Thumbs up for the Phuket Sandbox - but they ain't tourists!

[webfact]

Picture: Daily News

 

Daily News reported on a very positive experience for a Thai/Swiss couple and their children who took advantage of the Phuket Sandbox. 

 

But they are not tourists in the usual sense of the word. 

 

They had been unable to meet a Thai mother and grandmother because of the pandemic and were using the reopening of Thailand to foreign tourists as a means of getting to see her. 

 

Angkhana and her husband Axel and their two children are visiting from Switzerland. 

 

Ankhana's mum lives in Bangkok and the family are prepared to have 14 days in Phuket before travelling to the Thai capital to see her. 

 

In normal times since they moved to Switzerland 10 years ago they would take it in turns to visit each other each year. 

 

Angkhana and her husband both spoke of the onerous paperwork that needed to be gathered ahead of their visit. 

 

But both were impressed with everything from their arrival on the island to their hotel. 

 

And as Axel said they would not need to quarantine in their room for 14 days - they could get out and see what he called "beautiful Phuket" before they headed up to Bangkok. 

 

Everything had been smooth with not too much waiting and better than they expected, reported the media yesterday who quoted Angkhana as thanking the sandbox. 

 

Many on online forums like ASEAN Now have stated that Thai authority claims that the Sandbox people are tourists is being somewhat economical with the truth. 

 

This family - though their experience is positive - will provide grist to that mill. 

 

In the first 12 days of the scheme less than 5,000 had so far visited, ASEAN Now reported earlier. 

 

Book your sandbox hotel in Phuket here

 

-- © Copyright ASEAN NOW 2021-07-15

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[smedly]

happy days until one of your family or someone you have been in contact with tests positive

[Surelynot]

Brought a tear to my eye.

[ezzra]

24 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

Brought a tear to my eye.

I got out the violin and try to play a rendition of "Don't cry for me Phuket"...

[Robs5ct]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Angkhana and her husband both spoke of the onerous paperwork that needed to be gathered ahead of their visit. 

I'm wondering how people overwhelmed from the paperwork can survive in normal life.

 

You already have a certificate for your vaccination.

Call your insurance company and ask for an insurance certificate. Thailand, covid covered and 100000 USD must be mentioned. 

Book a room with Agoda so you can cancel anytime.

Book a flight and make sure you can change it without fee or get refund.

Fill in the information in the online COE page

Book your PCR test when COE is confirmed

 

That's it. 2 hours. Not complicated at all

 

 

[Espanol]

27 minutes ago, Robs5ct said:

I'm wondering how people overwhelmed from the paperwork can survive in normal life.

 

You already have a certificate for your vaccination.

Call your insurance company and ask for an insurance certificate. Thailand, covid covered and 100000 USD must be mentioned. 

Book a room with Agoda so you can cancel anytime.

Book a flight and make sure you can change it without fee or get refund.

Fill in the information in the online COE page

Book your PCR test when COE is confirmed

 

That's it. 2 hours. Not complicated at all

 

 

Yes. But meanwhile, if travelling to Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain, Italy, Greece or Malta, steps are:

 

- Buy a cheap airplane ticket

- Book cheap hotel in Agoda or Booking

- Do a PCR test

 

End

 

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2021 by Espanol

[robertson468]

2 hours ago, smedly said:

happy days until one of your family or someone you have been in contact with tests positive

Seven already have!  Where have you been?

[Cake Monster]

2 hours ago, smedly said:

happy days until one of your family or someone you have been in contact with tests positive

I dont think the lady would thank the Sandbox too much if one of the Kids caught Covid, and they were all split up as a Family.

[smedly]

23 minutes ago, robertson468 said:

Seven already have!  Where have you been?

10 actually - where have you been

[smedly]

2 hours ago, Robs5ct said:

I'm wondering how people overwhelmed from the paperwork can survive in normal life.

 

You already have a certificate for your vaccination.

Call your insurance company and ask for an insurance certificate. Thailand, covid covered and 100000 USD must be mentioned. 

Book a room with Agoda so you can cancel anytime.

Book a flight and make sure you can change it without fee or get refund.

Fill in the information in the online COE page

Book your PCR test when COE is confirmed

 

That's it. 2 hours. Not complicated at all

 

 

have you done it, I believe the hotel must be booked through an agent in Thailand payed up front no refund

[pookondee]

What does it matter anyway, if they are tourists or not?

