Little Miser Me

Hey, I'm proud to declare this since I came back from my sister's graduation in London. No joke, the sterling was, is and will always be just so freaking strong in contrast to the ringgit. While being there for a mere few days, I felt that church mice are millionaires in comparison to little moi. So, tune in for the story in the making of the miserable miser me.

It all began this way... on the eve of my London trip, I splurged on a few items that caught my fancy as per usual since I have some money jiggling in my pockets. Anyway, after having finished with all the things considered 'done', I headed off to the money changer and asked how much RMs do I need to bid adieu for a 100 Sterling pounds. To my horror, the reply was "RM684". So, I had to bargain for less, in which I was given a 1 cent discount and finally departed with RM409 for 60 Sterling pounds. So, that's only enough for my travelling expenses without buying a darn thing. I went home grumbling and thought of how 'poor' I will be when I'm in London.

Soon enough, I was on my way to the airport, with RM600 into my wallet, and a defaulted credit card that has a scratched chip. Yes, defaulted card and RM600 will keep me from being tempted to buy anything. Yeah, what a risk, but still I stuffed that into my wallet. When I reached the airport, I walked past the duty-free shops at KLIA and had completely new eyes on the price tags. Words such as "bloody expensive" kept screaming in my mind. True enough, I didn't buy a thing as I would usually do hehe.

Before I knew it, it was time to board the plane, and I slept well 3-hour stop at Dubai in the early hours of the morning, I was dying for a drink. I settled for a beer - it's been ages since I have had a morning beer!! Yay! When the bill came, I decided to whip out my defaulted card to pay, hoping that it'll go through, if not, I'll pay in RMs. I found out that the card didn't work (drats!), so I asked whether I could pay in RM, and I was told that the exchange rate was then RM1.10 to a Dubai dollar! That ain't worth it knowing that RM0.95 would buy me a Dubai dollar! So, I had depart myself of a 10 Sterling Pounds. Yup, I had a change in return all in Dubai dollars... great! Yes, I'm now left with just 50 Sterling Pounds to survive a 5-day jaunt in London.

When I arrived at the Gatwick, London airport, I had to depart with 25 Sterling Pounds for a return express train ticket to the heart of London. At Victoria station, I had to depart with 3 Sterling again for a one-trip tube ticket to get myself to Bayswater. Great! I'm now extremely loaded with 22 Sterling Pounds to my name for a 5-day survival in London.

From arrival time at the apartment at Bayswater, Papa & Aggie took over to pay for everything! Whew! I was quite happy, and that included all the tour bus tickets and all entrance tickets to this and that place. Just those 2 days, my Papa and Aggie probably spent 100 Sterling on each family member! Staying at the apartment was all for free, as Aggie paid for it too and refused any money / contribution from me. By the second day, I felt awful as a working daughter / sister for accepting the fact that my Papa and Aggie were the only two who are paying for all. So, I decided that I should buy back fresh stuff for breakfast, and cooked breakfast for the next 3 days. That's what I did, and I crunched my numbers as I look at the foods on the shelves in TESCO. Yup, I budgetted a big basket of stuff ranging from salmon to ham and bacon, eggs, yogurt, fresh fruits, peppers, tomatoes and lettuce etc. It was all great value for money, but I had to say bye-bye to 20 Sterling Pounds (which worked out ok, because the array of foods I bought would cost me RM200 or more, and 20 Sterling for all that stuff works out to be around RM130 - considered really cheap). Yes, I'm left with only 2 Sterling Pounds jiggling in my pocket, and another 3 days more to survive London. *Sigh*

On day 4, I decided that I'd better go to the money changer and get myself another 20 Sterling pounds in case of emergency. To my horror, the exchange rate is RM7.5 to 1 Sterling Pound! What a rip off! My Papa discouranged me from changing any money, and told me that he'll 'provide'. So, he gave me 20 Sterling Pounds, and I told him that I'll pay him back in RM... he refused! Anyway, the very next day (day 5), my parents, aunt, uncle & Agnes headed off to Italy. That left me for another 11-hour wait without them before I board the plane home to Malaysia. Good thing that I had Valerie as a companion for the rest of that Saturday, and we went walking around and went to Twinnings, and I bought myself 10 Sterling Pounds worth of good teas...I didn't mind spending on that. So, the teas I bought would have cost me at least RM150 or more in Malaysia and I got it all for an equivalent of RM68.5, half price!!!

Then Valerie insisted on buying me a really good Turkish / Spanish lunch which I'd pay through my nose for if I was in Malaysia. Val insisted on paying, and I couldn't refuse it, as I only have 12 Sterling Pounds by now, remember? lol... oh dearie me... so, it all worked out fine as the bill came out to be 47 Sterling Pounds!

Soon after that, I had to head off to the airport to board on my plane back to Malaysia, my lovely homeland. When I got home, I just couldn't help crunching numbers, and tell myself how much I need to save up. Yup, I'm changed forever, as even when I landed, I did not buy a thing at the duty free shops. I went home empty handed of new goods, but my luggage.... and went straight into Bro's car, who is awaiting outside the gate. I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that I did not touch that RM600 I have in my wallet when I got into Bro's car.