Staycation? Quarantine!

I have not posted anything since 2022 started because things have been very stressful to me. I finally made the decision to go home and the next sets of stressors came in: booking a quarantine hotel, timing the flight with booking of the pre-departure PCR test, deciding about hospitalisation insurance in case I catch COVID, packing for a few months trip and so on. Perhaps the most 'memorable' one is about the PCR swab test. It really went so much deeper than the self ART which I did in December before I went volunteering. Haha..

Surprisingly, the actual travelling in the midst of the pandemic was not as stressful as expected. At Changi, the only difference with no COVID days was the checking of pre-departure PCR document before I was allowed to proceed with check in. There were more staff than passengers (or perhaps I was too early) so I received helped in printing the boarding pass as well as tagging and dropping off the luggages. Since I was carrying my laptop bag, I checked in the bag which I usually brought as hand carry. Its weight was only 2kg and it was deemed to light to be detected by the drop off machine. Anyway past the immigration clearance, it felt business as usual for the airport.

I made use of my free Priority Pass lounge entry and because of COVID, the food choices were limited. I took one sandwich, ham and cheese platter, and one don't know what bread. Haha.. The hot food had to be ordered and pretty sure they just microwaved the food in the kitchen.

The fish was pretty dry but at least it had no fishy smell

The plane was not as empty as I hoped. I could not see any seat plan (even during check in) but it was good enough for me that there was still some social distancing. They did not group different people to be sitting in the same row. I had a whole row by myself. Hehe.. I watched Shang Chi but there were still around 45 minutes to go by the time I landed. While normal airplane food is usually already pretty bad, the food during COVID was even worse.

At Soekarno-Hatta, I was pleasantly surprised with how smooth things worse. It only took me less than 30 minutes from leaving the plane until I waited for my luggage. That included multiple checks for the documents, immigration as well as the swab. The hotel pick up was already waiting for me so everything was good. I watched my friend's vlog who went back in early December and she had to wait for the result of the arrival PCR before she could go to the hotel. Luckily the arrangement changed and now we can travel to the hotel first while waiting for the result. If it turns out to be positive, we will just be re-routed to the designated hotels for the positive people.

Since I have nothing better to do, I guess I will just be posting photos of my food while being quarantined. Haha.. I worry that I would gain weight with 3x daily meals but that does not seem going to happen because the food portion is rather small. I chose the Indonesian menu and I will be half-vegetarian for a week since most of the meat dishes have bones!

I am staying at All Sedayu Hotel and I am pretty happy so far. The first hotel which I contacted is too money minded. It expected 50% for downpayment which will be forfeited even if I could not fly because of positive pre-departure PCR test. If I wanted to pay using credit card, the hotel asked me to give all my card details (including the CVV) as a guarantee. Where is their fucking logic? All Sedayu Hotel has been amazing. Even during the check in, I only signed an agreement that I was staying here and would be aware of the quarantine rules. Nothing was mentioned about the payment arrangement and everything shall be settled upon check out. 2 bottles of water, soap+shampoo, and minibar tea/coffee/sugar/milk are topped up daily without request. I usually do not consume from the minibar but I have to drink some tea and coffee daily because the holder for these sachets is already full.

Anyway, let's spam pictures now!

My room for the next 7 days.. or 4 days by the time I am typing this

Day 1 Lunch

The purposeless wrist tag. It does not track me but I cannot remove it. It is supposed to be waterproof but the paper was already soaked after I showered one time.

Day 1 Dinner

Day 2 Breakfast

Day 2 Lunch - Finally a meal without bone, and there was beef

Day 2 Dinner - Yay beef again

Day 3 Breakfast

Day 3 Lunch - Eeww... chicken wing

Day 3 Dinner

Surprise gifts from the hotel this afternoon

I thought I would be bored in the hotel by now but it was not the case. I was still in the holiday mood yesterday but today I was already working as usual. I am also getting more tired because I am still adjusting my sleep cycle. I am working from 7am-4pm now just to maintain the same working hours as if I am still in Singapore. Anyway it is only 2 more working days to go in the hotel so I am not going to complain and just enjoy the moment. To be able to stay in a hotel and working for 1 straight week may not happen again.