Visiting Kota Kinabalu with Young Children - Part 2 - Hotels

We chose to stay in Hyatt Regency Hotel, which costs around RM300 a night without buffet breakfast. The reason that Hyatt Regency is chosen is that it's in the centre of KK town, it's within walking distance to many interesting places, namely the very popular Sunday Market @ Gaya Street, Filipino Market, Waterfront City and some shopping centres. Also, Ryan has got some membership card from Hyatt group which entitles him to buy 2 nights, free 1 night, so that we could save the free nights to go for another trip. *blink-blink*

Some other hotels which are strategically located are Promenade Hotel, Le-Meridien Hotel, Shangri-La Hotel and Jesselton Hotel. If you are looking into resort living, you may opt for Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru, Shangri-La's Rasa Ria Resort, Nexus Resort Karambunai or Sutera Harbour Resort. Shangri-La's Resorts and Sutera Harbour Resort are very near to the city, while Karambunai Resort is a bit far, which is around 30km away from the city.

Picture is showing the night view of Kota Kinabalu from the observation tower which is near the Dataran, near all the Government buildings. We can see Hyatt Regency Hotel clearly from the picture.

Visiting Kota Kinabalu with Young Children - Part 1 - Flying

Ryan and I have just got back from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah for a 5 days 4 nights trip, with Eugene (4 and a half years old) and Eu Anne (18 months old) tagging along. We traveled via Airasia. We actually drove to LCCT and parked our car there, so that we would not have to queue and wait for taxi, which is much more convenient and stress free for family with young kids like us. The parking fee for 5 days 4 nights is about RM120, which actually comes to almost the same if we were to hire airport limosine, which cost around RM60 for one way. Ryan and I felt that it's worth it to pay that little bit extra for the comfort which we are getting by traveling in our own car, our own leisure, etc... It proved us right, as our flight from KK to KL were delayed for almost 2 hours and we were all exhausted upon arrival in LCCT. Eugene and Eu Anne were both very happy to get to sit in papa's car, after a 'long' trip away from home. Best of all, no queue! :-)

Flying by Air Asia is as comfortable as traveling by any full service airlines, except that you have to pay for the drinks or food you ordered. Airasia has set the 'no outside food' policy. Also, privilege of boarding the flight before the others are only applicable to old folks of 65 years old and above or you may actually pay a little bit extra for the 'express boarding pass'. I'm planning to write to Airasia officially suggesting them to reconsider revising their policy to allow family with young kids to have this privilege too.

Airasia practices free seating, first come first serve. With our clans, we needed the whole role to ourselves. We always boarded the flight later than the rest, but we were lucky to have kind young people who were willing to offer us the seats, so that we did not get separated.

Also, a good tip for moms who fly with young babies: breastfeeding your baby during taking off and landing will help reducing ear pain. Can you see that Eu Anne is comfortably nursing during taking off? :-)