Honey, remember that time we wanted to kill the kids! – Family Travel – Travelling with kids

Over the last few weeks I have shared some pretty awesome experiences that we had with the kids from our recent holiday to Asia. We went to Hong Kong Disneyland, Ocean Park Hong Kong, Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary , Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, Macau and plenty of other stuff in between. By now you might be thinking I’m one of those blessed mothers who’s children are always so well behaved……. I wish. Now here’s our experience from the KL Hop On Hop Off Bus.

Well, now I will fill you in on the last day of our holiday, that just did not go to plan. Our flight home was cancelled a few weeks prior to our holiday, so we extended the holiday and went home the day after we had planned. We had done so many fun things with the kids that I decided that on this last day, seeing as it was a bonus, that we would do something I wanted to do! How silly of me…..

I decided I wanted to do the KL Hop On, Hop Off bus which incorporates most of the major sites of Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur does great food, the kids in particular love Malaysian food and this tour also visits Chinatown and Little India. I thought it would be best if we got an early start and got in as much as we could before we had to head back to get ready to met my friend. The main things I wanted to see were Chinatown, Little India and the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park & the Butterfly enclosure which also houses the Orchid Garden. Sounds easy right……

Cost for the KL Hop On Hop Off Bus

To book your own experience I highly recommend using Klook KL Hop On, Hop Off Bus Tour, you’ll secure a competitive price and it will ensure you get the date that you are looking for.

KL Hop On Hop Off Bus

This is how it unfolded!

We slept in, the one day the whole holiday that the kids slept in, even though I had scheduled late starts throughout the holiday, this day I wanted to get away at a reasonable time so that I could fit all that I wanted in. By the time we got organised, went out and had breakfast it was 11am, not the early start I had planned.

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The Kuala Lumpur Hop On, Hop Off Bus.

I had over planned this holiday right down to the finest details. For some reason I hadn’t researched how we would get on the bus. I asked the waiter at the place we had breakfast and he told me to go to the information booth across the road & that they sell tickets there, awesome the stars had aligned and the universe was going to help me get this day back on track! Bahahaha! The information booth was unmanned, the employee had gone for lunch, at 11am. Did I mention at this point that its stinking hot? We stood there for 15 mins until one of the shop owners told us to go around the corner and there is another booth there. So off we went, whinging, tired, feral & hot kids in tow. Getting to the corner we realised the bus had arrived so we had to make a run for it.

The fella selling the tickets saw us running and held the bus for us which was the nicest thing that happened all day. We got on the bus and thought right, lets settle in and look out the window and take in the new awesome sights. I was very excited as it was the place that I hadn’t been to so everything was new to me and I just wanted to sit and watch everything going on around me and take it all in. We went upstairs and got some seats up the front as that’s where the kids wanted to sit. But were they happy, no of course not. Caelan wanted to sit on the back seat, Keira by the window on the other side that we were sitting and Alannah well not sure what she wanted to do but it certainly wasn’t sitting quietly and taking in all the new surrounds. So its fair to say, I’m getting arsy by now! Did I mention it was stinking hot…..

By the time we got to Chinatown they were lucky I didn’t grab them by the arm and throw them down the stairs and out the door. It might have been the heat that was frustrating me but I felt like everyone was looking at us thinking look at those spoilt, naughty western children, I was so embarrassed. We get off the bus in one piece (all of us) and Caelan melts down because he needs water right now. So we get a bottle of water from the convenience store which is never more than 2 steps away. Give him a drink of water, then the girls start fighting about who’s drinking next…. Then Caelan starts screaming because Alannah is drinking too much and he wants another drink. OMG, I’m about to explode. I walk off towards the market and Craig deals with this one.

KL hop on hop off bus
At Petaling St Market in Chinatown.

