Part 1 –Departure from Kuala Lumpur (KL) and Arrival at Auckland
On 15thMarch 2020, my wife and I landed in Penang, Malaysia, to support my mother, who, in late January 2020. was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Our return ticket was early April 2020, but within days after we landed in Penang, both New Zealand and Malaysia began to shut their respective borders. We ended staying in Penang for four months. In many ways, the unplanned extended stay gave my siblings and me precious time to work through appropriate ongoing care for my mother.
As the months rolled by, the plan for my mother's ongoing care started to fall in place. By mid-June, I was confident enough to start looking at flights to return to New Zealand. Flights from Kuala Lumpur (KL) to Auckland started to resume but were ad hoc, and some early scheduled flights sometimes got canceled.
I decided to go ahead and booked a flight from KL to Auckland on Malaysian Airlines departing on 17thJuly 2020.
Penang to KL by train
As our flight back to New Zealand was departing from KL, we first had to travel from Penang to KL. On 14thJuly, exactly four months to the day after we arrived in Penang, we took an early morning four-hour train journey from Penang to KL. Malaysia was still in a Movement Control Order (MCO) but was in the "Recovery" phase. Apart from a temperature check and scanning a QR board at the train station's entrance, the rest of the journey experience was no different from all our previous journey on this train service. The train was quite full. Everyone on the train had a face mask on as the seating arrangement did not allow for social distancing.
Majestic Hotel, KL
We arrived at the KL Sentral station shortly before mid-day. A short ride took us to the Majestic Hotel, where we would be staying for three nights.We have stayed at this hotel several times in previous years.This time around, we stayed in the old wing rather than the new wing. The hotel was operating under a new "standard operating procedure." There were a few changes we had to adjust to during our stay. The first was, the popular hotel courtesy coach service was no longer operating. Secondly, a daily room cleaning service would only be available on request. The staff, however, remained professional, friendly, and helpful. As our flight on 17thJuly was at 9.30 pm, the hotel very generously agreed for a late checkout at 4 pm.
Not knowing what to expect at the airport, we left the hotel shortly after 4 pm for Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). The journey was uneventful, without any delay, and we arrived at KLIA shortly after 5 pm.
KLIA
As we headed into the Departure check-in hall, we first had to scan a QR code on a Board. Then we walked past several temperature scanning cameras. The mood in the check-in hall was quiet and somber. There were some passengers but not usually the hustle and bustle for this airport. All passengers were either wearing a face mask, face shields, and a few had a full bodysuit.
We noticed that there was a plastic Perspex barrier between the counter staff at the check-in counter and checking in passengers. Apart from this additional feature, the rest of the checking process was routine. At the Immigration counter, we had to sign a form as we had overstayed our automatic three-month visitor visa. I had been slightly anxious earlier about what it would involve. But the whole process was fast and straight forward.
Once we cleared Immigration and the first screening for hand luggage, we tried to go to the Malaysian Airline lounge, but it was closed. We then started walking towards our departure gate. All shops were closed except for one small vendor selling snacks and drinks. We got to our departure gate with two and a half hours to kill before commencing our boarding process. As the rest of the passengers started arriving, I noticed that everyone was wearing a mask and maintained social distancing. When the call came to start our final boarding process, I estimated fewer than 100 passengers to make this trip.
We went through the final hand luggage screening process and waited to board the plane. When it was time to board, we had our temperature taken one more time before we boarded the plane.
Onboard the plane
Onboard, all crew wore a face mask and handed out a "TRAVELLER KIT" to all passengers.
Inside was a disposal face mask, hand gel, and a disinfectant wipe. All documents usually found at the back of each seat had been removed. We received the Arrival Formearly on, and just before we landed, the captain briefly announced that we would be subject to quarantine, and more information will be provided in the arrival hall.
I had filled up the Arrival Form during the flight, and I thought it was odd that it looked exactly like all previous Arrival Form I had filled in earlier trips. The rest of the 10 hours trip was routine and uneventful.
Our flight landed at Auckland airport at 11.40 am.
Arrival hall
Up to this point, everything had gone very smoothly. When the flight landed, I felt thrilled to be back in New Zealand after an unexpected longfour months away.It looked like we were the only flight arriving at this time of the day.
All the duty-free shops were closed, and as we got to the arrival hall, every staff member was wearing a face mask and gloves. There were two Ministry of Health staff handing out a document for us to fill. I looked at the document and saw that it was a new Arrival Form.
