Whirlwind trip to Kuala Lumpur - on the house

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This was published 11 years ago

Whirlwind trip to Kuala Lumpur - on the house

By Nina Karnikowski
Julie-Anne Foster with her family (from left, children, Jake, 18, Natalie, 17, Keely, 13 and husband Darren) and some of her 251 friends check in for a three-day holiday in Kuala Lumpur after Julie-Anne won an AirAsia competition.

Julie-Anne Foster with her family (from left, children, Jake, 18, Natalie, 17, Keely, 13 and husband Darren) and some of her 251 friends check in for a three-day holiday in Kuala Lumpur after Julie-Anne won an AirAsia competition.Credit: Dallas Kilponen

Julie-Anne Foster is taking off on a private flight with 267 family and friends to Kuala Lumpur – and it's costing her nothing.

Ms Foster, 42, a bookkeeper from Lismore in north-eastern NSW, is on a whirlwind three-day holiday in Kuala Lumpur after winning an AirAsia X Facebook competition.

“It's great but it's overwhelming. I've got the shakes,” she said at Sydney Airport on Friday. “I walked in and there's 200-odd friends all clapping – some I haven't seen for 27 years. So it's been quite amazing.”

They will travel on an Airbus A330-300 and stay for three nights at Ibis Styles Fraser Business Park.

The prize, valued at nearly $27,000, is aimed at promoting AirAsia's new Sydney to Kuala Lumpur route, which began in April.

“We have a total of 267 people, including my husband and the three kids, my mum, aunties, uncles, my brothers and a sister, my nephew, work colleagues and my hockey team,” Ms Foster said.

“The youngest is my three-year-old nephew and the oldest is my 80-year-old uncle. Some have never travelled overseas before.

“Everyone is so pumped, so hopefully it'll be a really fun trip. I've certainly got fun friends.” Some flew from Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania.

Entrants to the competition were asked to fill up to 302 virtual plane seats with Facebook friends.

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“When I first found out I'd won I thought it was a prank but pretty soon I was jumping up and down saying, 'Oh my god, oh my god!'

"Then I had to convince my husband who was like, 'Don't send them anything, it's probably a scam'. So it took a little while to get our heads around it.”

The flight coincides with the fifth anniversary of AirAsia X's arrival in Australia.

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