When Common Sense doesn't Prevail

Sy and I travelled to Langkawi for a 4D3N holiday. We stayed at Frangipani Resort and Spa, which is located conveniently at the fringe of the more popular Pantai Cenang beach. Common sense tells me that it would save money to take that occasional taxi to reach places not accessible by foot. Sy and I never rented a car before, especially when it's going to be a hotel stay for 3 consecutive nights, unlike holidays with hotel-to-hotel changes every night.

However, the cost of taking a taxi is high. We found that out when we took a 15-min taxi ride from the airport to our nearby hotel for MYR 20. In the end, we rented a car (Perodua Kancil) for a day, costing up to MYR 109 (MYR 90 for the rent and MYR 19 for the fuel).

Ironically, renting a car doesn't burn a hole in our pockets. If we had not rented the car, the cost of the taxi fares would have escalated our holiday expenses. The breakdown of the costs is as such: MYR 56 to the cable car (2 x MYR 28 each for a one-way trip), approximately MYR 60 to Kuah town shopping centre (2 x MYR 30 each for a one-way trip), MYR 6 for a dinner outing at Tomato Restaurant.

In addition, it gave us the convenience of not having to wait for a cab, the luxury of having to not lug our shopping throughout the day, and the mobility to explore the island.

We challenged our conventional thought of not renting a car. We re-studied how we can better achieve cost savings through a car rental. Maybe we should always be open to new ideas and never accept the norms as a steady state...