Salam w.b.t and hi
dear readers,
I am back in
Malaysia, since Monday. I am still in 14-days quarantine in Kuala Lumpur, the
result of the Covid-19 test is negative. Alhamdulillah. Today is Awal Muharram,
1442 Hijrah also. I hope we will become a better person every day.
What I want to write
this time? Honestly, I have two ideas to write this time; (1) Journey of
travelling back to Malaysia and (2) Review about two books recently, When to
Jump by Mike Lewis and latest one is a very lovely piece, War Doctor by David Nott.
So, which one first
I should write? Well, let's go by sequentially then - Journey of travelling
back to Malaysia. The second idea, I will share it in the next entry - soon,
InsyaAllah.
Let me start to the
time when I decided to go home.
I was at the rig and
I was hoping to have two months continuous hitch, so it will end sometimes end
of August. Thus, I requested for vacation starting early of September. Off
course, the work coordinator was quiet as he cannot plan anything in advance as
usual. For me, it was expected reaction and it happened all the time so
no-brainer. I have my timeline in place, and Malaysian government also already
opened the country for returnee with strict SOP in place. However, it was just
drilling one well and took only one month. Then by early of August I informed
the coordinator, really I don’t mind going home early after that job finish.
There is no point of me rotting in Doha waiting for nothing, at the same time
spending money on food. I also take into account my mental wellbeing, if I stay
I will be alone with none in my apartment and exploring out in Doha alone is
really boring. At the same time, I really don’t want to go to the office or
base and meeting everybody with fake smile as I was burnout already. Better to
stay put at the apartment, minding my own business rather than lashing my
attitude and affect others. Finally, I booked my flight home early August and
decided to travel on 17th August.
I got off from the
rig on 10th August, and I spent me-time in Doha for one week. It was just nice
as I got time to adjust my sleeping time, packing my stuff, shopping for things
I want to bring home, ensuring all the departure procedures are cleared, and
finally just relaxing at my apartment. I was called (actually emailed and
asked) to come to the base for basket test (tools preparation) but I declined
to come as I decided this week is me-time. I did the routine dental check-up,
all good.
Sometimes on 24th
July, new announcement from Malaysia government that we will not require to
perform the Swab test at the departure country. Before that, it was mandatory
and I was ready to do it. Then, cancelled as it is no longer required.
So, what to prepare
before departure?
Book your
flight ticket
This
is basic, but be careful when you book your flight ticket especially during
this pandemic time. I am used to book through the travel agent website like
Skyscanner and this time I was a bit hesitant because I was not sure if
suddenly the travel route got cancelled for any reasons. I did comparison
either to book directly to the airline website or via travel site. I ended up
using the travel site because the risk of travel cancellation was relatively
low for Doha-KL route. The thing is sometimes, if you book via travel website,
when the flight is cancelled, you will not be rescheduled automatically unless
you paid for extra option. It happened to me before, despite the extra service
I paid, it was really time consuming process and to many terms and conditions
that I did not meet. So I ended up buy another flight ticket.
Letter of
Undertaking (LoU)
Right,
this is very important. You can find the details here.
You
will need this and fill it up, send it to the embassy before they issue the
Permission to Travel. Otherwise, you will not get the letter that approved your
travel to Malaysia.
Permission
to Travel
This
is a letter issued by the embassy. It mentioned here that the letter is valid
for 1 month period, so traveler can make a journey within one month. At first,
I did not know this because I thought it was valid for one particular day. So I
booked my flight before sending the request to travel to embassy. After I sent
the request, it only took me one day to get the reply from them.
Basically,
I am all set to travel now.
Install
MySejahtera
It
is advisable to install MySejahtera in advance prior travel, let say you can do
it at your home. I installed on my phone and activated it via phone.
