Banged up in paradise: how our dream holiday to Thailand ended before it began

[webfact]

Bangkok, Thailand//ALAMY

 

Testing positive for Covid on arrival in Bangkok condemned Abigail Flanagan to nine nights in a ‘hospitel’ overlooking an eight-lane ring road

 

Abigail Flanagan

 

‘The man test negative, but you positive,” the hotel concierge explained gently, over the phone. “Please stay in room. The doctor will call tomorrow.”

 

And that’s how our holiday ended, before it had even begun.

 

My husband, Paul, and I flew to Bangkok for a trip we’d been planning since 2019 and had already reorganised twice. Thailand’s onerous entry requirements include Thailand Passes; triple vaccination status; first night’s pre-paid, government-approved hotel package (including obligatory PCR and lateral flow tests for days one and five respectively); insurance cover, and negative “fit-to-fly” PCR tests — but we’d felt it would be worth the effort.

 

There’d been just one more hoop to jump through: a day-one PCR test, which we undertook before being ushered to our hotel room to await the results. We weren’t worried. Triple vaccinated, we’d both been exposed to Covid on numerous occasions — Paul is a frontline NHS worker— yet had remained clear. Our UK PCR tests were barely 60-hours old. Plus, we’d essentially shielded for the past two weeks.

 

Full story: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/banged-up-in-paradise-how-our-dream-holiday-to-thailand-ended-before-it-began-fttgqtmtr

 

-- © Copyright THE SUNDAY TIMES 2022-04-18

 

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[RandiRona]

HiI dont know who to blame here...People know where they are going and what is waiting for them. As I said before that tourists are taking a big risk by coming here and it's for them to decide it it's worth taking it.

[Capella]

You don't have to be triple vaccinated. 

[ChaiyaTH]

1 minute ago, Capella said:

You don't have to be triple vaccinated. 

Was just gonna ask but guess it is just meant as that they did get 3 shots.

[Sparktrader]

Vaccines dont stop covid. Only reduce impact.

[Ralf001]

Why did the husband fly home ?

[Daithi85]

1 hour ago, Ralf001 said:

Why did the husband fly home ?

The article said he took the doctors advice to escape while he could ????????.

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, Ralf001 said:

Why did the husband fly home ?

If you read the original article it is clear, he tested negative and so he could.

in all probability had he stayed he would have tested positive after a little time so then would have been in quarantine.

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, Ralf001 said:

Why did the husband fly home ?

If he stayed here he'd probably become infected too.

[jacko45k]

Just now, hotchilli said:

If he stayed here he'd probably become infected too.

With what....?????

[JimTripper]

I wonder if the husband was pressured by the Dr to leave?

 

I can see a Thai Dr being kind of blunt and stressed out, add in the language barrier, and the husband getting frustrated and just giving up. Sounds like they won't be returning anytime soon ????‍♂️

[BritManToo]

2 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

Why did the husband fly home ?

Yeah, bet he would have had a great time without her.

[Excel]

Well whilst I can understand their concerns I can not understand the naivety, stupidity, ignorance of the facts -call it what you will, in coming to Thailand in the first place. If they bothered to read the news, the thousands of reports on the internet then they would have clearly understood the risks that they may have encountered coming to Thailand under the current governments scams into enticing tourists. Don't start complaining when the facts were there for them to read in the first place.

[OneMoreFarang]

Someone didn't read the fine print...

[jerrymahoney]

In the linked Times article Ms. Abigail says:  "I felt like I had mild flu ..." so she was not suggesting the positive PCR in Thailand was faulty.

 

Also the honeymoon couple was in Phuket and not Ms. Abigail and her husband.

[blazes]

 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s onerous entry requirements include Thailand Passes; triple vaccination status; first night’s pre-paid, government-approved hotel package (including obligatory PCR and lateral flow tests for days one and five respectively); insurance cover, and negative “fit-to-fly” PCR tests — but we’d felt it would be worth the effort.

A nightmare, to be sure, but at the same time, this couple had been to LoS several times before, so if they had done proper research they would have been aware of the lottery conditions of tourism to Thailand. 

 

The conditions mentioned in the quote above should be sufficient in themselves to put most sensible people off coming to LoS.  And this couple don't even have the excuse of being separated from family.

