the detachment will end December 2008 as original plan. I do wish that he will be around when Anthea starts her Primary 1 in 2009)

Again when work is concerns, we have no CHOICE…sigh: (

Likely, this Phuket trip may be our ACES family final vacation for 2008, so I agreed to his suggestion.

The other factors that make this trip possible are:

1. the mid year BONUS and inflation budget that Adrian will be getting… : P

2. I want the children to spend quality together with their daddy. We will soon miss him for a LONG, Long time.

3. I need to re-charge myself badly, so a holiday and a good rest will be ideal way to do it.

With all these in mind, I started sourcing around for suitable venue for a family vacation.

I am not sure if it’s fated or we are plain lucky – I was browsing the UOB Privileges May 2008 booklet and under the Great Escape section, there were package tours for UOB card holders.

One of the tours caught my attention – 4D3N Phuket Family Special from $1368 per family. The travel agent that organized this package was none other than Jetabout Holidays – this is the same tour agent that we booked our memorable Gold Coast trip.

Of course, my 1st action was to contact the same tour consultant who assisted us the last time. She was very prompt in answering my query and I proposed the package to Adrian and he said OK. So Phuket, here we come…. Haha : )

The other good news is my parents are joining us for this trip….yippy. It has been “Donkey years” since I brought my parents for tour. When they agreed to go with us, I was really happy. For the record, my eldest brother is sponsoring them for this trip…: P

We are now booked on a 4D3N Package and prices includes:

- Return economy airfare to Phuket on Silkair
- Choice of 3 nights accommodation with daily breakfast.
- Return airport-hotel-airport transfers by seat-in-coach.
- Complimentary half day Phuket City Tour.
- Phuket Fantasea Park with dinner and transfer.
- Half Day Phuket Safari Tour with Lunch on Junk.

And the most attractive parts of the package:

A holiday planned for your Kids!

Ride on Elephants
Lunch Cruise
Grand Buffet Dinner at Phuket Fantasea
Free Upgrade / Late Check out *
Children dine free*

So it was really the most ideal package for our family of the young, old and middle age travelers… haha. Chinese say: “老少咸宜“. This is the 1st time that Anthea, Anders and myself are going Phuket, so i think it will be an exciting trip for us.

I am now looking forward to another wonderful family vacation experience.

(ps: waiting for some good "lobangs" from my BIL's family as they just had their holiday in Banyan Tree Phuket... : ) ).