The day before departure

There was a time when you lobbed a few changes of clothes into a case, made sure you had your washing and shaving kit and a paperback book to read.  Packing time back then, about 10 minutes.

On the previous post, I showed a section of my spreadsheet, but a quick check tonight lists no less than 226 individual items, to take out and an expected 208 to bring back! However, that isn’t a classic example of over packing, more of ‘Being Prepared’, as some items I’m packing are only for MIQ on my return, such as a Wasgij’ jigsaw (Google it!) but without the box, and a decent knife and fork, as most MIQ’s issue disposable plastic cutlery. Each individual document has also been listed which includes hotel  and rental car bookings, but also a swag of Covid specific stuff. 

Overall, the biggest change to packing is the technology.  As a youngster, it would have been one film camera and maybe two or three rolls of film.  This time, two DSLR full size camera bodies, two lenses, plus another DSLR with a fixed lens, a compact camera, cables, chargers, spare batteries, memory cards etc. Then there’s the need for a portable hard drive (and cable), external DVD drive – and cable plus the Sat Nav, (and cable), mobile phone, battery pack and so on.

On the outward journey, and most important, is a kilo and a half of NZ’s Whittaker’s chocolate – which won’t be coming back!  Various other odds and sods that will be delivered or abandoned (old socks, a jacket, a sweater etc.), and although not heavy, a pile of the paperwork, some of which is essential - which brings me onto the Covid travel requirements – again.

The first critical sheet was the result of the Covid test, taken Thursday 12 noon (yesterday).  I was promised a result before 8pm and the Dr’s contact details if I hadn’t received it. Luckily, he’d also stated that before panicking and ringing, check the Spam folder. As my usual address is NOT a gmail address, I had to consult Mr Google to find the spam folder.  Sure enough, that was where the result was hiding. A huge sigh of relief.

The receipt for the arrival (Day 2) test from Boots was the next piece of paper. That was easy.

The final pieces of paper were printouts of the UK’s “Declaration of travel”. The wording on some of the information wasn’t exactly crystal clear. Reading some, it was to be filled in up to 48 hours before arrival, and others were within 48 hours of arrival. Opposite meanings.  So after registering and wading through (and the inevitable ‘one time password’ sent to the mobile phone) several pages, it was then obvious that it was WITHIN 48 hours.

So even before I’d found the Covid result, I managed to fill in the form and get it accepted. Once they had been printed out, I could visibly relax.

Ironically, these days, it doesn’t seem to matter if you leave the ticket on the kitchen bench, as the passport is generally all that is required, but this time, I have pasted a copy of the vaccination details in it, just in case.  I also applied for a letter from the ‘Minister of Health’, confirming the vaccination details.

Once those official documents had been printed out and collated into my travel folder, the remaining paperwork was of no real consequence.

Whilst Auckland is in level 4 lockdown, I’m probably luckier than those left behind. Even though the Business Class lounge is closed, I’ll be relieved to getting checked in.  Unfortunately, not only is the lounge at Auckland closed, but due to the closed bubble with Australia, so are just about all the food outlets. Last month, only one was open.

So, all being well, the journey is about to start and the return into MIQ is an arrival time of 8:00am, September 23^rd.  We have no idea where which MIQ facility but thanks to someone tracking the arrivals, let’s see if my prediction of Auckland is correct. More of that when I return.            

Travel preparation before setting off

I have been an avid list planner using Excel spreadsheets for a few years now, as funnily enough, it is all part of the excitement of planning for the trip.  I have one master travel spreadsheet. Page 1 is a long list of items I COULD take on a trip and page 2 is a list of things I MAY need to do, with the number of days before departure that they need to be done.

The list of items to take also has the weight of each item and also whether it is to be in the carry-on luggage, or a specific checked in case. The fun then is building the list for each trip and using Excel’s ‘LOOKUP’ function, and seeing the weight for each case before packing, as items are selected.

The image below has had many lines deleted but gives a general idea of what the system looks like.

 

The beauty of the system is that with a spreadsheet for each trip, (saved in Dropbox), should a case go astray, there is a ready-made list of what was in it, for insurance purposes.

To date, I have almost never left anything behind that I should have packed and it also ensures that the luggage isn’t overweight.

