Let’s go back to the beginning of February 2020, I was in London to visit our daughter, Carrie . The world then was in a different place. London seemed rather normal but many people were beginning to be aware of a major virus outbreak in China.
I was quite concerned myself and was told by my friends in Hong Kong to look out for face masks and hand sanitizers while in London . Carrie and I
checked out pharmacies, chemist shops or any stores that might be selling those two items. And yes, we managed to buy some!
By the time I flew back to Hong Kong I was feeling sad that Carrie was left by herself in the UK.
At the same time my husband,Andy was in the US on business . I had no idea when we could reunite as a family.
With all the talk of travel bans to and from certain countries the only thing I could do was to put at least some of my concerns to one side and pray and try to deal with what I had to do on a daily basis.
Once back in Hong Kong I distributed most of those masks and hand sanitisers we found in London and kept a few back for myself.
In February 2020 those two things became the most sought after items in Hong Kong.
Since that time both Hong Kong and the UK have rode a few different waves at different times. Hong Kong fortunately, has not had a complete lockdown like many other places but we don’t seem to have moved forward either. Even though we have had zero cases for the last two months our borders are still very restricted.
By comparison, between March 2020 and July 2021 the UK has had a series of different types of lockdowns.
Although the country and its people have suffered they believe in going forward and keeping their borders open.
Not one single British person I met on this trip seemed over concerned about Covid cases continuing to rise and what may happen when the winter flu season begins.
People in general seemed hopeful and upbeat. I did wonder at their demeanour but admired them at the same time.
Hong Kong however remains super strict with its border and as I write this, has just 53% of its population fully second jabbed!
I was fully vaccinated back in May . My antibody level was pretty good so I was aiming to leave Hong Kong for a few weeks .
Jessica, my freelance assistant and I were at my studio on 16 June 2020 when we began looking out for flights from Hong Kong to London on British Airways. Back then BA was operating 2 flights to and from Hong Kong daily. I also heard that they seldom cancelled their flights during Covid unlike their HK competitor, Cathay Pacific. As BA’s ticket price was also reasonable compared to the pre pandemic price I went ahead and booked my ticket to fly out on August 1 and return on September 1.
Then I started looking into where I should stay in UK during my one month there. My daughter suggested Bath would be not too far from where she lives.
And so, with Jessica’s help, I wrote to a few AirBNB in Bath and had a few rapid replies... One of these offered an extra special deal courtesy of a lady called Barbara Canter. Interestingly Barbara grew up in Hong Kong and has a ‘super host’ badge.
In addition, going by her photo she looked friendly and kind, so I said yes to her offer . It was to prove to be a very good choice indeed!
In July, there was a further announcement from the HK Govt. that Hong Kong would not allow passengers from the UK to fly direct to HK and that would mean I would have to fly to an ‘amber’ country to do ‘a washout’ for 21 days before flying onto HK. That had me thinking about a few different options for different countries which began to get extremely complicated and confusing.
The fact that I carry a Thai passport does not help. I am sure few of you know just how many countries are suspicious of Thai passports and demand that we must obtain special visas and how tedious that can become... even more so during this Covid pandemic.
At the end of the day only Dubai and Thailand itself could be my choice of ’21 Day Washing Out’ before flying back to Hong Kong. Therefore I decided to sort out this matter after I arrived in UK.
Before I left Hong Kong for UK these was so much for me to do. A large shipment from Royal Copenhagen arrived unexpectedly which had to be checked and sorted.
In addition, our little studio was extremely busy for the whole month of July and I never seemed to have enough hours in the day to complete all my tasks!
Once friends heard me telling them that I planned to spend the entire month of August in the UK most were concerned and wished my good luck.
In additional of the regular travel documents , I followed the updates from both HK and the UK Government websites however the guidelines are not straight forward and scattered for me ) I also followed HK Quarantine Support Group .
Here are the documents I prepared :
1. Early July someone posted in ‘HK Quarantine Support Group’ that travellers flying back from Red Zone ( The UK is in the red zone ) could lessen the length of quarantine time by showing the result of their anti body test and antibody counting record upon arrival into HK ( * update - This information was proven wrong by September 1st )
2. PCR test and the negative result is definitely a must and once the report comes back, print it onto A4 . I did the PCR test at The Community Center in Sai Ying Poon a day before I flew out.
3. Travelling from ‘Green Zone’Hong Kong ( Amber Zone Hong Kong turned green a week or so before I flew out to UK ) Day 2 self testing kit was needed and available to purchase from online . I bought one and had that delivered to my AirBNB address. The serial number of the test kit is needed.
4. I had to fill an online passenger locator from for UK government. The UK government needs to know where you are on the airplane and where you are going to stay once you arrive into The UK.
5.Covid vaccination record .
6.The official Hong Kong Quarantine hotel reservation for 21 days .
Please note that these requirements are changed from time to time . Please look at it as a guideline and find out the updates from both Hong Kong and the UK websites .
On the night of July 31st I finally finished my packing and got all my documents sorted out. I was hoping I did not forget anything.
On August I myself and Andy set off for the airport in HK ensuring we arrived at least 3 hours before the flight time of 1:15pm.
When we arrived the airport seemed eerily empty and deserted... until we came to the British Airways desks. This area was jam packed! However as I looked at the waiting crowd I could see that many of the people were travelling with huge suitcases and lots of packages.
Also many of my fellow passengers had friends and relatives seeing them off. This was no casual vacation to the U.K. These people were leaving Hong Kong for good... They were emigrating!
But that is another story.