More Birthday Surprises

This year is truly exceptional as far as birthday celebration is concerned. Earlier on, I had a surprise pre-birthday celebration arranged by a former high school classmate (Read here). 

On the day of my birthday, I did receive birthday wishes in the form of messages from family members and birthday songs sung by my grandchildren WhatsApp all the way from Australia and Singapore. 

I didn't think much about birthday after that since I would be flying from Athens back to KL Malaysia at 7.15pm that evening on 16.10.2024. 

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The day before we flew back from Athens to KL at the end of our Southern Italy/Greece Tour on 15.10.2024, we had our dinner at Oroscopo Restaurant in Athens. At the end of the dinner and without prior notice, a small birthday cake was delivered to my table and placed in front of me. This was followed by the birthday song sung by all the tour members. This surprise birthday treat was arranged by the Tour Company. 

After the birthday wishes, the Tour Manager approached me and handed me a gift voucher of RM500. This gift can be used to off-set part of the fee for their future tours. The "sad" part is that this must be spent within one year from the day of my 2024 birthday!  

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As soon as I sat down in the designated seat in the Athens-KL Flight QR844, an air hostess by the name of Hyun Joo came and asked whether I am Mr. Lee. When I answered in the affirmative, she immediately responded with "Happy Birthday to You!" and continued with singing the birthday song in Chinese, " 祝你生日快樂,祝你生日快樂.........". I was dumbfounded and said, "It's truly remarkable that out of the hundreds of passengers in the plane, you could pinpoint me as one having birthday today!". She was delighted and agreed to have a photo taken together. She added just before taking the photo, "Normally, we are not allowed to take photo with passengers, but I will do it in this case!".

Later on, she returned holding a few packages of gifts. After I confirmed that I am a grandfather, she handed those gifts to me and said, "These are gifts for your grandchildren!".

She also volunteered to take a photo of me with my wife.

Gifts for the grandchildren.

That's not the end of the story. A short while later, another air hostess came and said, "Happy Birthday to You!" and handed me a ballpoint pen as a birthday gift. She left before I could get her name.

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My wife reminded me not to forget the final surprise at KLIA. When we checked in at the MAS counter for our flight back to KK from KL on 17.10.2024, the counter staff smiled at me and said, "Happy Birthday to you!". He continued, " For this special occasion, I will give you priority baggage check-out at your destination in KK!". That privilege allowed us to pick up our luggage immediately after leaving the immigration in-bound check. 

Spending a birthday while flying is not necessarily a bad thing after all!

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As it turned out, my 2024 birthday was truly exceptional and unforgettable!

As a side note, I am indeed pleased with the gesture of Qatar Airways which makes special effort to look out for individuals in the flight and send birthday greetings to them who are unable to celebrate this special occasion in the usual manner.