 

Any real tourist going there is taking the huge risk of getting infected along the way, getting forced into Covid jail and most probably missing their flights home.

 

And considering the hoops one must jump through to get there,

who in their right mind would take all that  for the sake of a 3-4 week holiday??

[Robs5ct]

For BKK I know it was and guess it's still possible. For Phuket I haven't tried.

https://www.agoda.com/quarantineth

 

[Espanol]

30 minutes ago, smedly said:

have you done it, I believe the hotel must be booked through an agent in Thailand payed up front no refund

I booked Phuket SHA+ hotel in Agoda and got SHABA code even when not been payed yet.

What I had to pay in advance was 8000 bahts for 3 PCR test. But transport from airport to hotel, and 2 weeks booking for room, not payed yet and I can cancel at any moment.

At least in my hotel. May be things are different with other hotels.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2021 by Espanol

[Robs5ct]

2 hours ago, Espanol said:

Yes. But meanwhile, if travelling to Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain, Italy, Greece or Malta, steps are:

 

- Buy a cheap airplane ticket

- Book cheap hotel in Agoda or Booking

- Do a PCR test

 

End

 

 

 

 

that's true. For at least right now.

Personally I think the cheap times ... everything cheap ... are over and will not come back soon.

Travelling and holidays will be different in the future. And it's good so. Traveling and holidays are no human rights. So what.

 

[Robs5ct]

2 minutes ago, Espanol said:

I booked hotel in Agoda and got SHABA code even not been payed yet.

What I had to pay in advance was 8000 bahts for 3 PCR test. But transport from airport to hotel and room not payed yet and I can cancel at any moment.

At least in my hotel. May be things are different with other hotels.

 

How did you manage your bookings ? Do you think it's complicated or does it takes days to get all the papers ?

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, smedly said:

happy days until one of your family or someone you have been in contact with tests positive

I think I would have waited to next year, told mother to hang-in there.

I wonder if she's had her vaccines yet?

[Espanol]

23 minutes ago, Robs5ct said:

How did you manage your bookings ? Do you think it's complicated or does it takes days to get all the papers ?

 

About room, I did it the usual way: looked for hotels in Agoda and booked the one I found most interesting to me (location, price, gym, swimming pool, balcony, views,...) Same a every year.

 

About travel insurance, I have a free travel insurance with my Metal N26 and Revolut cards. Up to 10.000.000 euros and covers CoVid-19.

 

I downloaded my vaccine certificate from my NHS App and printed a copy.

 

With my passport copy, travel insurance and vaccine certificate I applied for COE at Thai Embassy Website (https://coethailand.mfa.go.th/regis/step?language=en and it took 10 days for them to answer NO because 1 of the insurance pages was written in Spanish.

 

I got English version, uploaded documents again and then I got confirmation in only a few hours.

 

After that I emailed hotel and they sent me email with links to pay PCR and transport from airport. Once I payd PCR I got SHABA code. (I haven't paid transport or room yet)

 

Then uploading to Thai Embassy website the SHABA code, copy of airplane tickets, and filling an exhaustive form about every single flight (flight code, date of departure, date of arriving, transfer airport,....)

 

Then they answered that COE can only be applied 30 days before arrival to Thailand, so they cancelled COE request and I need to start again everything next month.

 

I hope that Spain is still in qualified countries list next month. I'm crossing fingers.

 

******

 

Meanwhile, short ago, I went in holidays to Istambul and I only booked hotel, bought tickets and not even a PCR needed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2021 by Espanol

[BusyB]

I expect that will be true for most of the phuketeers ... even those who only want 14 days holiday in Phuket will be hesitant about the entry conditions/paperwork etc and that a lot of the place is still shut ...

 

But as these two have said, it's better than BKK quarantine if you've got other reasons ...

[digibum]

3 hours ago, pookondee said:

 

And considering the hoops one must jump through to get there,

who in their right mind would take all that  for the sake of a 3-4 week holiday??

Can you not really figure this out?  
 

They fall into one of three groups:

 

Group 1:  Expats, digital nomads, or people with Thai family in Thailand that were too cheap to do the ASQ.  
 

In fact, that one German that got sent to quarantine because of someone on her flight is a digital nomad who cancelled her ASQ in BKK to fly through Phuket and avoid the cost.  
 

Expect a large percentage of this group to be at immigration looking to change their tourist visas to some sort of long stay visa.  
 