This form had an additional section with eight additional COVID 19 related questions. I tore up the earlier form I had filled on the plane and filled in this new form. By the time I filled the new form, most of the passengers had made their way to the arrival hall and were standing or sitting on the floor filling in the new form. It looked chaotic to me.
Having completed the form, we proceeded to a station staffed by one Ministry of Health staff. Masked, gloved, and friendly, she handed us an eight-page document entitled "WELFARE."
She took our temperature, looked at Arrival Form, pretty much asked us similar questions as was in the form. Shebriefly explained that we would be going into 14 days mandatory quarantine in a government-managed hotel. As she wrote down our temperature onto a form, I asked her whether before we left the airport, we would know where we would be quarantined. I wanted to know whether we would be quarantined in Auckland, Hamilton, or Rotorua. She assured me that we would be informed before I left the airport. That did not happen.
Immigration and bag collection
Because of the new COVID 19 standard operating procedure, all arrivals were processed manually rather than using the e-Gate. The immigration officer at the desk was very official, and there was none of the friendly “welcome home” chitchat we experience in the past. Because there were so few of us on the plane and with no other flights arriving before us, our bags arrived quickly on the carousel.The Custom officer whose dog sniffed our luggage was courteous and friendly.
Custom inspection-something not quite right here
We proceeded to the Customs Hall for our luggage inspection. We have been through this process in this airport many times, the latest being in early February 2020. We always brought food back with us, always declared them, and was happy for Custom officers to do a detailed inspection. There were not many passengers around since it was only our flight that had landed. There were two Custom counters open, and we proceeded to one of them. Immediately, I sense something was not quite right. The officer looked distracted. He looked at our form and asked what food we had in our bag. Before I could answer,he came down from this chair and proceeded to the other Custom counter and started a vigorous discussion with his colleague. When he returned,he seemed distracted and asked us to follow him to the other end of the Customs Hall, where detailed inspection usually took place. We have been there before on previous return trips and thought nothing of it.
There was no one there, unlike previous trips. The Customs officer asked us to wait and left us. I said to my wife that we should start unloading and unlocking our bags for detailed inspection. As I began to do that, a different Custom officer arrived and told me to put my bags back on the trolley and follow him. He then took us back to the place where we had come from. This second officer then told us to put our bags through the X-ray machine. As we started to do that, this second officer proceeded to have a heated discussion with the first officer about not sending any more passengers down to that end as there was no staff member there.
As we started to load our bags onto the X-ray machine,we heard a different Custom officer shouting at us to social distance. Having caught my attention, I realized that the cohort of Custom officers operating this X-ray machine were not all wearing masks. There was some confusion when we loaded the bags in to the X-ray machine when one of the officers thought we had honey in our luggage (which we did not have!).
When our bags cleared the X-ray machines, two other officers started to unpack our bags, pull out the food, and ask us what they were. Naturally, this started to hold up the rest of the passengers behind us. One of the officers inspecting our luggage was not wearing a face mask. His tone throughout the inspection process was rude, and his whole demeanor was saying, "I have authority here so I can say and do what I like." One of his colleagues told him that he was dropping some of our luggage items on the floor, and there was now a queue building up. I knew better than to be intimidated by his behavior. I took a deep breath and kept a close eye on everything this person was doing, knowing that I was writing this article.
Having not found any "contraband" food item, he asked us to move along. We said we need to repack the bags because our stuff was everywhere and asked him whether he would like to help. Sensing that we were going to hold up the other passengers without his help, he started randomly putting items back into our bags. Naturally, everything could not fit back into the bags, so we had to open up a new carry bag.
This Custom inspection ranks as the most unpleasant experience in the countless trips I have taken in thirty-three years of living in New Zealand. I am not sure why this has happened, but I hope it is an aberration rather than the beginning of a new normal for the New Zealand Customs service.
We were only too pleased to pushed our trolley out of the Custom hall.
Transport to our isolation hotel-Auckland, Hamilton, or Rotorua?
Coming out of the Custom hall, our next stop was the transport desk. I explain to the person behind the transport desk that my wife and I were traveling together and we would like to be on the same bus. He noted that on the form he was filling and directed us to the awaiting bus. Our luggage was loaded for us, and we were given gel to sanitized our hands as we board then bus. At this stage, I was wondering when they were going to tell us where we were going.