Into the market we go. Some of the shop workers are following us and putting things in the kids hands and then trying to encourage us to buy them. The kids are easily taken advantage off and of course continue the sales pitch with ‘can we have it mum, please, please, please’…’No give it back’…’please’…’no’…’he said I can have it’ the kids say. By this time Craig’s getting shirty! He pulls the kids aside and says ‘do not take anything off anyone’. The said very generous man is then following us apologising for getting the kids in trouble. OMG can this day really keep getting worse. I wanted to get a handbag but ended up getting a couple of scarfs. It is fair to say without hesitation, that the kids were beyond feral! They had been on the road for 18 days by this stage and did I mention it was hot!  We ended up turning around and going back to the bus stop as the kids wouldn’t listen about touching stuff and we were getting ridiculously stressed by it all. Think we were all a bit tired. Of course we just missed one of the buses and had to wait 30mins.

Next stop Little India. Right kids got the spot on the bus they wanted and things were looking up. Off we go….. Why did we get off the bus, Little India was nothing special and we really should have stayed on the bus. So we have a very quick look and hurry back to the bus stop and just missed the bus! So this meant that we had to wait another 30mins. Keira had the most feral of all feral tantrums here at the bus stop. Everyone was laughing, except me of course who was ready to strangle her!

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One of the stores in Little India.

Back on the bus, off to the National Palace. The bus has an indoor outdoor area at the top of the bus. Kids carried on a treat because they wanted to sit outside but there were no seats so we couldn’t but they wouldn’t let up. By this time I wanted to bury my head in the sand and disown them, it really was disgusting the way they were behaving. At the National Palace the bus waits for you and you can wander around and take a few photos and get back on the bus which is awesome. We took some photos and headed back to the bus a bit early so that we could get a seat outside upstairs so hopefully the kids would just shut up, just for 5 mins.

KL hop on hop off bus
The National Palace.

Awesome, great seats kids are happy. Happy kids, happy life (happy wife, happy life!) for 5 mins ‘everything is awesome’ (Lego movie). I’m in my happy place, taking in the sights in peace. I took a couple of photos of us so that I could remember something good about the day. Then it happened. The heavens opened, torrential Asian downpour. We scramble inside, and those people who were sitting out there earlier were probably thinking suffer in your socks that’s what you get for stealing our seats. That’s what I would have thought anyway! Of course there were no seats inside so we were spread out with Craig and I standing in the aisle. Thanks kids glad we got those awesome seats outside!

KL hop on hop off bus
On the bus, when everyone was happy! That sure changed!

Next stop, the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park. This was my number 1 thing to do in Kuala Lumpur, if you have been following this blog you will know I’m a little bird crazy, I love them, especially colourful parrots, that’s my inner nerd! We get off the bus in the torrential rain and stand under a covered bus stop and the rain is coming in side ways and we are getting soaked. I am squelching in my shoes, I mean soaked from head to toe. This is so much fun. By now Craig and I are starting to niggle at each other. I’m saying lets get on the next bus when it arrives and Craig wants to sit out the rain, as he knows if we leave, I’m going to be really disappointed about missing the bird park when we get home.

KL hop on hop off bus
Check out that rain!

So we wait, I could not believe how heavy the rain was and how unbelievably soaked we were. The kids were getting irritable as we had been standing in the rain for ages and there was no sign of it letting up. We must have stood there 30mins or more but all of a sudden we were saying ‘do you think its clearing up?’ As hoped it cleared enough that we could run from the bus shelter to the covered area outside the Bird Park, we stopped there for an ice cream and then went into the park. We purchased discounted tickets on the bus only to get to the entrance and find out that he had only charged us for 2 adults and not the 3 kids. Maybe he thought they belonged to some other poor unfortunate souls!

The Bird Park was lovely, I was glad that I did it and I even got to hold a macaw, so all my Christmases had come at once. We had a photo taken with all the birds which of course was lovely. The kids were great entertainment for anyone in the line to have their photos taken, as they were a little frightened of the birds and were yelling ‘take it away’ during the photo shoot.

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The famous Bird Park photo. Kids are freaking out with all the birds.
KL hop on hop off bus
Me in my happy place! Love birds, we had a pet Lorikeet just like these ones.

So we headed back to the hop on, hop off bus and reboarded. Just as we got on the bus, it started pouring again, great timing, at least this time we weren’t standing in it! We were then advised that we were heading into peak hour on the roads. I had to meet a friend from work that evening at 6.30pm as it was our last night in town and I had organised to catch up. So we decided to head straight back to the apartment as it was 4pm and it might take a while to get back. The traffic was horrendous. Like Sydney M5 on a bad day on steroids! We spent 45 mins at one right hand turn intersection and that was only part of it.

