Alhamdulillah end of September 2010, I went to Hershey, PA to attend a 4-days conference. OK let’s not touch about work & business part. The original plan (Plan A) was to bring Abang, Afnan & Ayman together. But as the air fares were way too expensive beyond our affordable limit (approaching total of RM20k; huh), we omitted Plan A and moved on to Plan B: Mama goes to PA alone, while Papa will take care of the kids in Penang. It was a tough decision, but we keep on praying to Allah hoping that this was the BEST AVAILABLE OPTION for us.
Well, the route to PA was not easy though:
BTU –KUL (Kuala Lumpur) 2 hrs (MAS)
KUL-LAX (Los Angeles) ~17 hrs (MAS)
LAX-IAD (Dulles, Washington) ~5 hrs (UA)
IAD-MDT (Harrisburg, PA) ~1 hr (UA)
I enjoyed the trip, but it was very tiring and adventurous (as Abang was not around with me). In fact, if Abang is around, he will ensure everything is well-prepared and information is available in-hand: ticket, boarding pass, passpost, money exchange-rate, kiblat’s direction, prayers time, where to shop, internet connection, luggage etc...Abang, as much as I could, I’ve proven that I can be independent too ;p
Probably it’ll be more meaningful if Abang, Afnan and Ayman could join the trip. But, Allah Knows The Best. I really really missed them and my families throughout the trip. I really optmised the free time there; went to the Factory Outlets, Hershey Chocolate Factory, Tour To: Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Walk of Fame, Santa Monica Beach etc..etc.. Among all, shopping at Factory Outlets was the most ‘stressful’ activities..the items sold there are way too cheap to be resisted; hehe..Luckily there’s limit for luggage allocation for the flight.
As a compulsary routine, we communicated via Skype every single day! 9 pm PA time, 9 am Malaysia time. It was a relief to see both Afnan and Ayman dah siap mandi and pakai smart-smart each time we Skyped. Good Job Papa!
However, no matter how sweet or how nice Hershey Town meant to me, “Hujan Emas di Negeri Orang, Hujan Batu di Negeri Sendiri, Baik Lagi di Negeri Sendiri”...sounds like anti-climax, but that’s the reality. I missed my homes...bak kata Afnan ‘1Malaysia untuk Semua’..haha
p/s: looking forward for family vacation next yearJ; which is purely non-work-related