When it comes to the ‘to do list’, not only is it booking hotels, car rentals and items such as turning off the water just before we leave, but in 2021, there are the Covid testing requirements to be scheduled whilst the ‘to take’ list has also had to be modified.  Only time will tell if I get that right.

As mentioned in an earlier post, travel advisories seem to be changing almost daily but as at the time of writing the draft of this, NZ has just gone into lockdown - again, which may or may not affect my own travel plans. NZ is currently a ‘Green list’ country, which means a day 2 arrival test in the UK, but a move to an ‘Amber’ list could prove problematic, requiring an additional day 8 test and some form of isolation, which will seriously damage the travel plans and may even see it cancelled.     

A pre NZ departure Covid test has been booked and the time allocated is 12pm, September 2^nd. The flight out is the afternoon of Saturday September 4^th. That will be an anxious time, awaiting that result!

Booking a pre departure test in the UK was next. The complication here was a test taken within 3 days of departure and the result through before an 8:50pm flight, meaning maybe a 5:30pm check in. The complication is that one of the main reasons for the timing of the trip, is attending the 3 day Goodwood Revival (classic/historic car) race meeting, which is all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Flying out Tuesday evening, I booked a Monday 8:30am test in Bournemouth, where I’ll catch up with my youngest brother.

My brother very kindly went to the test centre to check it out and emailed to say that their tests are picked up 12 noon, and therefore the test results are not likely to be back for 36 hours. Too late. Oh dear. However, for an EXTRA £99, they would be done in time. Very much a case of so be it.

From the Facebook group page, someone stated they’d arrived at Heathrow about 11am for an 8:50pm flight and were able to be tested at the airport. I think I prefer paying the extra in Bournemouth, for peace of mind.

The only other mandatory items to deal with are a UK day 2 arrival Covid test, that has to be booked and paid for, and a receipt shown before boarding in Auckland, plus filling in an on line declaration of where I’ve been for the previous 14 days, within 2 days of departure – and a copy printed out to be shown before boarding, along with the Covid test result.

Perhaps as well that despite the advancing years, dealing with emails and on-line forms is no big deal. However, dealing with a mobile phone is a different story, as unlike about 95% of the population over the age of 5, I don’t rely on a mobile phone. Certainly, I’ll probably need it at check ins or I may just make sure all info is on the laptop.

Meanwhile, some harrowing tales of people entering MIQ, after very long journeys and being shipped off to Christchurch, with small children in tow.

More next time on stories, hints and tips gleaned so far from the Facebook group - and an update on Auckland’s lockdown status.

 

     

 

    

More preparation and info

The aforementioned Facebook group, has several posts a day and some have even been posting pictures of their food, which is useful.

Much of the discussion is critical of the booking system itself.  That is generally justified but some have had their places cancelled because they were "signed in on multiple devices" (sometimes incorrectly) and naturally enough, many appear to be genuinely suffering from spending hours and hours each day, continually refreshing the screen in a vain hope that a vacancy will crop up.

As I write this, it is the final day of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, so the competitors and their entourages will get MIQ spaces on their return. It was also announced that the Dubai Expo staff, will also be allocated MIQ spaces and it appears that groups of more than 20 people, be they business or sports related, and even entertainers, are getting MIQ spots, when ordinary folk are denied, or just have to spend hours a day hoping to secure a place.

The irony of it is that the NZ Government sees some of these groups and sports teams as an 'economic benefit' to NZ. What irks many of the people struggling, is that they may be self-employed, and collectively, also of economic benefit to NZ.

On the Facebook page are many examples of people stranded and suffering by not being able to be with sick or dying loved ones. Families split because those working overseas just can’t get back. Others with jobs expiring, or tenancies expiring, work visas expiring. Job offers in NZ not able to be fulfilled and so on.

Logistically, it appears there are difficulties with having enough staff to run the systems and a system that is far from perfect.

At long last, the news media are picking up on this, but will things really change?

We’ll just have to wait and see.

During this period, the two pressing issues for me are the pre-departure Covid test timings, from NZ, and booking an arrival day 2 test in the UK. Then there will be a departure test from the UK.

Results have to be shown, and that in itself raises the issue of how long it actually takes to get the results, in a format that can be shown at the airport(s). That inevitably means reliance on a mobile phone – something I rarely use.  I prefer an emailed hard copy - which is fine if at home and able to use a printer, not so easy if travelling.

