Escape with Traveloka in the KL Journal Hotel #tvlkescape2017

Hi guys, welcome back to my blog! For Christmas, The Butterfly Project collaborated with Traveloka on a 2-day 1-night staycation held in The KL Journal Hotel in Bukit Bintang. The event was fabulous and to be honest the place was great and I really enjoyed myself!

First of all, what is The Butterfly Project? TBP is Malaysia's biggest beauty and lifestyle blogger community. Founded by Tammy from plussizekitten.com, it's a community where bloggers can share about their content and connect with one another.

To be honest, when I was still in Penang, blogging was kind of a "me" thing because I never really met up or connected with any other bloggers/vloggers. When I moved to KL and started to join more events under TBP, I realized how essential a community is. With a community, not only do you get opportunities, you make friends as well. I see a lot of people find their tribe within TBP and help each other out (like going to reviews together, helping each other take pics, etc.), and I think it great that we have a community where we can help each other grow.

Anyhoo, Tammy posted up a signup sheet on Facebook and out of the hundreds of butterflies that applied, only 40 were shortlisted for the staycation! A staycation is basically a vacation spent at home or nearby, and it's actually very common in cities. Everyone deserves a break every once in a while, but everyone has the luxury of time (or cash haha) to go overseas or even to another state.

The aim of TBP's staycation was basically to learn more about Traveloka (the sponsor of the event), the KL Journal (the hotel we were staying at) as well as to catch up and bond with each other during the year-end season.

The staycation was held in The KL Journal Hotel, a boutique hotel located in the heart of Bukit Bintang. It's pretty neat because it's located near everything (KLCC, Fahrenheit, Pavilion, etc.) and the decor is just 👌. Super instagrammable!

It's pretty hidden from the main roads so you won't see it immediately, but it's really super near everything! Its just a few steps from the Bukit Bintang/Pavilion MRT, and it's around a 10-15 minute walk to Pavilion as well (depending on how fast you walk I gues hahaha).



Address: Off, 30, Jalan Beremi, Bukit Bintang, 50200 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur

kljournalhotel.com • 03-2110 2211

The day started off with the arrival of the butterflies (of course), followed by registration, an ice-breaking session, and breakfast).

We were then greeted by Traveloka's Big Boss and introduced to Traveloka, one of Southeast Asia's biggest flight & hotel booking website & app!

He and his team introduced and talked about Traveloka their history and future plans of making it a one-stop platform for travellers out there. We also got to know about the new Traveloka App where booking flights and hotels were now just a tap away! 

You can easily switch languages if you prefer browsing in your mother tongue so you never get lost. The new Traveloka app also accepts payment with many payment partners and currency denomination, and if you forget to pay, the notifications will be there to remind you!

Free Traveloka App Download
Google Play (Android) | Apple Store (iOS)

After the informative sharing session, we were asked to move to the dining area for a buffet lunch, which was pretty good by the way! The quinoa and pumpkin soup was especially very nice!

And after a hearty meal, the GM of The KL Journal and the peeps from Traveloka surprised us with a surprise butterfly event!

We released some beautiful butterflies back into the wild!

After that, we were finally allowed to check into our rooms. Each of us had a roomie, but unfortunately my rommie (Leonard) couldn't stay the night so I had the room all to myself :( The cleanliness and instagrammable-ness of the room made up for it though!

It came complete with bathrobes, a mini fridge and other hotel necessities like an ironing board, water kettle, etc.

Here's what the toilet looked like:

Pretty spacey with plentey of towels and toiletries. There's no bathtub but the shower is pretty big.

The room I got had a double bed and a single bed, and I think it would be perfect for sleepover or staycation for a group of 3 friends!

After freshening up and unpacking our luggages, we all separated into 4 groups and went to 4 different workshops. The first group had a travel scrapbooking workshop:

The second went for a floral watercolour workshop:

The third group went for a DIY bath bomb workshop with Wunderbath:

And the last group (mine) had a leather passport holder making workshop with DIY KL!

It was definitely not as simple as I thought it would be! From stitching and hammering the letters in, it definitely took a steady hand and lots of patience.

I didn't mind the process that much and actually bonded quite a bit with my fellow butterflies!

Here's what the final product looks like:

Not that bad huh? The stitching and leterring looks very amateur. but I still love it!

For the rest of the evening we just did our own thing: relaxing, freshening up or catching up. At night we headed to the dining area again for a buffet dinner & an exchange gift session!

It was definitely heartwarming to see everyone being so chummy with each other when we all exchanged gifts!

The KL Journal actually has a bar on the first floor that serves drinks and has a live band. It was such a great place to chill in post-buffet, and everyone got to enjoy the cool evening breeze while relaxing in the glittering bar/balcony.

After a few rounds of drinks and a few songs, we all tucked in and called it a night.

The next day, we were free to wander about the hotel or just chill and relax. A few of us headed to their rooftop pool and took some OOTDs!

UPDATE: The KL Journal has finally finished renovating their rooftop pool area and it's now called The Swimming Club! You can read all about that by clicking here.

Overall my stay was super comfy and super relaxing! It was a great break from the stress of working 5 days a week, and I definitely got to get a good night's sleep during my stay. The place is overall pretty, and I'm definitely coming back soomn to come take more OOTD shots!

Till then, thanks for reading and I'll see y'all again soon!