This will be our new Travelogue series for the Minimalist in the City household where are targeting to do a series of road trips to cover all the 11 states of Western Malaysia or possibly cross the Thai border in the near future. As our kids are finally old enough at age 8 (Ally) and 5 (Ash), its easier for us to plan for our road trips where we will let them experience the rural, fun, nature, diverse heritage and cultural side of West Malaysia. We will start with short trips up north and will eventually do slightly longer trips to make sure the kids slowly learn how to navigate and appreciate life on the road.
Day 1 – 1st Dec 2022 (Thursday)
We left our house at around 8am and reached the 2nd link customs before 9am. Managed to clear both customs by 11am and went straight to Legoland Hotel to park our car just beneath the hotel. The good thing about road trips is you could just load up all your luggage in the car boot.
We managed to check in early as our room was available and drop off our luggage before heading off for lunch at Secret Recipe at Medini mall. The family Adventure Theme room was relatively big (38 m²) with a double bed and bunk bed (plus one more sliding bed below) which is perfect for a family of four or five. Rooms were relatively clean and well maintained. The kids were tasked to complete a mini treasure hunt where they were rewarded with a gift Lego set upon completing it.
As we had purchased our annual pass in Oct when we visited SEA Life on a day trip, entry to the attraction was fuss free and fast as we just need to show our Annual pass before entry.
We started the attraction in an anti-clockwise direction around the theme park and our kids could enjoy most of the rides as they are both above 110cm. There were some slight drizzling for a short period of time but its fine as the kids just donned their ponchos and off they go. The theme park was opened til 8pm during this school holiday period so that we had ample time to visit most of the rides and watch the shows. We finally end our fun day at 7pm and got our dinner fixed at Ben’s Independent Grocer at Medini Mall.
Day 2 – 2nd Dec 2022 (Friday)
Before we checked out at 11am, we went to Legoland again to finished up or revisit some of the attractions and shows. We had our lunch at Legoland before buying some souvenirs at their Legoland’s The Big shop.
After lunch, we set off to our next lodging Fraser Place at Puteri Harbour which is a two bedroom apartment (77 m²) which is kind of an indulgence for us for just a one night stay as they have two toilets, balcony, fully equipped kitchen and washing machine with dryer. But we just want to explore this sort of apartment so that we could potentially ask our extended family to come over for short getaways in future. The rooms are relatively well maintained with great views and parking is free.
We went to the Sunway Bigbox to their Book Xcess to get some book gifts for Christmas and went to do some grocery shopping at NSK. Lastly we ended the night at Hard Rock Cafe before watching a world cup match late at night.
Day 3 – 3rd Dec 2022 (Saturday)
We went for a morning walk at Puteri Harbour but found out that a lot of the shops are closed due to the pandemic. It was actually quite a nice walk coupled with nice weather! Finally, we checked out before noon, head out to refill our petrol and top up our Touch and Go card which is essential to pay for their toll and VEP. In order to avoid the holiday jam, we went back to Singapore for lunch.
Below is a breakdown of the cost for this road trip:
Note:
There will be a Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) of RM20 / entry.
As for the amount of toll you might have to pay, you can visit https://tollguru.com/toll-calculator-malaysia for an estimation
Generally, other than the accommodations and annual passes, cost for all other entertainments are much cheaper if you are to spend the same dollar in Singapore. Just recording all these to roughly have a feel on how geo-arbitrage works and hopefully our kids could slowly comprehend it as we go on more future road trips. We also did our usual grocery run as we bought all the usual staple food and household items at almost 30-40% cheaper. We also bought some books from Book Xcess for ourselves and friends for Christmas. Generally books here are much cheaper and we love reading.
This is our very first road trip adventure as a family of four, even though it was short but we had great fun. Its more like a exploratory phase for our family to experience life together on the road, the challenges that might come along the way and how we will deal with it as a family. We hope the kids could picked up some important life lessons as we go on longer road trips.
sounds fun! starting out on my own road trip as well, but with a 3mth old! haha..
just curious, what car are you driving? and any particular vehicle you’d reckon will be a more suitable drive that can go up to thailand,
Haha great! Wah 3mth old probably slightly more challenging, thus maybe start with shorter trips to get used to it. Driving a Jap car like Toyota will be good as Malaysia and Thailand will have a lot of spare parts in case you require some repairs along the way. On top of that, its very reliable.