Honeymoon-planning: We bought the air tickets!

Starring: "The Jetstar StarClass Enthusiast (JSCE)" and "The Man"

We have come a long way to decide on where to go for our honeymoon.
The following list shows just how much we changed our minds on selecting a honeymoon destination over this last year.
(As usual, all images are linked directly to their respective original sites. So if they are missing, means the owner has removed it from the source)

1. New Zealand - decided early last year but changed our mind as it was too expensive
   
2. Angkor Wat - found a quaint little boutique villa (http://www.sojournsiemreap.com) and thought that we could take part in the Angkor Wat half-marathon as well. Unfortunately, we were advised against it our parents. Not wanting to upset them, we decided to shelve this option.
   
3. Mauritius- Found a full board package for less than 3k (inclusive of air-fare) but it is in Africa...well, that said it.
   
4. Royal Caribbean Cruise - The JSCE afraid that she will get sea sick.
   
5. Las Vegas & New York - Good because Sing Dollars is appreciating against USD and our trip coincide with the Black Friday Sales! The man was strongly for it but The JSCE was strongly for option 6.
   
6. New Zealand - Christchurch earthquake has caused NSD to drop. "And Jetstar now flies to Auckland", according to Joanne Peh. This significantly lowered the cost of a NZ honeymoon.
   
   

We were stuck in this deadlock between US & NZ for almost 2 months. Our date night this week addressed this topic, and The man was benevolent and agreed to visit NZ for our honeymoon. The JSCE assured The man that we will certainly be visiting US in the near future, especially when The JSCE becomes Singaporean. (visa no longer required)

A day after this decision was made, we were blessed with a "Jetstar StarClass" promo to Auckland. The return StarClass tickets cost $1,150, where were comparable to Emirates (flights include 8 hour transit in Brisbane) and Qantas ($300 more expensive, transit some where in Australia). The last I checked (1 day after we booked), the return ticket from Auckland now costs $950, i.e. no more promo fare. We got a good deal!

 Now that we've got our air tickets booked & paid, the next step is planning for the things to do on the trip. We've engaged a NZ tour agency (http://www.firstlighttravel.com/) to help us with our custom itinerary. Will keep you updated!

HDB 2nd Appointment

Starring: 'The Operation Manager' and 'His Woman'
 
The 2nd HDB appointment was held on 1st of April (PM).

During the appointment, we signed a few forms, received the house keys, and voila, the appointment was over! The whole process probably took less than 15 minutes. After which, we proceeded to the 2nd floor to get the utilities transferred to our names (also around 15 minutes).

In normal circumstance, you would pass your agent his/her cheque, but we decided not to. Mainly because of the following reasons:

1. When we inspected the flat 2 nights ago, the flat was not totally cleared out. There were still a lot of junk lying around. We wanted to ensure that these items were gone, else our agent should take responsibility by getting town council or disposal company.
2. The owner still owes us the letter box key.

Advice by operation manager:
Please note transaction is incomplete should any item remains outstanding. Thus, the buyer should ensure all items are in order prior to issuance of cheque to his/her agent.

Fortunately, we withheld the cheque as we did really face some complications.

When the operation manager went to inspect the house the night thereafter, he could not open the main door successfully. The previous owner had secured the main door 4 times, with a padlock, main lock, metal grille lock and a bicycle lock but the operation manager could only open 2 of these 4 locks.

He called the previous owner frantically but was unable to reach him. The previous owner had switched off his handphone while his agent feigned ignorance. It seemed that our agent was the only one who tried to help.

We are not sure if we would have received the same attention if we had paid her earlier. The rest of the night was emotionally for both the operation manager and his woman.

Prayer was answered the following afternoon when the previous owner called and agreed to assist.
Matter was resolved in the evening with a change of new locks.

Take-away:
At the end of the transaction (and before each party returns to his own way), please ensure you have the followings:
- The seller's contact
- Ensure house is empty
- Every single item, stipulated under the ownership clause

Bonus:
- Future Home address of the seller, through eaves-dropping