Hi guys, I dah nak blog pasal my last day in NYC ni! HEART BROKEN EMOJI! 

Okay la, not like we did much on this day so nothing much to blog about anyway hahaha. I should probably change the title of this entry but I very malas! And as always, if you haven't been following our journey from the beginning then you can start by reading my entries for Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7 and Day 8 ok.

14 May 2015 (Day 9)

We didn't have any itinerary for our last (half) day in NYC so we slept in a little longer, hung around our hotel then went out for our last Halal Guys lunch in NYC down the street.

This is a picture of my husband saying goodbye to his new found obsession (Chicken Over Rice platter) and his new found friends from the The Halal Guys food cart. By the way, here's a tip, if it isn't obvious already: Greet the staff with a confident "Assalamualaikum" if you're Muslim and they'll be a little bit friendlier to you! Hehehe.

Hopped into a cab after lunch, and travelled to the JFK airport for our 14 plus hour flight to Dubai International Airport. Which was where we had an 8-hour transit a.k.a the longest transit we've ever had so far.

But it's alright, it's okay, because we decided early on that there was no way we were going to lepak bersepah inside the airport for 8 bloody boring hours after a 14 hour plus flight. Nah-uh. So we checked in to the Dubai International Airport Hotel during our transit - at least both of us can sleep and eat and wash up in peace and comfort! We considered booking the Snooze Cube but it was limited and not what we wanted.

Eh hi, that is me in my comfy tee and comfy pants in the mirror reflection hehehe. My standard travel get-up!

In case anyone is interested to check-in to the Dubai International Airport Hotel during long transits, what I did was: I emailed the hotel directly for pro-rated rates since all we needed was a room for 5 hours (instead of booking via the hotel website or third parties like Agoda and paying full rate for full day).

The hotel then emailed me two room options - we were quoted AED815.00 (SGD307.00) + 10% service charge per room for an Executive Room and AED530.00 (SGD200) + 10% service charge per room for a Deluxe Room from 2.00pm to 7.00pm. We chose Deluxe since it is the cheaper option... the room was clean and spacious enough!

Honestly it isn't much cheaper than if you were to book from Agoda for 1 full day but whatever savings yang dapat, ambik je la. I also overheard one of their staff telling a potential walk-in guest a different and more expensive hourly rate than what we paid so I guess it'll be cheaper to book in advance via email than to just walk in.

The process from when you land until you arrive at the hotel is also pretty simple: A hotel representative will pick you up from your gate (you need to pass your flight details to the hotel during booking), he/she will usher you to the correct terminal (they have rooms in all of the terminals, you will be allocated to the one closest to your gate) and he/she will bring you up to the registration counter. Once all documents are verified, kick back and relax in your room. Yay!

Actually something minor happened just before we checked in and I was a little peeved at the staff who handled it at first (excuse me, do I look like I want to deal with incompetence after 14 plus hours of flight?!) but another staff (good old Sam!) picked it up from there and was so apologetic and so so gracious, that it made up for that minor lapse. Will definitely consider staying here again if we have another transit that is more than 3/4 hours! 

Anyway aku nak banyak songeh pasal hotel kat Dubai buat ape eh, can wrap up this entry and start my final entry on this NYC trip already! I know I have unreplied emails yang tanya pasal NYC, but I want to post that entry dulu because all the information will be in there! Sabar menanti, please. I just hope this sudden mojo in posting entries will continue until after this Golden Jubilee weekend la haha. Have a good long weekend, my friends!

Konstruction Khronicles: The Final Overview

I know I haven't mentioned who our home renovation contractors are but now that our home is ready after 6 weeks of renovation, I think I should mention them by name - the renovation company who handled our home renovation so well was *drumroll please* Roslan Renovation Contractor! :D

Sounds very old school and very melayu, I know, but we trusted them because they did renovations for my parents and my nenek's homes before. Their office and catalogues memang nampak a little old school and worn out but don't let that deter you because dorang tau buat kerja k! 

As long as you know what you want, insya Allah they will be able to execute your ideas. So if you ever want to check out Roslan Renovation Contractor, boleh contact the person in charge of all our renovations: Abang Zaini at 94894370. Just cakap Farhana and Saliheen dari Tampines yang recommend!

No official website or Facebook page because being a long established company who start bertapak even before the era of social media, naturally they're not very active on social media or the Internetz lolz. But you don't have to worry pasal dorang punya legitness because Roslan Renovation Contractor memang confirm confirm registered and recognized by HDB - you can see the confirmation here. 

