Hello all,
I am so happy to be writing my ‘Claire Overseas’ blog whilst actually overseas
for the first time since January 2020. It’s been a tough couple of years for
everyone, and the start of 2022 has been really tough for many as well. I am
hopeful that you all enjoy reading my blog for the next ten days, and that our
adventures and the things we see and do provide a welcome distraction and a dose
of some sort of normality.
I was supposed to leave for the UK on December 29th, but alas, the
Omicron variant had other plans. With the crazy high case numbers in the UK, I
would have caught COVID, isolated for most of my trip, and then had difficulty
getting home. I was pretty shattered as I was supposed to be visiting my friends
over there and it was my second attempt, but it can’t be helped.
So my amazing parents generously invited me to join them on their rescheduled
Singapore trip from 2020 as they had a spare room in their apartment.
Strangely, flights to Singapore were cheaper than flights to Cairns and Brisbane
for the same dates! So I booked, and everyone was happy – I got another chance
at a break from Melbourne and a chance to switch off properly from work. Mum
and Dad got a free tour guide, as I’ve been to Singapore before and can show
them around. So I booked my flights, and four days later the Singapore
government put a freeze on new flight bookings due to the Omicron variant. I
was very glad I made the decision quickly to join Mum and Dad and had already
booked!!
The lead up to an overseas trip is usually one of my favourite parts. There is
something about researching and deciding how time will be spent in a different
city or place that just sets my soul on fire. Looking into local experiences,
tourist highlights and everything in between. That experience was entirely
different this time. We are Melbournians – we no longer allow ourselves to get
excited about something until the day arrives and it’s actually happening. Any
time I spoke about this trip until the day before I said “if” we get to go, not
“when”. We booked nothing in advance, and we crossed our fingers. We watched Victoria
and NSW’s case numbers soar and wondered what would go wrong first – would we
get COVID and be unable to go, or would the Singapore government shut to us
completely? Thankfully, neither of those things happened. We were very careful
in the lead up, not hugging friends, sitting outside if we ate out, doing
outdoor activities, avoiding crowds etc. I even moved over to Mum and Dad’s on
Wednesday when Rob received some news that a friend he had (outdoor) lunch with
on Monday had then tested positive on Tuesday, just in case. Rob has been wonderful
these last couple of weeks – organising outdoor things for us to do and being
so thoughtful trying to protect our trip.
Apart from not catching COVID, we had to jump through a few other hoops. We had
to apply for a Vaccinated Travel Lane pass, and a Singapore Arrival Card. We
had to book a pre departure PCR test, which cost $150. With the crazy demand
for test results recently we got quite paranoid about not getting our results
back in time. We were only allowed to get the test done two days out, but a 72
hour turnaround was all that could be guaranteed. So we got to Melbourne Pathology
at 6.30am Saturday, queued up for an hour and were first in the door. We then
drove our swabs ourselves to the lab in Collingwood to speed up the process.
Thankfully, we got our test results just ten hours later – negative! – to show
at the airport. We also had to print the other passes off, show our vaccination
certificate, and a printout of our insurance proving we have at least $30,000
of medical cover.
The day finally arrived today, and we left Mum and Dad’s at about 9am. When we
got to the airport and showed all our forms, we were informed of a two hour
delay to our flight. This was due to staffing issues. Like most companies in
Melbourne at the moment, Jetstar have lost a lot of staff either due to having
COVID or to isolation as a class contact. Incredibly, they were able to source a
few staff who agreed to work on their day off, and some staff from other flights
that had landed. We were so grateful. We took off at 3.30pm instead of 1.25pm
and were on our way, and the delay gave me an opportunity to book in some
activities for our trip that we left until we were sure we could go.
It’s pretty rare that we have flown across Australia in this direction in daylight.
Usually it’s been on a night time Emirates or Qatar flight to Europe or Africa.
As a result, we were treated to some clear and bright desert views in the
daylight. Sadly, cloud cover prevented us from seeing Uluru, but I did see some
salt flats and some pretty insane colours and patterns in the landscape regardless.
It was funny flying over Western Australia as it now feels like a separate
country to the rest of Australia. The flight was very comfortable as only 69
out of the 330 available seats were occupied. Mum, Dad and I were each
allocated our own row. We got to lounge out and watch lots of shows and movies.
We landed at approximately 7.30pm, which was only one hour later than we were
supposed to. Once we had landed, the process was super efficient. I think it
was the fastest I have ever gone through customs! We went straight through and
got our bags. We were then whisked through to the Raffles Medical PCR testing
clinic which was done very quickly. Finally, we headed to our pre booked
airport transfer, as we now have to isolate overnight until our negative result
comes through. We were not allowed to get public transport and had to get a
private transfer and stay at a quarantine hotel. We are in a teeny tiny room
all together in Clarke Quay. It’ll do for tonight, but looking forward to being
in our serviced apartment tomorrow!
We are so excited to start our journey tomorrow! Fingers crossed we all test
negative again and we are all systems go.
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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