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| Daybreak from the Executive Floor of the KL Le Meridien Hotel |
For the prior chapters of this adventure:
What HKG is to lounges, Kuala Lumpur is to good hotel
deals. KL is easily one of my favorite
long layover cities. It’s modern,
shining, and yet very affordable. We
stayed at the Le Meridien in KL sentral, and it didn’t disappoint. Our group of travelers included 3
Marriott/SPG platinum, and so we were able to assign the rooms easily enough
for us all to have access to the excellent club lounge.
We arrived off of our CX flight into KUL after midnight local time, and so we missed the last train into the city. This didn't seem to be that big of an issue at the time, since Uber rides are notoriously cheap in KUL, there were 3 of us to split it, and it was only supposed to take about 45 minutes, which is only 15 minutes longer than the normal train ride.
In case you couldn't tell from that set-up, there's a 'but' on the way here. First off, our Uber pulled up and it was a sub-sub-compact car. Even though we travel light, it was a tight squeeze to get all of us in along with our luggage, much of which ended up on our laps. But it got worse from there. As we drove along, it really seemed to be taking more time than it should to get to KL Sentral, which is on the closer side of the city to the airport.
Our fears were confirmed when I looked out the window and saw the JW Marriott go by....which is not in Sentral, and we decided against specifically because it was less accessible from the airport! By now, mind you, it's about 2am, and we're in traffic in downtown Kuala Lumpur in a clown car, being smothered by luggage. What I wouldn't give to be back at The Pier right about then....
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| I took this same picture 15 months ago on my last mileage run through KL. Traditions. |
We finally got to the hotel by loading maps on our own phones and giving the confused driver turn by turn directions in broken English and and a fair amount of improvised sign language. Mind you, he did have his own Uber app...but whatever...this is mileage running. Local time is now closer to 3am.
Thankfully, the LM hotel at Sentral is beautiful, modern, and offers good service even in the early hours of the morning. We got checked in, and after a quick shuffle to make sure we got our Platinum SPG members in the group signed on to the rooms for lounge access purposes, we were good to try and get some sleep. By this time, it's closer to 4am, but finally we're comfortable.
Mind you, with the jetlag its' really about 11am for us, so even getting some sleep took a bit of adjustment. I think I got about 4-5 hours' rest, before getting up to start again. I had a lunch meeting at the Hilton next door, so I had to try and be somewhat human for the occasion. Side note- I eventually got back from the meeting to find my travel compatriots still in the same place I left them in the lounge still chatting about planes & trying to figure out just what the heck was going on in the non-subtitled tv show playing on the nearest flat screen. No one saw an issue with this. Mileage run.
First stop, of course, when you need to recover from the ravages of mileage running is....back to a lounge! In this case, the excellent club lounge on the top floor of the hotel. As SPG platinum we had complimentary access, complete with a generous buffet that included made to order omelets, noodles, congee, and miso, as well as a full English breakfast, fruit, and any number of other dishes. In the evening, they host a several hour happy hour with food and drinks.
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| Part of the breakfast buffet |
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| Dim Sum |
We ate. We ate a lot. (for free) I won't lie, I felt the judgment of the chef preparing the made-to-order menu by the time I made my 3rd trip up to see him, but mileage running has made me largely immune to the scrutiny. I figure if I'm flying around the world in a weekend, then how many kinds of soup I want to try for breakfast is really the shallow end of the potential life choices judgment pool here.
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| Congee & Soup fixings |
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| 1st Course (of three..about) |
Given that we had a less than 20 hour layover, and were headed back to the airport that afternoon, we pretty much spent the time sleeping, hanging out in the lounge, and with a few cans of Carlsberg by the pool. Absolutely no regrets were had. Pro tip- anywhere in SE Asia just about, you can make a beer run for a fraction of the cost of hotel prices, even cheap SE Asian hotel prices. Pro pro tip- there's a 7-11 in the KL Sentral train station across the street from the LM hotel.
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| Ahhhhhhh...... |
Having more than learned our lesson on the way out, we took the train back to the airport. It was indeed an easy 30 minute ride right to the terminal. In short order, we got checked in for our onward flight to CMB on Malaysia Airlines, and headed out to the Golden Lounge for the next round of food & drink. Remember what I said about my lack of shame when it comes to free mileage run food? Well, it still applies.
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| Made to order service at the KUL Golden Lounge. Whatever this was was delicious! |
After this last stop in KUL, it was time to head out for our next flight. After several phone calls, a call back from an agent in Malaysia at 4am Los Angeles time, and paying an additional $8, I'd secured an exit row for the next three hours, which was some welcome leg room. On the more exciting side, this was our last economy flight, and took us to the first Qatar Business class flight of the trip! But first, we had to negotiate our 12-3am Columbo layover.... which is coming up next.
~CruisingAltitude
