Phileas Fogg would likely be astounded by how far we've come in 140years.

Now, before I get going, reader beware, this is a sharing by me thread. I'm not one to overshare I believe, so hopefully no Hairy gonads or other things that can never be unseen. But if too much information is not your thang, click the next topic button.

Highlight one. Emirates is now operating a route that services Phnom Penh, once again.

Travel
EK002 out of London Heathrow to Dubai
Documents check-
- PCR,
- Forte Insurance
- and the slight surprise, a SINGAPORE HEALTH declaration. it wasn't quite so easy to find, it's done online, the notes say it takes 3 minutes to complete. Somewhere on www.MOH.GOV.SG. it's clunky in places, and whilst otherwise straightforward, it's worth doing when you're NOT standing inline at check in. It's a check-in question.
EK0354 Dubai to Singapore Changi
On arrival in Singapore, transit passengers are kept on the aircraft until all the other passengers have left, before being taken to the transit area. Makes sense, but see the upcoming notes.
EK7761, which is a codeshare service with Jetstar Asia. The crew will hand you a set of 3 small documents- customs, health, immigration card. Fill them in at the earliest opportunity.

For the business class traveller, or frequent miler with business lounge access, currently Emirates are using the Plaza lounge at Heathrow. It's not to the same standard as Emirates lounges by a long way, but the hooch is free.
Emirates own lounge in Dubai is on concourse B. I think most of the others are currently shut, but given the numbers yesterday, I'd not be too surprised to see that change.

As I have been expecting, one of the biggest challenges associated with opening up of international travel will be how airports manage the passenger throughput, and cater for the isolation and transit issues. A great many airport terminals were designed around, or adapted to mass travel, and exploiting those who were by necessity waiting for connecting flights. Now- where do they all go?


Changi, yesterday was a case study in the randomness and ever changing character of this situation.
Previously, Changi seemed to be managing it quite well- Deplane, queue like primary school children, walk single file to the transit lounge area, sit here, wait. Pre-boarding, passengers being grouped together and moving in single file 'walking buses' like primary school children.
With the advent of the very subjective traffic light systems employed randomly by many countries, and the fear caused by delta variants, there are now multiple transit holding areas, and your allotted place depends on where your trip started.
The UK is on Singapores Red list, and so I was segregated in a smaller, very separate area, with nothing near the same comfort as my previous trip with Singapore airlines.
It's worth noting that Singapore airlines and Emirates total journey length is about the same, but Singapore Airlines has a 9hr transit stop in Changi. As much as I like Singapore airlines, I'm so glad Emirates are running a route again- the Changi stop was just over two hours, including a lot of walking.

Phnom Penh Airport
Little has changed in 7 months, and this was pretty straight forward.
Have all your documents ready, including the stuff the JetStar crew handed over. (not all airlines do this so well)
PCR
Forte Insurance
Immigration health card
quick check that all is in order, then proceed to payment. I have ABA bank accounts, and so I paid my $2000 deposit through my banking app. If you don't have a local facility, then it's cash I believe. Keep hold of your receipt, its required to reclaim your balance, later. There's a small list of bank branches that are now able to process the refund.


Another quick documents check, in my case it was two cheerful pretty girls, and then over to the immigration desk. (The first miserable fucker I encountered)
your passport and immigration form are retained, but everything else handed back.

Off to the PCR test club. They seem to run the teams in shifts, based on airlines arriving, so we had to wait while they setup a new testing station.

HOTEL
As is the current norm, there is a bus ride to the hotel. It starts off waiting for all passengers to be processed through immigration and PCR testing. Most of these will be slow because they either didn't get all their documents together, didn't fill in their 3 landing documents, or didn't have their money ready. less than 25 people in our group, and we were leaving the airport a little over an hour after landing.

The bus driver lied- he was more intent in selling cheap simcards for $10! He said were going to the OKAY boutique (Yay- 5 minutes walk from my home).
I think he meant to say, OK, Boutique. We ultimately ended up at the Anik Boutique, near Aeon 1. First impressions are actually very favourable, but here is a link to how I got that wrong before.
post463195.html?hilit=mekong#p463195

I'm inclined to give everyone the same benefit of the doubt, though, and so It's seems a good draw. I was mentally prepared for a two week fast.

