Travelling to Korea during COVID-19
I recently travelled from the UK to Korea via a commercial flight and wanted to document the process I had to go through from arriving at the airport until the end of my quarantine.
I created an overview of the experience outlining the events but wanted to write a blog post to supplement this with more information as well as what I was thinking during each of these events.
1. On the flight
My temperature was taken before I got onto the flight. When I was buying my ticket, I was warned that if my temperature was above 37.5 degrees celsius, they would not permit to get on the flight. I was initially really nervous about this. I wasn’t sure what would happen if I did have a temperature and if I’d get my money back. But luckily everything was fine and I was able to get onto the flight.
Everyone on the flight was wearing masks, some people were even fully kitted out in hazmat suits and goggles! I saw that they didn’t take any of it off and didn’t eat during the flight.
I had to fill out extra paperwork than what was typically required. I had to fill out where I would stay during quarantine, but also answer questions about any symptoms.
2. At the airport in Korea
I arrived at Incheon airport at 2:35 pm.
As soon as I landed, I couldn’t help myself but compare the differences between Heathrow airport and Incheon airport. All of the Incheon airport staff were wearing masks, and the medical staff were all fully kitted in head to toe with a hazmat suit and clear plastic face shield. Whereas at Heathrow, only a handful of the staff was wearing masks. I thought it was interesting that neither people at Heathrow or Incheon seemed to pay much attention to the 2m social distancing guidance.
Because I had indicated that I had a runny nose which is one of the symptoms, I was directed to a nurse, then to a doctor who asked me questions about my symptoms and when I last took medication. They said that although they don’t think I have COVID-19, I should go to the local medical centre within hours of symptoms appearing.
There were army officers doing administrative work, and as far as I could see they were helping out by making sure that I had downloaded the self-quarantine app, all of my forms were in order and that the phone number I had provided was accurate. I don’t currently have a Korean number so I provided my sister’s. They called the number and asked my sister about her relation to me to ensure that I hadn’t made it up. I thought this was very thorough and it meant that they were trying their best to ensure that the information was accurate.
I went through the immigration control as usual and collected my luggage.
3. Getting to Seoul
When I came out to the greeting gate, there were staff asking me I was going by bus or a personal vehicle. When I said I was going by bus, they gave me a leaflet that outlined my journey and asked me to sit down in an area that was taped around so that someone could guide all of the group sitting down to the airport buses.
I originally bought a bus ticket to Gangnam-gu district because I thought the drop off point was the closest to my residence. But I was made aware that we each had to go to take the bus to the district of our residence so I changed my bus ticket to be dropped off at Seocho-gu. I knew this because they asked me to fill out my address and my district and if someone was going to collect me in a private vehicle. I later learned that this information was given to the local district before I arrived there.
The buses weren’t frequent so I waited around 2 hours for my bus to arrive compared to the typical 5–20 minute waiting time.
4. The local public health centre
Once I arrived at the local public health centre in Seocho-gu I was greeted with people (who I assumed to be volunteers). Again, they were all wearing protective gear of masks, gloves and plastic overalls. It made me feel so grateful that there were people who were working after typical work hours. They helped me with my luggage and directed me where to go — to fill out more forms, and then asked me to wait to get tested for COVID-19.
The test took minutes, where the doctors and nurses in hazmat suits shoved a cotton swab down my throat, and another up my nose. I was really surprised that it was so quick and that they would send me the results within 48 hours.
Whilst I was waiting, there was free wifi available for people like me so that I could contact my family.
5. Going home
I was worried that I would have to take a bus or taxi and how that would affect my ability to social distance myself as I remembered listening to an interview on the BBC radio with a woman who was coming back home from abroad and the worry she felt because she had no other way than take the public transport to get back home in the UK.
My anxiety about this was soothed when one of the staff members told me that I would be driven home because I had indicated that no one could collect me. They guided me towards an ambulance and drove me home in it! I’d never been in an ambulance before so it was quite exciting but I also felt thankful that they took every measure to help me reduce my social contact as much as possible.
I got a small package from before I went home. When I got home, I opened it up and saw that it had hand sanitizers and masks.
6. Quarantine
They gave me my test result the day after I took the test, within 24 hours. I don’t have COVID-19 at the time of testing!
I still have to stay in quarantine for 14 days and the quarantine app that I downloaded at the airport tracks my location to ensure that I remain in quarantine. I can also find out information about the quarantine, and contact details for my point of contact with the local public health.
I am updating my app every day at 10 am and 3 pm, with my temperature and whether I am experiencing any symptoms. I have missed two of those recordings and each time, my point of contact has called me to ensure that I fill it out.
For the first day of my quarantine, I couldn’t measure my temperature because I didn’t have a thermometer, but my point of contact told me that they would send it.
10th April morning: they sent me more goods — including the thermometer, but also more hand sanitizers, anti-bacterial spray, masks, more information pamphlets and a bin liner that’s marked very visibly with a biohazard sign in bright orange.
10th April afternoon: Got more goods delivered! It includes ready meals, 3kg of rice, 6 x 1l water bottles, 30 rolls of toilet paper, soap, shampoo, body wash and wipes, toothbrush, toothpaste, bin bags. I didn’t pay for any of it!
7. Final test
Two days before my quarantine was over, I was asked to go to the local public centre again to get my second COVID-19 test so that I would have the results before the quarantine end date.
Conclusion
I felt that the South Korean government considered the risks at each step of the travel and did their best to reduce my contact with others, whilst also providing the equipment to help me do this. I am very grateful to all of the people that I interacted with.
The South Korean government have been one of the best countries to manage the spread of the virus and flatten the curve, and other governments have a lot to learn from them. I think it is important to have open discussions about what different governments are doing to deal with this pandemic so that we can learn from each other and I hope this post will help that discussion.
I’d love to hear about other people’s experiences of travelling to other countries during COVID-19 so please contact me if you want to share your story!
Edit: Some people thought that this article described a repatriation flight so I wanted to clarify that this was not the case. This flight was a commercial flight that was still running most days of the week from London Heathrow to Incheon airport.
