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Column: Post Covid travel tips

Richmond News columnist shares his experience travelling to Hong Kong post-Covid-19

I have recently made trips to both the U.S. and Hong Kong. I pride myself in being a well-informed traveller but post-Covid travel is much different. Here are some tips if you are planning travel in the near future:

  1. Get to the airport early – in the post-Covid travel world, you must get to the airport early, even if you have priority status or check in privileges.  Don’t count on expedited lines as these are all subject to staff availability. So add an additional hour to your airport arrival time as compared to pre-Covid travel.
  2. Expect delays – as everyone is getting back to travelling again, there are many more delays and inefficiencies.  So expect delays at check in, security checks and customs. Expect your flight to be delayed and plan for the likelihood that you may lose your luggage. That means leaving much more time between connecting flights and packing an extra set of clothing in your carry on luggage.
  3. Air purifiers – if you are concerned about the air quality on an airplane, I use the Munchkin portable air purifier.  See my review here.  Be aware that sometimes airlines are wary of anything that is novel so for some reason, I was asked to turn this off on a recent Air Canada flight.

For those specifically travelling to Hong Kong, here are a few additional tips for those travelling to Hong Kong

  1.  As a mandatory hotel quarantine is still required (currently seven days) and hotel bookings, once made, are non refundable, you can either book a refundable airline ticket and then secure a hotel booking based on the dates of your flight; or check airline ticket availability first, then book your hotel based on available flights and then immediately after you have secured a hotel, the book your flights
  2. Since you are going to spend 7 days in quarantine, a clean and comfortable quarantine hotel is essential.  I stayed at Lanson Place in Causeway Way and I highly recommend the hotel.  See my review here.
  3. Get ready for lots of testing –  currently you are required to take a rapid antigen test every day for the first seven days upon arrival in Hong Kong and a PCR test on the third and fifth day after arrival (when you are in hotel quarantine) and on day nine and day 12 after arrival (when you are out of quarantine).  Because of the extensive testing, Hong Kong’s rapid antigen test kits are very easy to use and the PCR tests are free and very efficient.  It took me about 15 minutes to get my PCR test at a local community centre and I got the PCR result back on my phone within a day.  You do need a local HK cell phone number to get your results.

Air travel is returning but be patient with those in the travel industry.  Waits, delays and understanding may be the new normal for the next little while.  Safe travels!

Tony Kwan is the Richmond News' new columnist. Lawyer by day, food and wine lover by night, Kwan is an epicurean who writes about wine, food and enjoying all that life has to offer.