Or, at least, not mess up the instructions so badly that they ask you to leave.
We left Fredericksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. at 9:00 am, East Coast Time (EST). We arrived in Singapore at 7:30 am Singapore Time (SGT). Total, we traveled for 39 hours and covered over 12,000 miles. It was a long day but at no point was I feeling terribly miserable. The children did fantastic and spent their entire time watching movies and playing on their Nintendo Switch. The worst part was having to wear a mask the entire time and smell my breath for 39 hours.
Because we took the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) and had to prove our vaccination status and negative Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test, which we took two days prior, our arrival into Singapore was only slightly complicated although by the length of this post you might think otherwise. After clearing immigration with our passports and Vaccinated Travel Pass (VTP) we proceeded to our luggage. Once we retrieved our luggage, we moved through customs quickly and lined-up for the required PCR test which can only be best described as organized chaos which is essentially our entire lives at this point. Once we made our way through the testing site, Marcus wisely chose to skip the considerably long taxi line and opted for a Grab which is similar to Lyft or Uber. This was a sign of growth in Marcus as he overcame his need to be a penny pincher for the welfare of his slowly going insane family.
By the time we reached our hotel, the Marina Bay Sands, all of us were at our tipping point. The sweet woman at check-in had to know she was talking to zombies but she explained everything the best she could and by the grace of the travel gods our room was ready and we were able to check-in. I immediately took a shower and brushed my teeth and the girls immediately watched more TV (because the 23 hours of TV watching on airplanes wasn’t enough). Eventually we all fell asleep though Marcus and I briefly rallied to meet our sponsors who gave us our “Trace Together Tokens” which allows us entry into pretty much anywhere, i.e., without a token you cannot gain access to most places in Singapore. Also, a fun fact I just learned today is that our vaccination status isn’t official until we take a serology test to prove that we have, indeed, been vaccinated.
Following the Covid related rules and regulations is a bit of a challenge but we have managed to muddle our way through. For example, we must take a rapid test every day for seven days and notify the Ministery of Health (MOH) of the results. On some days we administer the test ourselves and on other days we must go to a technician who administers the test. From the minute we landed everyone has been helpful and kind and, despite the odd circumstances, it has been a pleasant experience so far.
The Traveling Tepaskes 