When we were packing up and preparing to leave Glasgow for our return to Adelaide, it wasn't without a little bit of trepidation. It's not just the emptying of a flat, the packing up of our things, but the travelling during a world-wide pandemic, that really got us a little...uncertain. So for those of you who might be doing this sometime soon, or perhaps you're just curious about what the experience was like, here's what happened to us.
The one major thing required of us before heading to the airport was to get a negative PCR test. It needed to be done within 72 hours of stepping through the gate onto our flight out of the UK and needed to be booked and paid for with a medical room instead of going through the NHS, whose free tests are only for those exhibiting symptoms.
I've had a couple of tests now - one I administered myself, one done for me in a drive through testing site, and then this one, which was by FAR the most uncomfortable, done by a nurse. It was over within seconds though and then we just had to wait for our results to be emailed though.
Two days later, we and all our bags - 4 checked, 5 carry on - were collected and taken to the airport.
We were concerned with the weight of our bags because though we had a travel scale, it wasn't necessarily accurate. Our worry was justified when we found out we were 10 KILOS over....but the attendant didn't bat an eyelid and checked them through. All the way to Adelaide. We had expected to collect them in London since we were overnighting there before getting on the connecting flight the next morning, so to have the weight of those bags removed from the picture was just such a massive relief. I was also crazy relieved that I had the foresight (and no room elsewhere) to pack our change of clothes for the next two days in our carry on along with basic toiletries...
This relief was felt even more when we arrived in London and realised that to get to our hotel, we needed to catch a public bus (free, at least) 15 minutes down the road and then walk a further 5. It was awkward enough with our carry on bags but to had to have done it with our suitcases....yeah no.
Security in Glasgow was painless and quick, and all that was open was the Boots apparently - I can't confirm this since our gate was too far from where that was located. Vending machines were operating but that was it - no coffee outlets, no duty free stores, no food outlets. It felt like a ghost town.
The sun was out as we flew out of Glasgow - we saw snow on the mountain tops and so much green, which is such a lovely last memory of our home for the past year.
We disembarked at Heathrow, figured out how to get to our aforementioned hotel, and got checked in. Thee place had such a strange vibe - the bar and kitchen were closed though they were offering room service for meals and it just had a classy hostel feel. Our room was basic but clean, but our focus was on finding out where our results were for the PCR test. They were meant to have been emailed out but neither of us had yet receivd them and it was now 4:30pm on the Friday and our flight was due to leave at 7:30am the next morning. We called to follow up and it was clearly a call they were used to receiving because they told to look in our spam folders...a mystery to them and to us why the test results end up there, but at least we had them! Negative to boot. I felt like we had cleared our last major hurdle.
Neither of us slept particularly well that night, paranoid we would miss the 4am alarm I had set since our flight departed at 7:30am, but we were fine. We left the hotel at quarter to five, walked the five minutes to the bus stop, and within 15 minutes, we were heading back to the airport.
There was only one other family ahead of us clearing security and then we got ourselves some breakfast. There were more places open in Terminal 5 of Heathrow than had been at Glasgow - Pret, Starbucks, a few duty free stores. It felt so much more like a normal airport experience despite the signs on every second or third seat to enforce social distancing.
When it was time to board, we presented our ticket, our passport, and then our test results on our phone. The staff took a photo of each of the results....and then we were through. Not gonna lie, taking that first step past the gate, one step closer to the plane to Adelaide, felt so exciting.
Seven hours later, we were at Doha and stepping out of the plane, onto the tarmac and straight into a waiting bus. The taste of air reminded me so strongly of home - the cool but warm air, right before a storm. The sky was grey with these thick clouds and I hadn't felt that sort of weather for over a year. Different country sure, but it was more like home than Scotland's weather had been!
We'd never been to Doha before but the signs were clear, staff were interspersed throughout so asking questions was easy, and it wasn't crazy busy. It felt so manageable. What we didn't expect was to have to go through another security screening right before the gate onto our final flight. I had to skull the last bit of water I had from the earlier flight, and throw out the drink I'd purchased on the other side of the previous security screen, so that was a bit frustrating.
Then finally on to Adelaide. I nearly cried when I said that to Cameron as we walked onto the airbridge.
Travelling through the three airports, there was no point in which we felt unsafe or at risk. All staff were wearing PPE, hand sanitiser abounded, masks were mandatory...there were the occasional idiots with the mask below their nose, but they were fewer and further between. And we had no qualms asking people to pull the mask back up.
Across all legs of our journey, the cabin crew were all incredible. Attentive, friendly, and always, always so safe and conscious.
When we landed..... seeing such familiar landscape, the yellowed grass, bleached tarmac, and the classic Qantas kangaroo was the best homecoming. The wave of warmth as we stepped onto the air birdge (it was basically a sauna in the 43C heat), the Aussie accents as staff guided us down the hall and into lines - I felt such an overwhelming wave of gratitude for my home.
