Destination Quarantine — A journey to Penang #2

Summary

In November 2021, the author embarked on a long-awaited journey from Worcester to Penang, facing numerous challenges and uncertainties due to the pandemic, including an electrical failure on the ground at Heathrow and stringent entry requirements in Kuala Lumpur.

Abstract

The author describes a unique and challenging travel experience to Penang in November 2021, marking their first trip in two and a half years due to the pandemic. Despite the excitement of traveling again, the journey was fraught with a series of unexpected events, including an electrical failure that delayed their flight from Heathrow and a rushed connection in Doha. The author highlights the exceptional service of Qatar Airways crews during these stressful moments. Upon arrival in Kuala Lumpur, the author faced a rigorous process at the airport, which was contrasted with the hostile experience at Heathrow. The author notes the kindness and efficiency of the Malaysian officials, despite the complexity of the COVID-19 protocols they had to enforce.

Opinions

The author expresses a sense of relief and celebration at being able to travel again after a long period of restrictions.
There is a clear contrast in the author's experience with airport staff, with Qatar Airways crews and Malaysian officials being described as magnificent and kind, while Heathrow staff were sullen and aggressive.
The author acknowledges the surreal and dreamlike quality of the journey, unlike any other they had undertaken before, due to the heightened risks and uncertainties associated with pandemic travel.
The author's background in engineering project management is evident in their approach to planning the trip, emphasizing the extensive risk assessment involved in the travel arrangements.
Despite the stress and complications, the author seems to appreciate the adventure and the joy of flying again, as indicated by their willingness to accept champagne offered by the flight crew.

Destination Quarantine — A journey to Penang #2

Photo by author

In November 2021 we grabbed a window of opportunity and fell through it to escape to the other side of the world, our first journey in two and a half years.

We got to our destination but it wasn’t a smooth ride and the whole experience was shrouded in weirdness.

It was a long journey, but that was okay, because I’ve done this sort of thing before. I’ve been fortunate enough to do much long-haul travel and I do really enjoy it. We said goodbye to Worcester at 1200h on the 9th November 2021 and arrived in Kuala Lumpur at around 0300h UK time on the 11th November (1100h local time). The flying time in all that? Only about 14 hours. But OMG was it good to get back in an aeroplane again and go SOMEWHERE. Sod the Staycation and going NOWHERE.

Like no other journey I’ve undertaken before though, it was seriously Alice In Wonderland. At times I wasn’t convinced that I was not dreaming. From the time we booked up the flights, the hotels at Heathrow and in KL, testing at both ends (come on, no point stating what for) and an Airbnb in Penang, I was on tenterhooks, appalled at the number of things that could go wrong. My job as an engineering project manager involves compiling quantitative commercial risk registers for highway schemes — well the RR for this project was as long as my arm and all red on the RAG status. And having become very familiar with my pessimistic side in the previous two years, there was a part of me that warned against thinking I was out of the woods.

To prove this, the flying bit was not without incident.

Having eliminated Major Risk №1 — actually being allowed to get airside and into an aircraft — I dared to knock back the offered champagne in a celebratory, I’ve-actually-made-it-to-leaving-England sort of way. This in itself was an unknown experience because this particular Major Risk №1 had never, ever been a Major Risk №1 before, if you get my meaning.

Photo by author.

But….

This journey involved a risk I hadn’t given any consideration — aircraft faults. An electrical failure on the ground at Heathrow seriously delayed the take-off and left us with next to no time to get from one end of Doha’s Hamad International Airport to the other for our second leg. We weren’t the only passengers frantic about a connecting transfer. A bunch of us was out of the seats and at the door within seconds of the seat belt sign going off, bobbing and sighing and groaning while a couple of very nervous cabin crew members stood guard, trying not to look like they were on guard while peering through a tiny window at the guy on the outside who took FOREVER to line up the boarding bridge. (I’m sorry — I believe it’s called the Expedited Suspended Passenger Entry System. Um, say what?)

This agitated bunch erupted from the aircraft as soon as the door opened a crack, nearly flattening said boarding bridge guy, and set off on a panicked gallop in individual directions to find departure gates, scattering aimlessly dawdling other travellers and jinxing round escaped children. How does an already bloody huge airport stretch when your flight is actually boarding? Thank heavens for travellators.

We skidded through the gate passport check like Indiana Jones, flung ourselves into a waiting bus, and hoped like hell it was taking us to the right aircraft.

In all of this, the Qatar Airways crews were magnificent and soothing, especially the lady who appeared from heaven and offered me a cold towel and a glass of champagne (yes, again — I wasn’t going to say no, was I?) as I sank, sweating, into my seat on the KL bound flight.

Champagne from heaven. Photo by author.

I knew that the process through KL International Airport, which was closed at the time to everyone apart from Malaysian citizens or foreigners with an approved “My Travel Pass” (MTP), was going to be painful, like some kind of assault course with an unknown number of stages we’d have to negotiate in order to qualify for the next. It was lengthy, but I have to admit that every single person we dealt with or encountered, from security guards to immigration officials to medical staff (MTP checks, phone app (MySejahtera) registration checks, passport checks, testing/vaccination checks, actual testing again and signing off of quarantine forms) was helpful and cheerful and, in a word, kind.

What a contrast this was after the unpleasant ordeal we’d had at Heathrow. Every single person we encountered there (apart from the Qatar Airways check-in lady) was either sullen and dismissive or obstructive and downright aggressive. Maybe it’s my fault for being there too early in the morning.

The journey wasn’t over yet though and more unprecedented weirdness would follow.