Tag Archives: WhatsApp

A Virtual Celebration

19 Jan

A memory feed popped up on Facebook this morning: M1 turns 18 today, and we celebrated. That was six years ago. Today she turns 24! Dang, time sure flies.

Wasn’t it just yesterday she turned one, and we had friends and family over for a party? Then the next thing I know, we were at her graduation commencement in the Summer of 2019. That was the last time the whole family was together. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree.

With both girls pursuing their education in two different countries, it certainly is hard to have a birthday celebration. Add in the three different time zones that we are all in, a virtual get together is the only way – either a FaceTime or WhatsApp group call for this occasion.

Happy Birthday, M1! Stay safe.

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Bags are Finally Home

4 Jul

Yesterday the bags were finally delivered, at 9.55pm! It was a long day for us waiting for them and the bags, I supposed for their delay and ‘adventure’.

I must say, the last three days I wasn’t overly stressed over our delayed bags. Sure there was some anxiety initially because of the unknown and no updates. But soon after, there was confidence that KLM would sort it out. It was just a matter of time.

For such a global airline, KLM was very approachable when they responded to my queries rather quickly in my opinion. They had many channels to be contacted: Facebook, Messenger, Twitter, email, WhatsApp and Customer Contact Centre.

I chose WhatsApp because to me, the other platforms were either too worldly or corporate and not personal enough. The key here is being approachable rather than professional and I am glad I chose this channel.

The exchanges with KLM on WhatsApp helped bring them down to a more personal level and faster too, giving a lot more reassurance than email, which I used with a regional airline in April and they responded a day later.

Lessons learned here: always label your check-in bags (which we did), buy travel insurance (which we did too and will claim for the delay), make full use of the best and fastest communication platform to stay informed thus, avoiding stress and have a positive attitude towards the situation, it helps.

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The Bags are Still Not Here

2 Jul

Yesterday evening fighting jet lag, we waited in vain for our bags to be delivered. It was exasperating to call the airport and put on hold until the line went dead. Eeesh…

We checked Delta’s website—as we checked-in at their counter and our KLM flight codeshare with them—and the status showed the last entry being ‘Bags removed planeside at SLC’. What did this mean? They never left Salt Lake City? But we were told they were stuck in Amsterdam! Gulp.

So using the power of social media, I messaged KLM directly on WhatsApp last night and they responded in less than an hour. Pretty good. They gave me a new site to check which I did. And status showed ‘Tracking continues and to check later’. Hmm… at that point, it was getting late and the body couldn’t hold up anymore, what else can we do but sleep?

This morning, I woke up at 5.30am unable to sleep anymore. And I checked again. There’s some progress – the same website showed one bag, not both, is on the next flight in. As we did only one PIR (Property Irregularity Report) for both bags, how come status indicated only one bag coming in? Is it not necessary to indicate both? Hmm… not very reassuring I thought. I queried KLM this morning and they responded after an hour and a half. The second bag is still being traced! Goodness. But there’s no need for another PIR.

A quick counter check on flightaware.com showed the aircraft departed but was late. And Schiphol itself is experiencing a lot of delays, an average of 43 minutes for arrivals and one hour three minutes for departures.

We were just there on Sunday and our departure was delayed 24 minutes; I thought it was the inconsiderate dude (whom the Captain did announce to everyone) who came onboard late. But it’s actually more technical than that with the delays at such lengths for inbound and outbound.

Well, looks like we have to hang on again tonight to receive bag one of two coming home. Stay tuned for the adventures of Bag Two.

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Let the Classes Begin

22 Jan

M2 is adjusting to her new life I must say. Suddenly my baby is all grown up and I am glad we made this decision for her to go off much earlier for her studies. We chat daily, sometimes twice a day which is nice despite the eight hours time difference. The much-dreaded distance is not too bad after all if this means she’s learning to be independent so much faster and us, having a new found freedom to enjoy.

Maybe once she settles down to a routine, the video calls will be lesser but that’s okay, classes begin today to keep her busy and not miss home or us.

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New Found Freedom

21 Jan

Thank goodness for technology! It’s been a week that M2 has left but we don’t feel that she has left because we connect daily via WhatsApp with messages and video calls. So there’s hardly a moment to miss her despite the physical separation.

As we now have more time on our hands because there’s no tuition run to contend with and time to keep, both of us are doing things together that we enjoy, that is playing more golf. I played my first golf game of the year on Saturday and it was nice; pain-free and responsibility-free but a bit rusty on the approach shots and bunker saves. I’m not worried though, in time these two problems can be fixed with the new found freedom to play more often.

