wanna share an experience, cause it may help you to think
clearly if you have the bad luck to experience something like this
...
last night, my friend was on a bus from seremban to singapore, a
plusliner bus. at the JB customs he took a longer time than the
rest, cause he's a aussie, and it's normal for foreign passports
(apart from msia and sg passports) to take a longer time to clear -
no idea of the logic for this though, anyway ...
he was in the queue for 15 to 20 mins. when he got to the bus
waiting area, he could not see the bus (the bus is supposed to wait
for you). he could not see any familiar faces as well. after
waiting for 10 mins, he gave me a call
the problem is this .... his luggage was all on the bus! dive
equipment worth more than SGD 500, one Canon SLR (with lens and
all), one Canon IXUS and a backpack full of clothes, perhaps
totalled at SGD 3000. f*ck!!
he walked across the bridge and crossed the sg customs.
fortunately, my housemate figured that plusliners buses from msia
stops at Copthorne Orchid hotel at Dunearn Rd. both of us grabbed a
cab to meet my aussie friend at the hotel and try to search for the
bus or luggage
we arrived at the hotel first and did not see the plusliner bus (my
friend remembered the bus number). we saw another plusliner bus
parked in the hotel bus parking and decided to walk there to have a
look. as we were walking there, a guy (could be another driver)
went to the bus and opened it. we enquired abt the bus arriving
from seremban. he immediately asked if we were trying to retrieve
luggage. phew!
it seemed that the other driver had dropped my friend's luggage off
with another driver. most probably the luggage will be sent to the
office the next morning. well, whatever, it is .... lady luck was
on our side, with perfect timing and all
so, after such a horrific experience, just wanted to share this.
realized a few things that could've been done earlier and thus,
increasing the chance of retrieving your luggage. there are cases
where some drivers throw the luggage off the bus somewhere along
the way
so ...
1. remember the bus number
2. remember your seat number
3. have your ticket with you
4. ask the driver for the specific stop in sg
(do all these as soon as you got onto the bus)
if you have the bad luck of getting into a similar situation as
this ...
5. ask your family member or friend to wait for the bus at the stop
to retrieve your luggage (do not waste time! go to the stop
ASAP!)