Nak pergi their office pun senang, it's at 970 Geylang Serai #01-13 Tristar Inn Complex Singapore 423492, sederet Hajjah Maimunah Restaurant and Hotel 81 Tristar, opposite Joo Chiat Complex. Lepas appointment, pusing kiri when you keluar their office, dah boleh pergi makan kat kedai kopi Teh Tarik heh heh. Anyway, these are the reasons why we love and highly recommend Roslan Renovation Contractor: 

(1) Almost everything is under one roof

One of the best things about engaging Roslan Renovation Contractor was the fact that we didn't have to source out for everything ourselves! They had in-house catalogues for stuff like doors and door handles, switches, taps and sinks, etc which we can choose from, so this is great - considering that they are contractors, and not IDs.

I think you only have to buy lights and doorbell sendiri since they don't have 3rd party suppliers for those. Maybe kitchen hood and hob too, tapi that one I'm not too sure because we bought ours before we engaged anyone. We could've chosen our kitchen sink and tap from their catalogue too but we weren't sure who to engage as our contractors when we bought ours separately from Universal Union.

Another contractor who we asked for quote gave us a slightly higher quote but kita kena cari barang such as bathroom sinks, aircon units, bedroom doors, etc sendiri, you see. So... puas hati kita pilih Roslan Renovation Contractor kan? 

Their quote was lower and the fact that we just had to set aside 2 to 3 hours to sit comfortably at their office to choose doors, aircons, sinks, paint colours, etc from their in-house catalogues was very, very attractive for Saliheen and I. We didn't want to waste any more time running around looking for fixtures and fittings for our house on our own. 

(2) Their quote is affordable and within our budget

We wanted to engage an ID initially but we realized our budget of S$30,000 for 3-room BTO flat was not going to work for IDs. Roslan Renovation Contractor gave us a quote that was below S$30,000 and threw in a discount, considering my parents and my nenek have engaged them before. 

Abang Zaini is also flexible and boleh ajak berbincang! With everything that was included into our renovation works + our custom made requests + cement screeding, the final price which we had to pay was very muai, imho.

(3) Excellent service

Even though nama company Roslan Renovation CONTRACTOR, it felt like we had a dedicated ID!!! 

Abang Zaini was always contactable throughout the renovation process, he made regular trips down to our unit to make sure all the works were in order, he crafted drawings so we could have a better idea of how things will look like and we didn't even have to take leave from work when the door people datang to install doors, when City Gas person datang to pasang barang gas, etc. Because why? 

Because semua dia settlekan. Ringkas. We only had to spare our weekends to meet him, receive updates and tengok progress. (And squeal macam budak budak everytime ada benda baru hahaha)

So it's like, we engaged them at contractors' price but their service is machiam ID service, you know?!

We were also never pressured to make more payment or to choose something that is mahal but not necessary for our rumah! In fact, there were a few times where Abang Zaini advised us not to take on something because it is pricier and will not be worth our money considering our lifestyle and usage.

It's very heartening to know that he gives suggestions not based on how expensive it will be, but how functional or useful it will be for our daily lives. We also liked that he will always kasi pros and cons of different choices, suggest the best one based on his experience and/or observation but still leave it up to us to decide. If I had to use one word to describe Abang Zaini and his service, it has be: Ikhlas.

Anyway, if you have been living bawah ketiak mak and don't know what happened during our renovations or how our first home looks like, you can do some catch up reading through the links below:

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Collection of Home Keys at HDB Hub
❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Buying Kitchen and Toilet Accessories
❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Buying A Mattress
❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 1 (Part 1)
❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 1 (Part 2)
❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 1 (Part 3)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 1 (Part 4)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 2 (Part 1)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 2 (Part 2)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 3

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 4 (Part 1)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 4 (Part 2)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 5 (Part 1) 

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 5 (Part 2) 

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 6 (Part 1)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 6 (Part 2)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Renovation Week 6 (Part 3)

❤ Konstruction Khronicles: Post-Renovation

This post is NOT sponsored, by the way. We paid Roslan Renovation Contractor in full, fair and square and I am truly sincere when I say we are very happy with our renovation outcome and we had such an excellent experience doing our home renovation with them. Abang Zaini and Roslan Renovation Contractor is good and reliable on their own, and they don't have to pay us advertising money or sponsor our home renovation just for us to puji them melambung and promote their services. They were ikhlas when they worked with me, so now I am ikhlas with my review of them. 

And with that, maka berakhirlah satu lagi perjalanan khronicles saya! Till the next set of khronicles :D

The King Of All Tilams

Didn't have anything planned yesterday so Saliheen and I went for a quick run to Tilam King! And by quick, I mean we were in and out of the shop within 30 minutes kind of quick. Haha.

Just A Sketch Away

Two more days to key collection! My brother-in-law pun dah email his sketches (above) to us, just in time for our first appointment with a contractor this weekend.