Dinner served about 45 minutes after check in.
some very nice Chicken wings, Stir fried veg, and plain rice. Served HOT!
And some fruit to keep my doctor at bay.



Breakfast
Beef Noodles. There's something wrong here. The beef is edible by masticating with ones own teeth. No industrial intervention required. And it's HOT!
and some fruit to keep my doctor at bay.




There is a food menu for choosing Lunch, Dinner and the following day's breakfast.




(Photos to follow.)

So far, the hotel staff have been courteous, and helpful. Breakfast was served about an hour ago (9ish). One's own Temperature was taken 5 minutes ago.
So, here we are/I am. Day 1, almost back home....


this post has been checked for inadvertent hairy gonad inclusion. If this is not the case, please report once you have satisfied yourself with any size comparison

Sounds horrific. I'll probably just hunker down for another year & wait for the hysteria to subside.

ONLY hot meal we had in 14 days was when we made Mama we brought with us>>>>LOL
never had temp checked except on arrival.

1st week had rice 2x/day, switched to western menu and had white bread 2x/day Great for a low carb diet
positive note is they gave us fruit 2x/day!!!
FYI: gf said the frog legs were terrible as was much of the Cambodian food, ( according to her, sometimes uneatable) ) cabbage like veggies

I used to walk the stairs daily for exercise

@Freightdog are you a UK passport holder? If so, Interesting that you didn't get sent to the Okay Boutique hotel, which is where all UK passport holders have been sent for the past several months. I wonder if they have finally scrapped that practice because it was a pointless exercise, or whether there were no rooms available.

Also, are you allowed to opt out of the $30 p/d meal plan and order from the in house restaurant instead? That saves you a lot of money if you can opt out.

P.S. welcome back!

PSD-Kiwi wrote: ↑Fri Jul 02, 2021 10:46 am @Freightdog are you a UK passport holder? If so, Interesting that you didn't get sent to the Okay Boutique hotel, which is where all UK passport holders have been sent for the past several months. I wonder if they have finally scrapped that practice because it was a pointless exercise, or whether there were no rooms available.

I am. I was travelling on my Uk passport. Okay boutique would have been very handy, as home for me is just opposite the Kiwi at the corner of 154. But no. I doubt it would have been scrapped as being pointless- I firmly believe that level of self critique is not present in the KoW.

Also, are you allowed to opt out of the $30 p/d meal plan and order from the in house restaurant instead? That saves you a lot of money if you can opt out.

I don’t know. I have yet to check. I can’t put away the amount of tucker that’s been delivered so far!

P.S. welcome back!

Cheers

A couple of things to add about the Anik.
The Wi-fi is hopeless. Randomly losing connection.

But the room is huge- for those inclined, you could have a mass sleepover. 1 double bed, plus 1 queen size. Room for 6 playmates, Monday to Saturday, and Sunday to recharge.

SwiftAsTHOT wrote: ↑Sun Jul 04, 2021 12:31 pm Apologies if this has been answered before, how much of the deposit do you end up getting back?

Totally depends on which hotel you are allocated to (room rates vary), and whether or not the hotel allows you to opt out of the not fit for human consumption $30 p/d meals, and how many nights you are quarantined for.

My last 2 refunds have been $914 & $805, 1st was appx $2700 but that was when the deposit was $3K and we only had to stay in the hotel until first test results were received and released to self quarantine at home. All 3 times I have opted out of the meals.

Deductions that are made from your deposit are...

- Room rate x number of nights
- Meals @$30 p/d x number of days (unless able to opt out)
- PCR test @$100 ×2
- Transport @$5 ×1
- Medical Staff @$6 p/d
- Security @$3 p/d
- Bank fee @$30

you still need eat, so even with opting out u save $30/day- what ever you spend on food brought from outside
but at least it would be better food and cheaper:-)