Besides, from UK it is much easier to fly to Mexico if you just want sunshine and relaxation, and NO entry regulations whatsoever other than a simple health declaration.  

 

PS The article in the Times has all the "authenticity" of a journalist's re-write.

[Kenchamp]

One of 55 that tested positive that day- nice little earner for those that benefited from positive tests

[Ralf001]

30 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Yeah, bet he would have had a great time without her.

Exactly, his holiday just got a whole lot better when she was forced into covid prison !!

[kotsak]

1 hour ago, Daithi85 said:

2 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

Why did the husband fly home ?

The article said he took the doctors advice to escape while he could ????????.

Who in his right mind wouldn't want a few quiet days alone after years of marriage? 

[sometimewoodworker]

46 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

I wonder if the husband was pressured by the Dr to leave?

 

I can see a Thai Dr being kind of blunt and stressed out, add in the language barrier, and the husband getting frustrated and just giving up. Sounds like they won't be returning anytime soon ????‍♂️

Really !!!

Quote

Fast-forward 24 hours and I was banged up in central Bangkok’s Maduzi hotel: a designated hotel-turned-hospital for the remaining nine nights. Meanwhile, my shell-shocked, still-negative husband was en-route home. Faced with a minimum week’s isolation, or a further ten days if he tested positive during that time, he took the doctor’s advice to escape while he could. He left with my blessing, but the realisation that I was alone with Covid was mildly terrifying.

 

[BritManToo]

49 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

I wonder if the husband was pressured by the Dr to leave?

More like his wife ordered him home.

 

[Cambodger]

If my dog had three rabies vaccines and then caught rabies i might start questioning the efficacy of the vaccine.

[starky]

3 hours ago, Capella said:

You don't have to be triple vaccinated. 

Some countries and occupations. Including mine require you to have had a third shot/booster whatever you want to call it. So its a mandate without being mandated.

 Im goinf back to work next month in Oz i can fly into Sydney double vaxxed no problem but to travel to WA and work i need to have had a third shot. 

[sometimewoodworker]

23 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Yet they can afford to have regular holidays to Thailand using the more expensive hotels.

I don’t see anywhere the “regular holidays” nor that they took the apocryphal regular holidays in the more expensive hotels.

 

23 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

NHS wages must have gone up a lot in the past few years since I left the UK.

When I first started coming to Thailand from the U.K. I was in a job that payed less than the NHS but still managed to fly here 2~3 times a year every year for between 3 ~ 12 weeks each trip, (the joys of shift swaps and a 8 in 16 day working pattern). 
I stayed in the cheaper places as I had more time here, but had I had short holidays the higher priced hotels would have been easy in my budget.

[Canadian Snowbird]

Reading situations such as this surely will not help Thailand restore their tourism industry. Who wants to take the chance to throw that much money down the drain for nothing more than a really bad memory? Not me. 

[Pouatchee]

As  mentioned before, this explains why Thailand is relaxing its entry requirements. It will be another way to fill their coffres. t sucks to be us.

[Virt]

And that is why i will never travel to a country that require tests after arrival.

 

I would have been back in Thailand a long time ago if it were not for the tests/masks but until those two things are gone I'm staying in Europe, where it's possible to travel to countries that require no tests or use of masks.

 

Hopefully it's the last year Thailand keep those two restrictions in place.

I want to get back to Samui and Koh Chang.

[jacko45k]

3 minutes ago, Cambodger said:

If my dog had three rabies vaccines and then caught rabies i might start questioning the efficacy of the vaccine.

You should have researched it before getting the vaccines, rather than complain after that it isn't quite what you thought it was. 

That said, I felt I was misled in the early Covid vaccine days

[BritManToo]

5 minutes ago, Cambodger said:

If my dog had three rabies vaccines and then caught rabies i might start questioning the efficacy of the vaccine.

Nah, your dog just needed a few more boosters.

And the rabies would have been much more serious without the first three vaccinations.

[Cambodger]

2 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

You should have researched it before getting the vaccines, rather than complain after that it isn't quite what you thought it was. 

That said, I felt I was misled in the early Covid vaccine days

I've not had any vaccines, never even taken a PCR or an antigen LFT test. I happy with my decision and watching this play out for now.