And today-being a public holiday-I am playing my second golf game instead of sleeping in! Gotta make up for all the missed opportunities last year.

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So Embarrassing

3 Jul

The inevitable has happened. In my haste to reply to an SMS from hubby, I inadvertently sent my reply to a different channel, a WhatsApp chatgroup instead! Unbelievable.

I have heard several stories of friends sending their replies to the wrong channel and I never thought I would do the same. Usually I am very careful about it but this time, sigh… It was a case of being too efficient and too fast that the error occurred.

Thankfully the chatgroup was just the family (Mom, my sibling and his family) before I realised the error and quickly deleted it. It could have been worse and much more embarrassing.

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Aggravation! Aarrghhh…

7 Nov

Last week, the internet at the office was down for a good half of the work week. It was most aggravating as we could not work at all. Nowadays work is so dependent upon connectivity and when the connection is down, we find ourselves on edge.

Important emails could not be sent out or received was the bane of the situation. Forget social media updates or glancing at headline news which could not be accessed from the desktop computer anyway. The stress was most unbearable especially with deadlines looming over the head.

To make matters worse, WhatsApp was also hit apparently and for a couple of hours, we were totally disconnected! I felt as if a limb was cut off.

The internet was finally fixed on Saturday and yesterday morning everything was okay until after two o’clock. The connectivity was down again! Aarrghhh.…

So I find myself unable to work again and there’s nothing we could do except to report the breakdown and wait it out. Aggravation indeed. Aarrghhh.

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From Near and Far

28 Apr

It’s always nice to have a warm fuzzy feeling when receiving birthday greetings from family and friends, even strangers from near and far.

The first few birthday wishes came from the games I play (no, it’s not from the Candy Crush team but rather Monster Busters), strangers in other words. But I thought it was sweet and thoughtful. Gifted with a week’s worth of free play and 10,000 play coins, I think these game developers are very connected to their loyal gamers. Thank you.

And of course on the actual day, phone calls, emails, wishes on Facebook, WhatsApp and SMS/Messenger came from friends, family members as well as my bank, my credit cards, my loyalty program cards and even the local area politician, strangers in other words!

The world has become smaller—from the US, Bermuda and London to Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur—with the use of social media and technology to connect us on a daily basis and on special occasions. 

I’d like to thank everyone for your thoughtfulness and well wishes. Made the day more meaningful. To a better year ahead!

  

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Trying Not To Cry

5 Jan

After three wonderful weeks with M1 home with us for her Christmas holidays, she left for the US this morning. Sniffle…

We had to wake up in the wee hours of the morning, and left for the airport by 4.20am for her 8.00am departure for Japan’s Narita International.

Heaviness filled my heart. No words can express the void a mother feels every time the child leaves home for the pursuit of education. No matter how grown up they have become, they still remain our baby. 

I shouldn’t cry or feel sad. After all, she starts the year as a Junior, midway towards her Food Science degree. Seemed like only yesterday when she left home to bravely travel by herself to start her Freshman year at university. But a Junior now and a seasoned traveler. How time flies.

I must say thank goodness for Skype and WhatsApp. With technology, we are able to get updates during the course of her journey when phones are allowed to be used. And with Skype, we talk frequently during school terms unlike the dinosaur era when I was in college. The only mode of contact was phone calls which were very short and expensive and of course, snail mail which Dad wrote me. A lot.

As always, I will be tracking her on flightaware.com and probably with anxiety as well. By the time this post is published, she would have flown almost two hours for the first leg. Hopefully, there’s no weather delay enroute to San Francisco thereafter.

Safe travels and pleasant flight while I try not to cry… Sniffle.

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Some Things Never Change

15 Dec

Technology today sure is amazing, changing the way we live, how we lead our lives and keeping us connected 24/7. When M1 went off to university in 2015, we were able to track her flight path live online. And we did just that with anxiety but also with comfort knowing exactly where she is. And when she came back on Tuesday night, we did the same and went through the same again.

When I flew off to college dinosaur years ago, there was nothing of these sorts or even the Internet available. So poor Mom and Dad waited anxiously for 24 hours or so until I arrived and heard from me.

With M1 for every step of her journey, we get an update – leaving for the airport now, checking in, boarding soon all via WhatsApp, see a location checked in status update on Facebook yet unaware of more updates on other social medias that young people use (this dinosaur does not use SnapChat, Instagram, Twitter and goodness knows what else) and of course track online with flightaware.com to see the flight path live.

For all these, I am thankful we live in this era now. But I still fret anxiously like Mom and Dad did. Some things never change. Technology may make our lives easier and more connected but it just cannot replace the human emotions. 

So thankful and happy that she arrived home safely and without much delay or problems.

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