Understated Ideas

YVR to SIN via ICN

YVR was a ghost town. Only travellers with tickets and employees are allowed into the airport. All restaurants, lounges I passed, and around 80% of retail shops and food court stalls were closed.

Korean Air staff were all masked, some were gloved, and some counters had plexiglass installed. They verified my health declaration was filled out and that I was permitted to enter the country during Singapore’s COVID-19 travel restrictions on inbound passengers. There was only one partly filled screen of international flights departing as opposed to the typical two or more rotating screens. All passengers flying were in masks under Transport Canada’s mandatory policy and sanitiser stands were widespread. All water coolers were taped off.

Empty hallways at YVR

Empty food court at lunch hour

My temperature was taken prior to passing through security and again at the departure gate. The normally packed YVR to ICN route was virtually empty. It looked to be a ratio of perhaps 4 or 5 passengers per flight attendant.

Something new in the safety video was a segment regarding the airline’s COVID-19 related protocols and safety measures. Flight attendants were wearing masks, plastic gloves, and blue buttoned PPE gowns. Another change- there was no snack and drink before meal service in order to reduce interactions between crew and passengers. There was one food service trolley for each aisle of the entire economy class segment from start to end, instead of the usual trolley service divided into each cabin.

Some things that didn’t change- slippers, a basic amenity kit and water bottle were still provided.

There were about 12 people in front of me and just under that behind me in a cabin that seats over 100. My entire row of seats was empty. This was the first flight I've been on long haul without any children or babies, or any passenger conversation whatsoever.

This row became a makeshift flat bed later

The flight landed late at ICN, and I should have missed my connection, but the plane waited. It was stroke of luck and circumstance. ICN was eerily deserted at half past 6 PM on a Thursday. All the stores and food outlets I passed while flat out sprinting to my connecting flight with the ground crew who escorted me were shuttered and dark. My temperature was taken at the transit security area, and again before boarding my flight.

By the time I boarded the ICN to SIN flight, my ears were hurting, even with the use of ear savers in-flight, because I’d been wearing a mask for over 15 hours. There were even fewer people on the ICN-SIN flight than the YVR-ICN one. In total, there were maybe 4 people in the entire cabin I was in.

SIN
We landed shortly before midnight. From the moment we landed and stepped on the gangway, there were airport staff and security directing all passengers and separating us with barriers from the outbound passengers in the terminal. Someone took my temperature with a handheld device and a few steps later, a manned temperature monitoring stand did the same.

Staff were spread out every few steps directing you in the right direction. There were additional staff and security at the bottom of the escalator before immigration to check your e-health declaration was completed, and staff immediately after immigration directing you to your luggage carousel. All automatic immigration gantries were closed. And yet again after baggage collection, more people ushered you directly to the waiting area for Stay Home Notice (SHN) facilities.

I was informed at the immigration counter about my designation to serve my SHN at a dedicated government facility, was given a yellow sticker to wear which identified me later to more airport staff gathering passengers from the 3 flights that just landed. When all the passengers we were waiting for arrived in the waiting area, we were escorted in a single file to the bus boarding zone. Once we got past the arrival sliding doors, uniformed officers flanked both sides of our single file as we walked by with our orderly row of tired faces and trolleys laden with luggage. People waiting around the arrivals area were staring unabashedly at the lot of us.

After everyone boarded the chartered bus- there was just under 20 of us- the Certis Cisco officer who had coordinated us so far informed us where we would be serving our 14 day SHN. When we arrived, we were told to wait in our seats until called out one by one. A mother and son duo were called to disembark first, then a married couple, other pairs travelling together, and finally everyone else. One at a time we had a temperature check before entering the hotel, then told to go up to level 2, and directed to a conference room cleared out as a waiting area with distanced seats, before being called individually to check in at the front desk. I was asked about meal preferences- vegetarian or not- and informed I could only choose my meals from a predetermined list for the latter part of my SHN. All meals provided are halal. After being handed a thermometer, I finally got checked in and into my room just after 2 AM.

Stay Home Notice Week One

Day 1 ("Day 0")
Outside of lengthy wait times and the late hour seeing people fidgety, frustrated, and exhausted, the entire process of getting us to the SHN facility was tremendously orderly and well executed. I landed 20 minutes before midnight and got to my hotel room just after 2 AM. It was a relief to remove my mask finally. My ears were sore through to the end of the next day.

It appears that all the rooms on my side of the floor are under SHN- they all have the same side tables by their doors as I do and the same food delivered every meal time. I realised later that the side tables by our doors were identical to the one by my bed.

Breakfast always comes promptly between 7 and 8 AM, lunch between 12 and 1 PM, and dinner between 6 and 7 PM. The room I was assigned is spacious, sleek, and lacking for nothing in the way of general comfort and necessities. A microwave and small fridge are included, as well as a desk I've been using to work, and multiple international, local, and USB power outlets around the room.

Requests for things like replacement towels can be made via a chat robot online. I thought it was a bit tedious - although the screen shows you multiple item buttons to choose from- you can only select and submit one at a time. In the end I went old school, wrote a note, and left it outside my door and in 10 minutes had the multiple items replenished.