Suddenly, the bus door closed and the bus started moving. I said to my wife that we just have to see which direction the driver will turn to tell us whether we were heading into Auckland or towards Hamilton or Rotorua.
Fortunately,it headed towards Auckland, and throughout the journey, the driver did not communicate to us.
Our quarantine hotel in Auckland CBD
After 35 minutes, we arrived at the hotel in Auckland CBD.
A Ministry of Health staff boarded our bus and handed out the nineteen-page "WELCOME PACK."
She briefly explained what was ahead of us as Defence Force personnel unloaded our luggage. After all the items of luggage were unloaded, we disembark from the bus one at a time. We proceeded to see a Defence Force staff to identify our bags at the forecourt of the hotel. We entered the hotel's lobby and was directed to a meeting room behind the reception for our health assessment.
There was a queue, and everyone kept our 2 meters social distancing under the watchful eyes of security staff. The people ahead of me in the queue were from our flight. There were several nurses behind desks in the meeting room interviewing arriving passengers as part of the health assessment process. They filled out another form for each of us,but as my wife and I traveled together, we were considered one bubble. The health assessment involved answering a series of questions. Some of these questions were identical to those on the Arrival Form (which had been left at the airport.) The nurses were from a local private primary care organization contracted to provide all on site health services for this hotel. The nurse was professional and courteous. The next stop was another desk at the other end of the room with staff from the Aviation Authority. She asked for our passport, filled another form, and asked us to take the form to the hotel reception to get our room card.
At the hotel reception, all staff was wearing a face mask, and the checking in process was like any standard hotel check-in. The only new process was a six-page“HOUSE RULES” document given to passengers quarantined at this hotel.
By now, I had collected three sets of documents. I got my room access card, collect my luggage, and finally got into my room at 2.40 pm, exactly three hours after my flight landed in Auckland.
At 2.45 pm, there was a knock on my door, the lunch I had ordered at the hotel reception when I collected my room access card. The chicken karage was very much appreciated as it had been nearly six hours since my last meal.
At 4 pm, two nurses knocked on my door. They were there to take my temperature and asked me whether I had any COVID 19 symptoms.
At 6.20 pm, there was a knock on the door; dinner had arrived. I was still full of my late lunch, but the lamb Rogan Joshwas too tempting. I read my collection of documents over dinner and ended my first day in quarantine with an early night.
The mood and demeanor of airport staff, Immigration, Customs, security, and hotel staff in Auckland were pleasant, somber, and understandably slightly apprehensive. We did encounter some behavior issues, gaps, and inconsistencies in communications and duplications in processes along the way, especially on arrival. I would put it down to everyone still coming to terms with the new “standard operating procedure” of our collective new normal.
Final word The journey home to New Zealand was better than I expected, and despite a few whoopsies, it is good to be home.
Before I made the trip home, I had several air travel perceptions during this pandemic. Some pan out precisely as I had imagined, but there were a few surprises.
I had expected a more “contactless” air travel.The check-in at KLIA and arrival processes at Auckland still involved a lot of physical “paper.”From boarding pass, immigration forms, arrival form(s) handled by passengers, aircrew, and airport officials. Then there were the new forms that were being filled by Health officials, transport staff, and all the groups involved in the quarantine hotel.
Much has been made of the fact that New Zealand has eliminated the virus, and any risk of community infection would come from those returning to New Zealand. Staff working at our airports, providing transport, and managing quarantine hotels runs the risk of being exposed to infected returnees. Wearing PPEs, keeping social distancing, and other new operating procedures are to keep them safe. We did encounter what looked like inconsistent practice during Custom inspection. I hope our experience in the Customs Hall is an aberration because this virus just needs the smallest of opening to make its entry and start spreading.
Communication between returnees with border control, health, transport, and hotel quarantine staff was mixed. While most were professional, courteous, and friendly, our un-pleasant experience with some Customs staff left us wondering whether it was an aberration or a more systemic behavior issue for the New Zealand Customs Service.
Like most returnees, we read about the incident when returnees found themselves driven to Rotorua without any notice before departing from Auckland airport. Despite being reassured, we would be informed that it did not happen before or during the bus trip and caused unnecessary anxiety.
We are past the half way mark for our fourteen days in quarantine, we will do our utmost to get two negative test results on Day 3 and 12. And all going well, we will be finally sleeping in our bed on 2ndAugust 2020.
CHAI CHUAH
28th July 2020,
Auckland, New Zealand