Group 2:   People of questionable decision making facilities that thought, “I just got my shots, I should travel to a third-world country with surging infections and a horrible record of protecting tourists, because they’ll be desperate for my tourist dollars/euros/gbp.”

 

Group 3:  Men who want to fondle Thai women and don’t have the reading comprehension skills to understand nothing is open in Patong.  As soon as they do their required stay in Phuket they will make their way to Pattaya to be equally disappointed.   

[connda]

That isn't anything that those of us who live here don't already know.  What?  Was this "news" for some cub reporter?  Must me.

[KhaoYai]

18 minutes ago, digibum said:

Group 1:  Expats, digital nomads, or people with Thai family in Thailand that were too cheap to do the ASQ.  

Ridiculous comment:

 

15 nights quarantine in Thailand.

14 days with your family.

10 days in home quarantine (depending on your home country)

39 days off work.

 

That's over 5 weeks off to get just 2 weeks with your family.  How many people do you know who would even be allowed to do that, let alone afford it?

 

Edited July 15, 2021 by KhaoYai

[balo]

How is it going with the sand box?  How many hotel bookings so far ? 

[Espanol]

50 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

Ridiculous comment:

 

15 nights quarantine in Thailand.

14 days with your family.

10 days in home quarantine (depending on your home country)

39 days off work.

 

That's over 5 weeks off to get just 2 weeks with your family.  How many people do you know who would even be allowed to do that, let alone afford it?

 

Me, for instance. Unless I will stay 4 months before returning to Europe. 

 

To me, and most of "sandboxers", Phuket is a much better option than ASQ hotel in Bangkok. 

 

Not only because cheaper, but mainly because you can't compare 2 weeks stay at seaside resort in Phuket with 2 weeks jailed in hotel room in Bangkok. 

 

But, indeed, I can't understand why a real tourists would face so many requirements just to risk a 2 weeks holidays in Phuket, possibly leading to ASQ confinement in expensive hotel room.

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2021 by Espanol

[impulse]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

In normal times since they moved to Switzerland 10 years ago they would take it in turns to visit each other each year. 

Which makes them "tourists".  Real tourists.  In fact, quintessential tourists.  Going to visit Grandma.

 

 

[KhaoYai]

2 hours ago, Espanol said:

But, indeed, I can't understand why a real tourists would face so many requirements just to risk a 2 weeks holidays in Phuket, possibly leading to ASQ confinement in expensive hotel room.

How much are the rooms in Phuket?  It may be a better option for my wife when she returns to Thailand in October - she should be fully vaccinated then.

[Espanol]

1 minute ago, KhaoYai said:

How much are the rooms in Phuket?  It may be a better option for my wife when she returns to Thailand in October - she should be fully vaccinated then.

There are many different prices.

You can have a look in Agoda or Booking. 

 

I got a double room with breakfast, with swimming pool views, walking distance from the beach, in Patong, for 10.000 bahts 14 nights. 

 

But you can find cheaper and also much more expensive hotels.

[KhaoYai]

7 minutes ago, Espanol said:

There are many different prices.

You can have a look in Agoda or Booking. 

 

I got a double room with breakfast, with swimming pool views, walking distance from the beach, in Patong, for 10.000 bahts 14 nights. 

 

But you can find cheaper and also much more expensive hotels.

But you have to fly in to Phuket right?  My wife's KLM flight is to Bangkok - not sure if KLM are one of the airlines flying there but I'll check.

[Espanol]

1 minute ago, KhaoYai said:

But you have to fly in to Phuket right?  My wife's KLM flight is to Bangkok - not sure if KLM are one of the airlines flying there but I'll check.

I read somewhere that KLM is not flying to Phuket at the moment because there were no free slots. But they were supposed to fly in October. 

 

I fly directly to Phuket with Turkish Airlines but return flight from Bangkok. 

[Destiny1990]

I seriously doubt to ever re-visit Thailand. 

[merijn]

17 hours ago, smedly said:

have you done it, I believe the hotel must be booked through an agent in Thailand payed up front no refund

You can book the hotel in any way you want as long they pay the hotel as the hotel has to send you the SHA+ certificate and they will normally do that until they got paid.

9 hours ago, Espanol said:

I read somewhere that KLM is not flying to Phuket at the moment because there were no free slots. But they were supposed to fly in October. 

 

I fly directly to Phuket with Turkish Airlines but return flight from Bangkok. 

KLM had never plans to fly to Phuket before November.