The challenges of keeping up with the requirements of a) NZ, b) Singapore c) UK is a bit of a pain. Requirements are constantly changing.

The next post may well be about what I’m learning about preparing for the flight. The flights. Transit through Singapore. UK Arrival and departure procedures and so on.

Feel free to comment!

Gathering information in advance - via a Facebook Group

At the end of the previous post, I made reference to a Facebook group that I came across by accident. Bear in mind that this written several weeks before MIQ (Managed Isolation Quarantine) and the MIQ system has come under a lot of fire, generally justified, the majority of flak aimed at the difficulty of actually grabbing a place.

Having grabbed my spot, I was over that major hurdle, but contributors to the group were a mix of those struggling to find a spot, those advising on how to find a spot, some actually in MIQ, some having completed their 14 days, and those like me, gleaning any information we possibly could in advance, as the scout motto of ‘Be Prepared’, still holds good - for me anyway.

This is the link to the Facebook page - at the time of writing, a staggering 6.4k members:

NZ MIQ Facebook Group link

So what have I learned so far?

The most important and somewhat worrying factor is that until your aircraft lands, you have no idea where your MIQ hotel will be.

As the majority of flights will be arriving in Auckland – and the chances are that the majority of passengers will also be from the Greater Auckland region, the majority of MIQ hotels are also in the Auckland region, but so far, passengers have been billeted in Auckland, Rotorua, Wellington and down in the South Island – Christchurch.

Facing a 26 hour flight from the UK, then being flown to Christchurch or taken by coach to Rotorua (about a 4 hour journey), is not something to look forward to.  What makes that even worse is that quarantine is exactly 14 days, to the hour – 336 hours. So being released at 8am in Auckland even if returned to the airport, is one thing, but being released at 8am in Christchurch or Rotorua effectively extends the quarantine by maybe half a day or more.

Again, being prepared, helps, so if the worse-case scenario is a distant hotel, so be it.  The downside of that is that if local, you can have personal items dropped off and delivered to the hotel.      

Then we come to the experiences at the various hotels.  It appears that some have different rules from others and also different facilities, especially around the exercise.

Booking a ‘slot’ then being confined to a small yard - or having it cancelled at short notice doesn’t augur too well, whilst others have the luxury of a reasonable garden area and plenty of exercise opportunities. Some seem to have hired exercise bikes for the duration or embarked on a yoga and exercise regime.

Regardless, you are confined to your bubble, so if travelling on your own, that is it.

Some of the tips and experiences of others may prove to be invaluable, others just plain common sense.

One of the useful tips was that as the 3 meals a day delivered to your room, come in cardboard containers with usually, plastic knives and forks, packing your own cutlery and maybe a plate of some sort may not be a bad idea.

Needless to say, several complained about meals being cold – they are left outside your door and I suppose that if you are on an upper floor and the last to get the meal, it would be cold. Some enterprising soul used the hair drier and others were fortunate enough to have a microwave. Fingers crossed on that score, as I do prefer my hot meals to be hot.  In fact, a pet hate of mine is getting a hot meal on a cold plate in a café or restaurant.

Discussion on the page can be very lively and naturally enough, a lot of comment about the need for the full 14 day’s isolation if doubly vaccinated. Needless to say, I have my own opinions on that score - and those who know me well wouldn’t be at all surprised.

Posts between now and the actual start of my MIQ stint may be very infrequent, but once it kicks in, there will be a daily post – probably with pics.

Pre-planning for 14 days MIQ

Having secured an MIQ spot, within 48 hours, and before an MIQ voucher could be issued, the flight number (from a drop down list) had to be checked and the booking number input. Cue an email to our wonderful Travel Agent, Caroline.

 

Back in 2020 when Covid first hit, one of the very earliest local casualties was Caroline’s branch of YouTravel, in Birkenhead (Auckland). Her second in command, Rachel, had looked after us so well for several years, but not only did the retail branch have to close, but Rachel’s job went too. Devastating for them but we opted to continue to use Caroline as our TA, as we have found that although we can book fights and cruises on line, there are often some advantages to using a TA, especially with re-booking flights.