It was getting closer and closer to 6.30pm, kids were over the bus, not only were they confined but it also wasn’t moving much! We managed to pick up the buses wifi and told my friend we were running late and reschedule for 7pm. The bus finally got to the Petronas Towers at 6.45pm and we were looking good for being in Bukit Bintang at 7pm. Until the bus driver come and told us that this was the last bus and that we would have to disembark…… What…….

So we had to walk the last kilometre back to the apartment, still squelching in our wet shoes, luckily our clothes had dried off. We went back to the apartment and quickly changed our clothes. The time was now 7.15pm and we still had to walk down to Bukit Bintang. By the time we arrived at the agreed meeting place we were over 30mins late and my friend had gone. So just to add to my pretty average day, I was now unable to contact my friend as I didn’t have his phone number and I had no wifi to contact him on FaceBook.

The kids then elected to have dumplings for dinner as it was our last day. We went to a lovely chinese restaurant and the waiters were amazed at how many dumplings our kids ate, I think Alannah could eat her body weight in dumplings if I let her! Considering the day we had, we had a lovely family dinner and after dinner we got an ice cream for the way home. Needless to say I went to bed early that night and I was very glad to see the back of that day!

KL hop on hop off bus
Last family dinner, we did have a lovely dinner.

See, not everything goes to plan! I have only included happy photos for your review! Have you ever had an awful day with the kids when travelling? Please share in the comments below so I can have a jolly good laugh at your expense! And don’t forget to subscribe to our blog for regular updates on what we are up too.

Happy travels,

Sal.

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This Post Has 9 Comments

  1. Lynda

    So funny, Sal. You poor thing! At least you can laugh about it all now. Love the photo of you with the bird.

    Lynda

    1. Sally

      Thanks Lynda, it was a rough day! Made for a good post though, suppose that was worth it! Thanks, those birds were so friendly.

  2. Aimee

    Caelan’s face with the birds! hahaha Great post Sal.

    1. Sally

      It was pretty funny! Kept everyone waiting for their photo entertained!

  3. Natalie

    Oh I think we had snippets of your day each day we were in Europe! Every morning I would wake up and think “so who is going to cause the most trouble today?” They seemed to play up the most when we were on water- we took a cruise on the Seine in Paris and a few ferries and boats in Croatia and each time they misbehaved. But I kind of got mummy revenge- while Miss 5 was fighting with Miss 7 on the London Tube, I caught the action on my phone camera and now have footage that I will keep forever and show them whenever I want to embarrass them!

    1. Sally

      You will get good mileage out of that Natalie. It was just one of those days, it was the last day of a 3 week holiday and I’m not much one for sitting by the pool on holidays so they were getting tired by then! I made all the excuses in the world but after speaking with my friend I do honestly belief if its not something that interests them they will misbehave because they are bored. Its funny you know because I was sure they were going to love the hop on hop off bus. Lesson learnt! Other than the couple of bad days in Europe it sounds like you had a lovely trip, lucky girls experiencing Europe.

  4. Wendy Kerby

    Oh that was such a funny read. It reminded of a holiday I took with my kids to Qld, my daughter (8 at the time) got stung by a bee (she’s allergic), my son (5 at the time) nearly drowned in the swimming pool two seconds upon arriving, I had to jump in fully clothed to save him and later he was chased down the Marina Mirage pier by 30 (yes 30) Japanese tourists wanting to take his photo! I was chasing after him worrying he was run off the pier! Ah they certainly make a holiday memorable!

    1. Sally

      LOL the paparazzi! I bet the nearly drowning episode wasn’t so funny at the time either. Funny how we can look back on these things but at the time we wanted to kill them! If there’s a hop on hop off bus in HCMC, I think I will give it miss this time, maybe risk it again next year in Singapore. They will be 11, 9 & 7 yrs by then. Hope you are recovering well from your jet lag, looking forward to all the posts as the holiday looked awesome.

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