My Bali to London travel experience in the pandemic

In this post, I wanted to share how I travelled from Bali to London during the pandemic. My flight was scheduled for the 15th of June and at the time Bali was still on the amber list. Please take this post as a guide rather than a main source of information as you need to refer to the government’s website for the current status of the country you are in or looking to visit.

We all hoped that travel freely by now, who would’ve thought that lockdowns would stretch out this long. In the current world, we live in it’s important to adapt and know your options so you can make the best possible choice for yourself.

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I got inspired after one of my friends who travelled to London from Bali, ended up in Seattle due to not understanding the government travel traffic light system. It’s important that you thoroughly read that information in full and educate yourself on your options thoroughly.

So here is my Bali to London journey in June without a vaccine.

Since there are no international flights from Bali, I had to book a separate flight to Jakarta (capital of Indonesia) which has a big international airport serving most countries in the world. Before my Bali to Jakarta flight, I have booked a ticket for Jakarta to London via Singapore as Singapore still resides on the green travel list.

Please note that since I only transited through Singapore and haven’t spent the full 10 days in this country, Amber list rules applied. Indonesia was on the Amber list at the time however, it moved to the Red list and it remains on the date of this post. I highly encourage you to check the position of the country you have spent the last 10 days at before boarding your flight.

Having come from the Amber list country without the vaccine meant that I had to book 1 Covid PCR test 72 hours before boarding my flight, an antigen test for Day 2 and day 8 of my arrival. I had to book Day 2 and 8 tests before my trip and show the booking at the check-in and arrival time. After arriving home, I had to isolate for 10 days too.

I believe as it stands right now if you have two doses of the vaccine you won’t have to book day 8 test and quarantine if you arrive from the Amber list country.

Traveling

My travel was easy even though I picked a flight with an 11-hour layover at the Singapore airport. I figured I was to stay over a night at any airport let it be Singapore as it’s truly one of the best. Travellers, however, didn’t have full access to the airport and had to layover at the designated area that was split into the first and economy class passengers.

My Jakarta to Singapore flight was easy peasy with 2 seats available to me and a meal. During the layover in Singapore which was overnight, I partially slept and wasted time on my phone. The Singapore to London flight was better than usual as I legit had a full row to me, I could sleep, snack, watch movies and enjoy the flight.

When I arrived in the UK, the queue was bigger than expected however the immigration checks went seemingly quick and before I knew it I was hugging my sister and nieces. It felt forever since I saw the last.

I honestly prefer travelling in the pandemic. It seemed more organised and certainly less busy, it felt very clean and safe too. I travelled with Singapore Airlines so I can only talk about my experience. I highly recommend you check the GOV site on Covid travel rules so you are up to date with the most current situation.

Can we go back to Bali?

As of this moment, Bali is not allowing new visa applications and it’s on the red list. My plans to return to my island life in October may have to change as honestly it’s almost impossible to plan anything past a month ahead.

I hope this post helped. I want you to know that if you want to travel you can however there are additional steps to take to ensure your safety and others.

I will probably be leaving London for some Medditerenian Sun this winter and I will be looking to spend some months in either Portugal or Spain. But then again who knows, I’m jsut flowing with the universe and living my life one day at the time mindfully.

Sending you lots of love and may you stay safe and healthy wherever you are.

Tania xxx

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