 

I’d already given Caroline my MIQ password, as she had also been chasing spaces for me and sure enough, by the following morning, she had not only sorted the flight booking but had input the details for me into the MIQ site and the voucher was issued.

 

What a relief that was.

 

Covid’s impact had been such that the rules and procedures for several countries changed almost daily, so constantly checking for changes was important.  My initial travel plans were via Los Angeles, but as the UK/USA didn’t exactly have an open door, the plans were switched to out and back via Singapore.

 

It wasn’t long before I realised that flying back to Singapore for a planned 2 night stopover, wasn’t going to be possible, due to travel restrictions ex-UK, so the only option was to fly straight through with just a transit stop in Singapore.  With all my flights to and from the UK over the last 38 years, I have never ever flown straight through. I need a break for daylight, fresh air and a decent bed, but if it was the only option, so be it.

 

Then another change to Singapore’s requirements, threw another spanner in the works. As NZ was deemed a ‘Green List’ country, the plan was to fly to Singapore from NZ, have a two day break, then carry on to the UK, arriving 5:55am September 5^th. Singapore then made a ruling that you had a Covid test on arrival Went straight to your hotel and a wait of up to 48 hours for the test result. Not exactly an attractive prospect, so another flight change and another straight through flight.

 

Once again, Caroline to the rescue and a (tiny) bonus for my wife, as my outward flight, now two days later than originally.

 

Then I found a Facebook page for NZ MIQ returnees and another chapter began.  

 

    

Trying to Book an MIQ space

For NZ Citizens or Residents, it sounds simple enough. Register on the NZ Government’s MIQ (Managed Isolation Quarantine) website.

 1) click on the date your flight arrives from the published 3 or 4 month calendar

       2) input the flight details

      3) arrange the flight

      4) input the flight booking reference

      5) get a voucher issued to reserve your spot

      6) job done

The reality was somewhat different.

 Stage one was straightforward, the usual profile creation with passport details etc., no different from any other profile and password creation.  This was going to be a solo trip, so just the one name in the system.

 What follows is my own experience and others will have found it either easier, more difficult or impossible.

 Central to my own trip were the dates around the Goodwood Revival meeting, September 17/18/19. Arrival in the UK therefore couldn’t be later than 16^th nor the  return flight earlier than the 20^th.  The original flight out of the UK was therefore planned to be September 2^nd, flying out of the UK 21^st.

 Having registered, the first job was then to look at the calendar and click on September 23^rd, the arrival date back in NZ. But, it was greyed out, meaning that there was no spot available, nor 24^th or indeed, any date right up to the end of October, which was as far as the calendar went.

 My heart sank. But it wasn’t quite as simple as that. To actually get to the calendar was a frustrating waste of time in itself.

  1)   Log in

        2)   But first of all, prove that you weren’t a robot, by clicking on the ‘captcha’ check box.

        3)  Did that get you in? No. Up popped a grid of pictures and you had to click on every grid that had either hills, steps, traffic lights, bridges, boats, tractors, bicycles, buses or crosswalks. Different every time.

       4) Sometimes, identifying them from the small, grainy, poor definition images wasn’t so easy, so often, clicking ‘verify’, another grid would pop up

       5)  This time, it would be similar, OR, you had to click on each relevant image, wait for the screen to refresh, keep doing it until there were no more images showing.

      6)  This again may have had to be repeated  - not always, but sometimes.

     7)  This would then take you to a page where you had to click a check box to confirm whether or not there were disability issues.

     8)  Below that, the calendar, which started off at June (I first went in mid-June), then you scrolled to July, then August and for me, September.

     9)   Nothing, so on to October, which was as far as it went.

    10)  Nothing.

    11) So, click ‘Refresh’ and go back, often to step 2 or 3.

    12)   This was done many, many times in succession and very rarely, a half suitable date may crop up, but by the time I’d clicked on it and once again clicked yet another ‘captcha’ box, the date had gone.

 This went on many, many times, morning, noon and night, without success. Despondency was setting in and according to my wife, I was getting grumpy, though I wasn’t aware of it - other than when at the screen.

 Then, one day, Sunday October 10^th cropped up. Not ideal and it would have meant changing not just flights, but hotel and car rental bookings. It also meant I’d be away a few days longer, which naturally enough, did not please my wife at all.

