For entry to the UK – current at Friday 13th August 2021

As Hong Kong is a Green list country my obligations are:

• A negative PCR test 72 hours in advance of my departure. Official certification with correct details to show to check-in staff. Here is a link to the relevant UK Gov page;
• Complete a Passenger Locator form within 48 hours of my arrival;
• Book a PCR test for Day 2 after my arrival at the latest.

In trying to be efficient, I made a mistake in booking my UK Day 2 PCR test too early because, despite knowing the date of my arrival, the company sent off my testing package immediately that they received the booking, so I had to arrange for the package to be delivered to my neighbour. I’d recommend booking your Day 2 test only a week in advance, which makes it easy to rearrange with the delivery courier if necessary. There’s a list of test providers on the UK Gov page. I paid £129 for mine. 🙄

I have also made the following bookings:

• Caledonian Sleeper to Edinburgh;
• Hotel booking for a couple of nights in Edinbugh;
• Jazz brunch with Eliza;
• Supermarket delivery for the evening of my arrival day;
• Organic fruit and veg delivery for the Monday after my arrival;
• I need to book transport from LHR (not, unfortunately, LGW) to home.

Three weeks’ washout stay in Canada

Let me quickly explain my intended washout weeks. Although Hong Kong has now started allowing direct flights from the UK, travellers must separate departure from the UK and arrival in Hong Kong by 21 days. I have heard of a lot of different versions of this “washout” period: people  spending time in Dubai or Bulgaria or Greece or Finland before boarding a flight back to Hong Kong. All of these places are in the Medium Risk category, which means that they have to spend “only” 7 to 14 days in a designated quarantine hotel room on their arrival in HK.

Now, I initially thought of spending the three weeks by a hotel pool in Greece or France and, I might have to use these for my Plan B but it occurred to me that it would be more interesting to visit James in Canada and then travel across that vast country by train, a journey I’ve always wanted to do, flying back to Hong Kong from Vancouver’ hence the Round The World ticket. It would be the travel experience of a lifetime if I could pull it all together and possibly quite interesting as a photo travelogue, hence this project.

At the time of writing and, indeed, my departure from HK, Canada is open only to fully vaccinated travellers from the US and Canadian permanent residents. I am hoping that plans to open Canada to fully-vaccinated people from all other countries on September 9th will go ahead. Yesterday, though, I read a tweet from Canada’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Theresa Tam that it has now started its 4th Covid wave. Renewed lockdowns are possible, and the situation in the UK is still pretty grim so it could well be that Canada decides to revise its plans, or maybe block arrivals from the UK in which case I’ll have to formulate and resort to a Plan B.

Currently, then, I anticipate Canadian entry requirements after September 9th as follows:

• A negative PCR test within 72 hours of boarding the flight for Canada;
• Downloading the ArriveCAN app and registering answers to its health and eligibility questions;
• An Electronic Travel Authorization for permission to enter Canada;
• Proof of being fully vaccinated with a Canadian government approved vaccine;
• A quarantine plan for a 14 day stay in case of positive PCR tests.

I’ve bought my ViaRail Canada pass for 6 journeys and 15 days’ duration, and booked a cabin for 1 on The Canadian. My original confirmed booking  had to be cancelled as VIARail decided that they’d still only run one Train #1 from Toronto to Vancouver until October 15th. I was scheduled to travel on October 13th so I’ve had to rebook that and all of my other hotel stays. Luckily that was really easy through Booking.com, and I still have free cancellations for all of the Canadian hotel bookings in case anything else goes wrong.

I have not booked any other rail journeys on my VIARail Canada pass yet. As it is I don’t think I can change my pass validity from 4th October to 3rd without incurring a penalty but maybe I’ll pursue this if I get there.

Obligations for re-entry to Hong Kong – current at Friday 13th August 2021

As the UK is currently a Band A High Risk country, I am not allowed back into Hong Kong within 21 days of a 2 hour stay here. The second flight UK direct flight ban has been lifted this week but this three week “washout” obligation still stands. Here is a link to more information from the Hong Kong SAR Government.

• A negative PCR test 72 hours in advance of my arrival;
• A Health Declaration Form;
• My Covid vaccination certificate;
• A booking for a 7 night quarantine package in a Designated Quarantine Hotel;
• A positive test result certificate for Covid-19 antibodies

I booked a Covid antibody blood test which was carried out at my GP’s office here in Discovery Bay. My HKID and UK passport details were taken carefully together with my flight details and details of my Covid vaccination schedule.

The blood sample was tested at PATH, which is listed as a HK government-approved tester and within 24 hours the test came back as positive. Doubly vaccinated with Pfizer Comirnaty here in HK (thank you HK!) in March and April this year, this test is valid for 3 months and enables me to cut my hotel room quarantine on my return to HK by a week.

The antibody test will be available for travellers arriving at HKIA from August 18th, I understand, but proof will be required that new arrivals have booked 14 days’ quarantine, just in case their antibody test comes out negative. Beware, though. This was the only hotel out of all the stays I booked that did not offer free cancellation or  in case of flight changes or illness. My pre-booking fee will not be refunded.

Having said all of this then, I now have less than a week to pack and sort everything out. It’s taken me so long to arrange it that I can hardly dare to contemplate this journey in full and I don’t think I’ll believe its actually happening until my flight takes off next Thursday night/Friday morning.I hope that you will enjoy sharing this journey with me.