When the Vaccinated Journey Lane (VTL) settlement between Singapore and South Korea was signed final October, it acquired many Singaporeans excited to lastly have a style of journey once more.
A Singaporean girl and her household had deliberate for an eight-day trip to South Korea, from Dec 4 to 11 final yr.
Nevertheless, it turned out to be a 26-day keep after she and her 12-year-old son examined constructive for Covid-19 in Seoul. Her husband, who examined unfavorable, needed to self isolate for an additional seven days in South Korea.
The extra bills amounted to about $7,000, virtually double the preliminary $8,000 they’d deliberate for the journey.
The 40-year-old girl, who was given the pseudonym ‘Cheryl’ within the 8days report, informed the journal of her ordeal in Seoul, starting with the jarring distinction between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic journey.
“Plenty of the retailers are closed. Even Myeongdong was so quiet. Petit France was once very crowded. After we had been there, it was so quiet.”
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The gross sales supervisor added that they had been cautious wherever they went, avoiding crowded locations and ensuring to sanitise their palms. “Even after we had been buying in supermarkets, we’d sanitise the buying cart,” she shared with 8days.
Regardless of taking these measures to keep away from the virus, her son examined constructive for Covid-19 throughout their pre-departure antigen fast check (ART) at Incheon Airport.
This was simply hours earlier than they had been to verify in for his or her flight again dwelling.
Cheryl recalled that two days earlier than, the boy had signs equivalent to fever, runny nostril and a slight cough, however didn’t suppose it will be Covid-19.
The household didn’t board their flight and had been panicking on the airport, not figuring out the place to go or what to do.
They finally discovered a close-by lodge and went for an further polymerase chain response (PCR) check at a neighborhood hospital, after queuing outdoors for 3 hours in sub-zero temperatures.
A day later, Cheryl examined constructive whereas her husband was nonetheless unfavorable. She described having a fever of 38.5 levels and a nasty headache which lasted for every week.
However she brushed it off as a chilly she may have caught from queueing open air for 3 hours in freezing temperatures for the PCR check.
Cheryl added that she misplaced her sense of scent and her nostril felt “ceaselessly congested”. She additionally coughed lots, “like I used to be coughing out my lungs”.
The couple determined that her husband would fly dwelling first however he came upon on the airport that he couldn’t accomplish that, as seven days had not handed since his final contact with a constructive Covid-19 case.
On her finish, Cheryl was struggling to determine what to do subsequent.
She regretted not shopping for a neighborhood SIM card, because the quite a few calls she made along with her Singapore line amounted to roughly $800.
Ultimately, after looking for assist from the Singapore embassy, each mom and son had been despatched to a therapy centre in Seoul for 9 days.
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Cheryl, who misplaced 6kg from the entire expertise, recalled that the meals offered had been “actually good”. Nevertheless, she didn’t eat a lot as she had misplaced her sense of style and scent.
After being discharged, mom and son nonetheless couldn’t return to Singapore as a result of Covid-19 rules at the moment. That meant one other 5 days in South Korea.
Cheryl ordered solely room service and the pair had all their meals within the lodge room throughout these 5 days, as she didn’t need to threat catching the Omicron virus in the event that they had been to exit.
This set them again over $100 a day, on high of the $200 per night time room cost they needed to fork out.
Cheryl managed to e-book flight tickets dwelling however had one ultimate hurdle to clear, the pre-departure ART check. They finally cleared it after a irritating, two-hour wait.
“When the outcomes got here again unfavorable, I hugged my son so tightly. We may lastly go dwelling,” Cheryl informed 8days.
That they had a clean journey dwelling however there was nonetheless the daunting process of claiming insurance coverage.
In complete, the household racked up about $7,000 value of further bills of which Cheryl mentioned they’d obtained a payout of greater than 60 p.c of their bills.
She went on to say that she didn’t anticipate their first journey in two years to be such a catastrophe, including that her son and husband have been “very traumatised” by the incident and wouldn’t need to journey “till all of the obligatory exams and quarantines are lifted”.
This text was first revealed in AsiaOne.
Supply: Her World