 Having jumped up and down with glee, the euphoria was short lived.  A place would be held for 48 hours only, but the usual Singapore Airlines flight wasn’t showing. In fact, only three flights were showing. One each from Chile, Japan and China.  I thought that maybe there had been a mistake as Singapore Airlines has at least one if not two flights a day arriving from Singapore.  I was pretty sure I’d checked there was a flight just two days earlier.

I dashed off an email to MIQ and their unhelpful reply was to board one of the three flights on their list!

Either I was mistaken, or Singapore canned that flight, as sure enough, there was a flight arriving 11pm on the Saturday night, but nothing on the Sunday, one of only two days in a 14 day window, with no flights!  Now even though it would take until after midnight to get to an MIQ facility, the rules were quite solid, the SCHEDULED arrival time was the only acceptable date, so sadly, the reserved date lapsed and the search started all over again.

 At this point, I was getting quite angry (unusual for me!) that I was spending several non-productive hours a day on the MIQ site.  By profession, I am a qualified Productivity Specialist with 45 years’ experience of either installing, challenging or modifying systems, and this really rankled, as not only was the system time consuming, but there was no waitlist option either.

 Day by day, there was no luck at all and I’d even given my Travel Agent my password and she was also looking several times day, plus asking around her colleagues in the industry if they could help. No luck.

 This daily ritual was getting me down, as I really didn’t want to cancel this trip, but as the days ticked over, it was looking more and more dubious.

 There was an article on the TV News where a smart business woman had put feelers out and was prepared to pay $100 or $150 for someone to secure a slot for her and someone in Bangladesh managed it. A small price to pay considering the loss of income if doing it yourself. The news a week or two later, was then full of instances of people doing this and as at last night (July 11^th), the price had risen to over $1250.  Tonight, double that.  But I’m jumping ahead.

 By going into the website, morning noon and night, there was no obvious time when a spot might become available, and why should there be? Kiwis or residents overseas up at 3am NZ time, probably outnumbered those like me, wanting to get out and back.

 Then, July 7^th, success.

A bit of background first

As 2020, after a 7 day early February Queensland cruise was devoid of travel, it was the shortest blog I have done since I started, prior to our World Cruise in 2011!

 I must admit that March or April 2020, I thought the Covid epidemic would be under control by August, so I wasn’t too pleased that the September 2020 Goodwood Revival race meeting was cancelled, and my pre booked, pre-paid Air New Zealand flights to and from the UK had to be rolled over to 2021.

 At that time, Air NZ were flying to the UK via Los Angeles twice daily, so as LAX has always been my favourite stopover (I’m a Universal Studios, Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm fan), that was what I was going to do, with a return visit to the Petersen museum in Hollywood a must see.  Then Air NZ announced that they were dropping LAX/LHR flights altogether.

 By the time it came to rolling over the booking for 2021, Virgin Atlantic had stepped in, but AIR NZ had also cut back the AKL/LAX frequency so the trip had to be reshuffled – more than once, as flight schedules changed. When I say the trip, it wasn’t just flights, but the car hire booking and hotel bookings. As 2021 progressed Covid restrictions, country by country seemed to change almost daily, but I was at least optimistic that at least the Goodwood Revival would still be on and once they announced that BRM (racing cars) were to be featured, to celebrate their 70 years, I was even more determined to be there and also catch up with family and friends, ever aware that with advancing years, the number of school friends particularly, shrinks each year. 

 When NZ and Singapore were put onto the UK’s Green list for incoming travellers, and the USA wasn’t, it made sense to switch to flying via Singapore – which in itself, caused considerable hassles for our wonderful Travel Agent, Caroline, trying to get the money back from Air NZ.

 Reading the rules for entry carefully, it seemed that a stopover in Singapore going out was possible, but the return flight, would have to be straight through, with a transit stop only in Singapore.

 Then the fun, well stress, really started.

 Returning to NZ, a 14 day stay in managed isolation/quarantine is compulsory but places are limited. Without a place in MIQ, it isn’t possible to return to NZ, even if vaccinated.

 So, the search began for an MIQ place, arriving at a suitable time.  The calendar showed the remainder of June, July, August, September and October. I was originally scheduled to arrive September 23^rd. So from early June, the search began.

 The next post will be about the hassles of trying to book an MIQ slot.