One of the many sets of wall outlets around the room

The front desk calls once daily at varying times, typically before 1 PM, for me to report my temperature reading. The doorbell is rung whenever food or parcels are delivered for me and the masked and gloved person dropping it off immediately leaves. Outside of Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) inspectors, the closest in-person contact I have had in the past week is the view of someone's back as they briskly walk away in the distance. We have the option to launder 5 pieces of clothing a day for free and 3 meals are provided daily. Ultimately, anyone on SHN would be wanting for nothing. But if you didn't have anything to occupy your mind or stick to a routine you would very easily go a bit stir crazy.

I also received a few lovely food packages from friends today.

By the end of the day, I calculated it takes me 12 steps to get between the locked hotel windows and the room door.

Day 2 ("Day 1")
There are no clocks in the room and my sense of time is a little warped. While my work laptop and calendar are in PDT, my work and personal phones are in SGT. It’s a constant quick mental +/- when I’m scheduling meetings and client calls.

Stef dropped by twice with treats and snacks!

The newness of the situation has started to wear off and I was mentally adjusting to the confines of the space. I spent a majority of today adjusting and fighting jet lag while working Vancouver hours.

Day 3 ("Day 2"):
Around 10:30 AM I started hearing someone hollering "GOOD MORNING" somewhere down the hallway and loud knocking on doors. When my door was pounded on, I put on a mask and opened it to see a man and woman with lanyard badges held up identifying them as ICA SHN inspectors. They asked to see ID to make sure I was Joy and went along their way to the next room.

Ben and Stef dropped by again today with a generous assortment of food. I now have 12 types of milk to get through. I’ll have to bring a majority of the non-perishables back home seeing as I have the one stomach. They’ve saved me a big grocery run for snacks to bring back!

I was tired and listless by 7 PM despite pretty much eating and resting the whole day. I video chatted for 4 hours with Christine which helped. I started to stick to a regular routine as much as possible that mirrored my usual days of the week. By today I’d eased into sleeping by 9 or 10 PM and waking up at 4 or 5 AM to work through mid-afternoon.

Day 4 ("Day 3"):
The food was slightly better today- finally a fish dish. Of the 9 meals the past 3 days, 6 were chicken-based and drenched in oil.

The days have started to blur into one long period of time, similar to how it felt when we shifted to full time remote work during Vancouver's declaration of a state of emergency back in March.

I made the discovery that the brand of toiletries in the bathroom retails at $50 for a 500 ml bottle.

Day 5 ("Day 4"):
I missed a call from ICA and couldn't call back due to an invalid number dial tone. I panic called the SHN hotline and a very patient man assured me they would call back and that it was common for people to miss the initial call because they were occupied with something else. 15 minutes later I received two back to back calls on the hotel room phone from two separate contractors for ICA conducting the identity verification that I was still in my SHN room isolating, and both reminded me to remain in the room and not leave.

Between friends and family checking in, temperature and inspection phone calls, food and laundry deliveries, and work busyness, it’s all helped to break up my days into manageable portions and starve away the sluggishness. If anything, I’m much busier than my regular weekdays with balancing two different time zones and expectations around both.

Mum and Dad dropped by with some treats, salad, and fruits. I’ve started to think of creative ideas to consume all the fruit I now have, which include two bunches of bananas, a whole bag of grapes, and eight apples, two dragon fruit, two avocados, a pack each of of kiwis and blueberries.

I’ve been sticking to a regular workout, work, rest, and food schedule. Other cues to note the progression of the days: the natural light on photos of my meals. The differentiation is subtle but clear- early morning light, midday brightness, fading light of dusk. The meals tend to be impressively oily, lacking in vegetables, and dinner usually comes with a small fruit.

Day 6 ("Day 5"):
I had three meetings from 2 and 7 AM. I napped in between when there was a gap and worked till 10 AM.

Mum dropped by again with a Yong Tau Foo, one of my favourites, and an assortment of hawker food.

I felt particularly tired and sorely needing movement today.

Day 7 ("Day 6"):
I handled urgent work tasks and meetings from 5 AM. It was a long 10 hour work day. I really felt the exhaustion today.

Today was also the first day we received the meals we chose from the list of options we were given at check in. Prior to today, we had no choice in what we received. You could tell they were ones I selected because a majority of my meals today were fish or vegetarian based.

So far SHN has been significantly less solitude and quiet than I anticipated. I had pictured pacing in circles and having lots of free time. Twiddling my thumbs has yet to happen.

Day 8 ("Day 7"):
A meeting from 11 PM to 1 AM meant sleeping earlier and then going back to bed after before starting up again around 6 AM.

There was a second in-person SHN inspection today. This time, two older male SHN inspectors with lanyard badges and a laminated identification document knocked on my door just past 10 AM. The second one holding the document looked quite sian. I don’t blame him- repeating this process for dozens of people on SHN must be tedious to say the least.

I tried for the first and last time to make toast in a convection microwave oven without butter.

Around dinner time, I received an SMS notification to attend my COVID-19 test at the same conference room by the hotel lobby on Monday. The entire process to pay for the test was seamless. The link for directions regarding payment was on the electronic SHN notice I was emailed when I landed, and once I confirmed my identification on the web page, they emailed me the link to submit payment.

One more week to go!

1-800-EXORCISM

Week 1: Flying and Stay Home Notice