Hello Asia! Goodbye Europe for my holidays.

Like many the yearly visit to mainland Europe for the seasonal beach holiday was normal, however this year with the British Pound so weak again the Euro we looked further away from home.

With the past years credit crunch everyone is looking to cut costs and get more for your money. Air Asia's timing of the the direct service from London Stansted to Kuala Lumpur KLCC couldn't be better. After working out how much a family holiday would cost in Europe compared to the cost of a flight to Malaysia there was no competition.

The flight was excellent on a new plane with great staff and great service for a budget price.

We decided not to stay in KL but head straight for an island on the east coast Malaysia. We found a little known island called Pulau Sibu (Sibu island) from a blog and after checking the place out with reviews from tripadvisor and rough guide we booked a 10 day stay at Sibu Island Cabanas.

The scuba diving on offer at Sibu Island is excellent. The dives are from small speed boats to sites no body seems to dive at all; as the reefs are in perfect condition with little to no bleaching. Both myself and my son were able to pass our PADI open water certifications at the hotel / dive centre. While my wife enjoyed some quiet time with a good book on the beach.

It's easy to forget what you really want in a holiday! Forget about the minibar, TVs and mobile phones. All you really want is somewhere to relax as well as to have fun with family and friends.

So if you want to really get away from it all if you live in London or Singapore; KL or Perth remember what it is you really want from a beach holiday and look abit further away from the usual and you'll find exactly what your looking for.

I am so relieved to know AirAsiaX has now launched the long-waited service direct from Kuala Lumpur to London. Stansted may not be as famous as her big sisters i.e Heathrow & Gatwick but in Europe, Stansted is definitely one of the most famous!

Ryanair, the nation's low-cost airline has been using STN as its port for the past few years and being the cheapest airline on the net, they're very very popular indeed; you can go as far away to the east as Constanta in Bulgaria or as far west as Gran Canaria in the Atlantic!

That is an opportunity (the cheapest way) for those who come from South-east Asia to travel to Europe and making STN as the starting point!

BUt remember to make sure you know the important information before heading off to these countries in Europe; you may need to apply for visa before hand!

Of course, unless you are already a Brit that is! :P

As for me, I will try to see the cheapest time possible to go back to Malaysia next year. I have no idea what the luggage fee gonna be with AirAsiaX but I definitely won't bring too much with me!!!

Bon Voyage y'all!

I am a frequent flyer of AirAsia and am a Red Alert member. I travel quite a lot and have taken numerous budget flights in Europe also. I find AirAsia about the best among all I have flown. I remember on one flight where some passengers stood up while the plane was still taxiing on the tarmac just after landing. Instead of the usual like, "Kindly sit down until the plane has stopped completely", your staff said something along these lines, "Kindly be seated till the plane comes to a complete stop. Those who stand before that will have to clean our toilets". I thought that was hilarious and off the cuff and so did the other passengers. Anyway, enough of compliments, here's a suggestion.

I only have one problem with AirAsia. In Europe, passengers on budget flights who arrive late do not rush and cut queue. Here, queue-jumping at the gates have become the norm and it is very irritating. In addition, some who board first, will "reserve" a few seats for their friends behind the queue. Yes I know about Express Check-in. However, this only helps if you arrive on-time. If you arrive even 5 minutes late, you have wasted your money.

My suggestion is that instead of express check-in, why not try having reserved seating? Pay extra and reserve your seat on the website itself. There can be several scenarios here. You can even separate the seating into sections and vary the seat reservation charges. Higher prices for front row seats, lower prices for middle section seats and free seating for rear section seats. Your staff can play around with all these variables to find an optimum pricing method. You could also consider assigning seat numbers at the check-in counter for the last category of rear seating passengers.