Afterwards, I logged in straight away and kept getting error. I thought I did
not install it correctly. Eventually, it took some time for the app to be
activated on your mobile. If you install, then activated it on laptop via
website, it said the activation will be straight away. That’s the workaround
suggested. Anyway, try your best to install and ensure it is activated before
start travelling.
Otherwise,
you probably will be struggling later on.
Food in hand
carry
My
flight was after midnight, so I went to the airport around 8PM. At the airport,
there were still food and shops available and you can buy there. No issues.
The
flight duration was about 7 hours and 40 minutes. In the flight, 1 hour after
we took off, we were served with a light meal - Chicken pie, and juice. I was
sleeping after that and woke up about 2 hours before touch down. I was really
hungry, I thought I missed the big meal that normally served in the middle of
the flight. I checked around at other passengers seats, I saw the leftover
rubbishes of the light meal we had earlier was still not collected. Therefore,
I believed I did not miss the meal and actually they did not serve it. Normally
we will have the meal but I guess in this Covid-19 period, the airline no
longer served it. I don’t know what is the different though, because they still
served another light meal. 1 hour before touched down, we were served with a
breakfast and luckily there is option Thai Fried Rice. I took it as I was
starving.
The
dumb thing I did was, I did bring some bread BUT I put it in my luggage. Lesson
learned, put some food in your hand carry.
Extra
clothes in hand carry bag
I
did not think about this initially. I had a phone call with my mother in the
morning of travel day. We were discussing about cases in Malaysia, travel
restriction, and viral news in Malaysia. She mentioned briefly about there was
one flight arrived in Malaysia but all the passengers in that flight was not
allow to disembark. The reason was the authority was not informed about this
flight arrival. As a result, they was put on hold probably hours before proceed
to disembark.
I
don’t know the real details or if it is actually true news. However, my mother
advised to pack extra in my bag. She mentioned about food. I only remember
about cloth. Afterwards, I immediately packed one pair of cloth in my bag pack.
Long sleeve shirt, tracksuit, and head scarf. Suffice for one day if I happened
to get stuck anywhere in the process.
Enough money
What
is this money for in particular? This is for swab test and hotel quarantine.
The payment for the swab test at the airport was RM150. Whereas, the payment of
the hotel for the quarantine. On the website, any announcements I could find
said the cost for 14-days at designated hotel will be RM1,050. Also, mentioned
here at the embassy website. I was expecting that figure, but at the check-in
it costed RM1,890. RM135 per night for 14-days. My local debit card got
rejected at least three times, so I had to use Qatar card. I find it is weird
because the same card worked just fine when paying for the swab test at the
airport 4 hours earlier. Anyway, when we lined up at the hotel check-in and
first thing they asked was how to make a payment. I saw several persons
struggling. For example, I think she was a student and she said the cost will
be paid by the sponsor and even showed the email. Yes, in the email mentioned
about the sponsor but still need to pay in advance. Basically, pay first and
claim later. At the same time, another foreigner guy wanted to make money
exchange probably he had another currency.
Oh,
and one more thing. We did not know in advance which hotel we will be located
at. I only know when I arrived there.
Personally,
I would say it was stressing situation. Even for my card has been rejected
after three times, I was starting to feel annoyed. Imagined the others who
experienced worse than me. You know, after arrival everyone just want to go
home and lay down in bed and rest. Not to go through these situations.
Therefore,
it is better you ensure have enough money to pay upfront.
Face Shield and Face Mask at all time
Finally I checked in
and lay down in the be, Alhamdulillah.
So yeah, hopefully
this will give insight to you about the process of travelling back to country.
Towards the end of my quarantine, I will share the details of the quarantine,
result of the test etc., daily routine etc.
Take care and see
you guys next time.
Take care and Salam
w.b.t.
P/S - I asked a
question to my colleague after she shared her achievement. I was happy for her
of course. "What is next?". I did not expect anything solid from her.
Actually, this question is more direct to me, "What is next?". It is a
broad perspective but I need to figure it out.