My new and old passports are side by side.
I went to the Urban Transformation Centre to renew my passport.
The Urban Transformation Centre offers a
wide range of government services besides
renewal of passport.
The office of the Immigration Department.
You can have your photo taken here free of
charge.
My passport expired last year. As we are in the midst of a pandemic and traveling out of the country was very difficult, I decided not to renew it then. Since Sarawak has opened its doors to international travel from 1st April 2022 onwards, I renewed my passport last month.
Early last month, I went to the Urban Transformation Center to have my passport renewed. The Urban Transformation Center is a relatively new concept where government agencies offering services to the public are located in one place. It is in fact a stop center for the public to receive services from different agencies in a single location. To make it even more convenient for the public, this center is even open during the weekends and certain public holidays. Besides getting my passport renewed here, I can also renew my driving license, pay my road tax, assessment rates, and other bills as well as a wide range of other services.
The whole process of renewing my passport was a breeze, and everything was so organized despite the need to comply with SOPs. I did not even have to fill in a single form, all I had to do was to bring my expired passport. I also had my photo taken here free of charge. After about one and a half hours, my new passport was ready. Since I am considered a senior citizen, I only had to pay RM100 instead of RM150 for my new passport which is valid for 5 years. This is one of the perks of growing old.
Now that my passport has been renewed, I faced a dilemma. After two years of not being able to leave my country, should I travel now when the world is just opening or should I wait a while 9and see what happens) and only leave the country next year?
My daughter works in a factory and it so happens that during the Gawai (Dayak New Year) holidays in June, the factory is scheduled for a shut down for maintenance works. The timing is perfect as this also means that my wife need not take too many days of leave. We have more or less planned for a holiday in Thailand as it is not too far away. The only decision left to be made was to either visit Phuket or Chiangmai. My daughter has not been to both places.
If I were to follow my heart, I would immediately pack my bags and go in June. I have been stuck in Sarawak and I have been itching to go for a holiday overseas. If I am planning to travel in the future it might as well be earlier rather than later. I won't have to worry about making plans for next year and will not miss out on other opportunities that come up between now and next year.
If I were to follow my brain (the rational and logical part of me), then there will be other issues to consider. The main issue is to leave my autistic son Jonathan at home. We already have a housekeeper and she will be able to take good care of Jonathan. However, if we were to be quarantined for example, then Jonathan would be left at home for an extended period of time.
The other thing is traveling and going for holidays is now more stressful compared to previously. The pandemic is not really over yet and there is a possibility that the situation may get worse in the future.
It all boils down to us. Will we be able to fully enjoy our holidays without worrying about Jonathan who is at home or about the pandemic getting worse?
After much deliberation, we came to a decision that is a compromise. We will fly and have a holiday, but our holiday will be in Malaysia itself. Therefore in June, we will be flying off to Penang, Ipoh, and Pangkor Island. It is also good to discover our own backyard and be domestic tourists. I am looking forward to this trip and will share my adventures here.
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I am on my 2nd overseas trip since restrictions eased. Certainly not as easy as pre-pandemic to travel but I believe getting easier and easier. Thailand will drop all restriction from June onwards I believe. Just show vaccine certificate and thats all.
It is great that more and more parts of the world are opening up. I will do more traveling next year.
It is indeed a question, what to do? Going to travel or not.
It is still all strange and not back to any normality. We traveled last months for family visits and I must say not all airports know what they are doing. Different rules everywhere don’t help either.
A risk of being stuck somewhere is still there…
The compromise is a great one. Still a holiday but not far away.
Have a great day @positivesteem 👋🏻
Although the world is opening up, there are still uncertainties. To travel domestically is a safer option. Thank you so much for your feedback.
It sure is for the moment safer for many reasons.
You are welcome @positivesteem 😁
Have a great day!
I need to dig back your call card you handed to me back in 2018 to get in touch with you during your visit, so we can meet up 😁
Where are you at? I thought you are based in KL?
Base in KL, but I can be everywhere 🤣 that's why need to get in touch with you so we can arrange for a quick meet up, hopefully the gang in #teammalaysia
I will be attending a course at Setiawalk Puchong on 16 to 20 May, this maybe a better time to meet. I would love to meet others from Team Malaysia if possible.
⋆ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ғᴏʀ sᴏᴜᴛʜᴇᴀsᴛ ᴀsɪᴀɴ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ᴏɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ
⋆ sᴜʙsᴄʀɪʙᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ
⋆ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʀᴀɪʟ
⋆ ᴅᴇʟᴇɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʟɪɴᴋs 25 ʜᴘ⇾50 ʜᴘ⇾100 ʜᴘ⇾500 ʜᴘ⇾1,000 ʜᴘ
Thank you very much for your support.
Great to know that your son has someone who takes good care of him while you can travel. Do you install any cctv at home? I think it's good to go overseas once in a while to better energise our mind. Then come back fresh. I went to Kuching in January from Miri. Eventhough I travelled domestic.fun too. Hehehe . Came back full of power. I don't think the virus is going away so we might just enjoy our life because the virus has already taken the globe with no retuen.