Wow. You guys are FANTASTIC. :-:

Gardyloo, the RTW idea is fantastic, and definitely worth looking into. You're right in that it isn't an immediate fix, but definitely something worth looking into both for me and the husband, especially once we're BOTH employed again.

Henwurst and florian, I'd originally thought about flying into SIN and then going up to KL, but in both cases (bus or flight) I would have to overnight in SIN and I don't like SIN that much. All the flights I found were "arrive at SIN late at night".

Timzheng: holy cow, I need to learn from the master. *kowtows* That was PERFECT. Would jump on it now too! Except things have JUST changed; yesterday I just got a call for a job interview and I need to be in the USA next week. My husband also REALLY doesn't want me to go, not just financially but also because he gets lonely, so in the interests of marital harmony (and because he's paying for the MS) I won't. But now I know Orbitz is FAR cheaper than Expedia and I will be using it instead to search!

Again, wow, you guys are FANTASTIC. :-: This is why I come to Flyertalk to ask questions about stuff like this!