Barbados here I come!

A trip to a Caribbean island to meet an American Idol... dream assignment right?

BARBADOS! In 2009, I got to cover a concert featuring Katy Perry, Simple Plan and Kelly Clarkson in Barbados (yes, my job is awesome) and interview the original American Idol champ, Clarkson too.

I was beside myself with excitement, of course. The concert would be fun but seriously, Barbados? That sounded like the closest I’d get to paradise!

Never mind that I had to accompany two contest winners to the event – a couple of young college boys from Kuala Lumpur – and act as their chaperone. Never mind that the travel time would be about 35 hours in total. I was in my 30s then, still young enough to hack long flights.

I bought a new swimsuit for the gig and chose my concert outfit carefully – that was how excited I was.

What I didn’t do was pack a change of clothes in my hand luggage. If you’re reading this, take this as a lesson. Always have change of clothes or two with you.

Here’s what happened. My flight route was KL-SingaporeNewYork-Miami-Barbados. What’s the worst thing that could happen when you have so many changes? Yes, the flight from New York to Miami got delayed by more than an hour and we missed our connection to Barbados.

We arrived in Miami late – about 8pm, and the earliest flight we could get out (thankfully, we didn’t have to buy new tickets) was the next morning at about 10am.

As I had to chaperone the two winners, I decided to check us into the nearest airport hotel: Holiday Inn Miami.

Thankfully my credit card was enough for two rooms. I must have looked a mess because the young men knocked on my room later that night to offer me their cup noodles which they’d packed from home.

I wish I could remember their names.

We got on the flight the next day and arrived in Barbados around lunch time. There was transport waiting for us but, guess what? My luggage didn’t arrive!

This was turning out to be a nightmare. After filing a report with the airline office, I dragged my weary body to the van which was waiting for us (an hour had passed and I had a splitting headache by then).

We reached our hotel – it was a fancy resort with a bar on the beach overlooking the emerald green waters. But I was so tired and fed up I went straight to my room – not to sleep but to wash the clothes I had on – the only outfit I had with me at that point which was smelling really foul – for the interview and concert the next day.

The hotel was nice enough to give me a pareo and a T-shirt but I wasn’t in the mood for anything but sleep.

We had to leave for the interview early the next morning and my clothes hadn’t completely dried out even though I used a hairdryer on them for more than an hour. And you know how damp clothes have a certain rank smell?

I had no choice but to pull on my damp jeans and slip on my damp top and head out to my interview.

I stank so badly, I gave myself a headache. Luckily the one thing I did have in my hand luggage was Panadol!

At my one-on-one interview with Clarkson, I tried my best to sit as far away from her so that she wouldn’t smell me. Trust her to be really friendly ... she came closer.

The interview lasted about 30 minutes and she was really nice. I don’t know if she caught a whiff of my rank-smelling clothes but she showed no signs of being disgusted. Instead she even complemented my hair col- our (I had a blonde streak) and told me I was pretty.

I will love her forever. Even so, I didn’t dare ask her for a picture in case she fainted or something.

When I got back to the hotel, I was greeted with the best news – my bag had arrived and was waiting for me in my room.

I ran to my room, had a shower, changed into fresh clothes and then ran off to the beach for a few hours of fun in the sun before the concert that night.

Simple Plan was good, Katy Perry rocked, but no one, in my mind, could be better than my friend Kelly Clarkson!