We moved slowly through, getting our tmperature checked, changed our masks to new ones provided by staff, and sanitised our hands ahead of moving into the customs room. The customs officer welcomed us home - he hasn't seen too many South Aussies come through so that was lovely. Then we collected our luggage, stacked it all on a trolley, went through the declaration of goods, and waited until there was 20 of us before we were lead out to one of four buses heading for the Stamford Plaza.
Our luggage was loaded on by officers/volunteers/staff, we sanitised our hands again and boarded.
We were driven to our hotel and wow, seeing our city after so long away, seeing the shop fronts, the Market, the streets....it was so familiar and I don't think I'll take it for granted again. Or at least not for a very long time lol.
On arrival, we were told to stay on the bus and only disembark 3-4 people at a time, from the front first, to further minimise any contact with others. Our luggage was pulled out from the belly of the bus and lined up ready for collection as we all slowly came out, and were gradually led into the lobby to be checked in. The front of the hotel was blocked off from traffic and had so many police officers, staff, and medical/covid marshalls around. Inside, we were marked off a list, asked if we had a room prefernece (non/smoking) and were assigned a room. At the next desk, two police officers checked our passports and told us the rules - don't leave, don't be a dick, otherwise we'll fine you. Essentially.
Then a staff member took us up to our room and gave us the good oil - a nurse would contact us in the next 24 hours, someone from reception would call us to get a card number for incidentals, and otherwise, stay sane.
We got a really decent room - I had tried not to get our hopes up but we have a view across the river, the casino and down to St Peters, a window that opens, a decent desk/counter space, and plenty of floor space for our luggage and a bit of exercise. The bathroom is compact but lovely and Adelaide water, on a scale of London's harsh excuse for water to Scotland's pure deliciousness, sits somewhere in between.
We hooked in to the wifi eventually, unpacked a little - toiletries mainly - and then dinner arrived. Each was packed in a paper bag, with plastic cutlery and....wasn't bad. We were overtired, hungry and not hungry and eating salmon out of a foil takeaway dish didn't really excite either of us. Saying that, there was nothing wrong with the food and each meal since has been pretty decent. Definitely nothing to complain about.
Each medi-hotel is different, so there were a few things we were pleasantly surprised about. First, we had a set of cutlery and plates provided for us to use as we wish, so there was no need to eat out of alfoil containers with plastic if we didn't want. We aren't able to use the laundry service but we had a bag of cleaning supplies provided, including a few sachets of washing powder. Deliveries are allowed (care packages, uber eats, etc) but each one costs us $2.50 - to cover the cost of the staff member who has to don PPE to deliver it to us. We only have a kettle and a bar fridge so we're pretty limited with what we can store/do beyond the food that gets delivered to us. Meals are delivered three times a day: breakfast between 8-10am, lunch between 12-2pm, and dinner between 6-8pm.
We get three Covid tests - on the 2nd, 6th and 12th day, and once the last test comes back negative, we are free to leave on Day 15. The day we arrived/checked in is considered Day 0. There is a lack of access with our tv - we can't use streaming services or plug in our external hard drive so we're limited to watching things from our laptop or settling on free tv. We get a daily newsletter with the next day's menu, some puzzles, and other bits of information.
The hotel has also set up a Facebook group so we can chat with others and have another way to speak with staff. It's honestly feeling like such a well organised and thought out operation here.
Fun fact - our first test actually happened on Day 1. Possibly because our Day 2 fell on Australia Day, but either way, it was a day early and was the most gentle, painless one yet. It made me so relieved lol. We think the test here also takes the sample from a different part of the mouth than in the UK - there it's from the tonsils, here it felt more like the roof of the mouth and around the wisdom teeth area. If anyone reading this can confirm, I'd be interested to know since the experience was just so different!
We received the first call from a nurse on Day 1 (by the time we had checked in and sorted ourselves out on Sunday night, it was after 8pm), which we'll receive every day for the duration of our stay to keep tabs on any symptoms that might develop, check on our mental health, and just be a bit of a support network for us. On top of that, around 8pm, we got a call from SAPOL - our daily check in (though times will vary) to make sure we were in the room and not gallivanting about the place.
Our first care package arrived too! Apparently a simple process to drop off - you filled out some details like your name, the time of delivery, and who it was for, then left it on a table for staff to take. My god was I grateful for the Bakers Delight goodies - I've been dreaming of a Cheesymite for weeks <3
NB: since then, we've received another 3 parcels from family and friends. We're definitely feeling spoiled and very, very lucky!
I'll write another update on the quarantine as we draw nearer the end but otherwise, I hope you've enjoyed this insight into our past few days!
