Far East travel prospects

[GT4P]

GT03ROB said:

GT4P said:

Is Africa not one of those countries waiting to explode with cases like India?

Quotes from Bruno..... "Africa is not a country honey, it's a continent"

Now corrected and given myself 100 lines

[GT03ROB]

Kit352 said:

Tanzania for christmas it is then.

Great place was in Zanzibar late February in a hotel full of Italians. Between that, transiting through Doha & 8 flights in 2 weeks if I didn't get the lurgy I never will!!

[GT4P]

Travel and holidays to exotic destinations it is not only covid you now have to worry about so glad I visited a lot of places in the 80s but still a bit of a downer when you look forward to your annual escape to paradise!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/10/supe...

[jamoor]

GT03ROB said:

GT4P said:

Is Africa not one of those countries waiting to explode with cases like India?

Quotes from Bruno..... "Africa is not a country honey, it's a continent"

Personally I think in parts of Africa the coronavirus is probably scared of them rather than the other way round.
Their immune systems are probably stronger than the virus, look at what happened in Pakistan.

[Mark V GTD]

I think I should change the thread title to 'No Far East travel prospects' :-(

[Saweep]

Has anyone else seen the little graphic the Thai govt have produced for their new long term visa.



Lunatics.

[smifffymoto]

Thailand’s latest ‘deal’ on visas is shocking.I can’t see many takers even at 1000 visas a month.

[phumy]

I have just signed a contract to go to work in Vietnam working for a Singapore company and they are having a mare of a time getting paperwork (permits, visa and residency card) sorted for me, inc flights. The problem being the Vietnamese Authorities keep changing goal posts, they need to see so much from me, they want to know who my International insurer is, who i will get a private CV19 test, in the UK with, before i fly. All these checks are done just hours before the visa was going to be issued, then the deadline is missed for visa issue, its happened three times now. All visas for foreigners are only processed and issued once per month in blocks, so if you miss the deadline, you have to wait till the next month issue.

Flights, at the moment, are available through Qatar LHR > Doha > Seoul > HCMC its a long route but at least i can get there, also have to serve 14 days in quarantine once i land, get tested before going through immigration then during quarantine i will be tested 5 times and the last three must all be negative for them to release me from quarantine, then i am given a certificate of clearance which i must not lose, or i have to go through it all again.

[Mark V GTD]

I think that unless severe restrictions like these are removed/drastically scaled down (or there is a good indication that they will be by some reasonably near fixed date such as January 2021) we will see the demise of multiple airlines in the coming months.

[jamoor]

Mark V GTD said:

I think that unless severe restrictions like these are removed/drastically scaled down (or there is a good indication that they will be by some reasonably near fixed date such as January 2021) we will see the demise of multiple airlines in the coming months.

Quite possible.

It must be so hard to plan for anything when you have no information to go off.

[Mark V GTD]

Saweep said:

Has anyone else seen the little graphic the Thai govt have produced for their new long term visa.

No - can you post a link please?

[smifffymoto]

The Park Plaza on Soi 18,Bangkok is 43,000 bht a night,airport pick up,3 meals a day,nurse in the hotel etc.
Not an ideal situation hut if you are desperate for a trip to Thailand.

There are a few quarantine hotel reviews on Youtube.

[Saweep]

Mark V GTD said:

Saweep said:

Has anyone else seen the little graphic the Thai govt have produced for their new long term visa.

No - can you post a link please?

https://hivelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/3755687.jpg

[h0b0]

Saweep said:

[phumy]

I got confirmation of my flights from London to Hanoi today, schedule is LHR > Doha > Hanoi, the stop over in Doha is 11 hours from mid night local time to 11:00 am local time, anyone know the best thing to do on an 11 hour stop over. Ive looked at the Airport transit hotel but they want £350 for a single room, not sure i want to pay that, however there seems to be some kind of sleeping pods that can be paid for by the hour, anyone done/tried this? The other alternative is to pay to get into a lunge and get comfy and get a kip. I dont want to be laid out on nasty plastic chairs in the concourse.


Or any other suggestions that you known travellers have come across in Doha for long stop overs.

[halfpenny43]

phumy said:

I got confirmation of my flights from London to Hanoi today, schedule is LHR > Doha > Hanoi, the stop over in Doha is 11 hours from mid night local time to 11:00 am local time, anyone know the best thing to do on an 11 hour stop over. Ive looked at the Airport transit hotel but they want £350 for a single room, not sure i want to pay that, however there seems to be some kind of sleeping pods that can be paid for by the hour, anyone done/tried this? The other alternative is to pay to get into a lunge and get comfy and get a kip. I dont want to be laid out on nasty plastic chairs in the concourse.


Or any other suggestions that you known travellers have come across in Doha for long stop overs.

I think some paid lounges have a time limit - 4 or 5 hours. The Al Maha lounge I think it's called take Amex or Mastercard.
Doha have lots of areas to go with recliners or quieter areas to stretch out - but 11 hours . . . . .

I've done 4-5 hours there but am fortunate enough to have Qatar Airways lounge access.

Sorry it's not much help

[GT03ROB]

halfpenny43 said:

I think some paid lounges have a time limit - 4 or 5 hours. The Al Maha lounge I think it's called take Amex or Mastercard.
Doha have lots of areas to go with recliners or quieter areas to stretch out - but 11 hours . . . . .

I've done 4-5 hours there but am fortunate enough to have Qatar Airways lounge access.

Sorry it's not much help

I've done 6hrs there in the lounges....stuff doing 11.

[phumy]

GT03ROB said:

halfpenny43 said:

I think some paid lounges have a time limit - 4 or 5 hours. The Al Maha lounge I think it's called take Amex or Mastercard.
Doha have lots of areas to go with recliners or quieter areas to stretch out - but 11 hours . . . . .

I've done 4-5 hours there but am fortunate enough to have Qatar Airways lounge access.

Sorry it's not much help

I've done 6hrs there in the lounges....stuff doing 11.

Yes i know 11 hours is rubbish but as there is only one flight from Doha > Hanoi once per week then its my only option. At least i will get 14 days quararntine in the Intercontinental West Lake to get over having a square arris.

[vaud]

phumy said:

Yes i know 11 hours is rubbish but as there is only one flight from Doha > Hanoi once per week then its my only option. At least i will get 14 days quararntine in the Intercontinental West Lake to get over having a square arris.

Doha lounge experience

[phumy]

phumy said:

GT03ROB said:

halfpenny43 said:

I think some paid lounges have a time limit - 4 or 5 hours. The Al Maha lounge I think it's called take Amex or Mastercard.
Doha have lots of areas to go with recliners or quieter areas to stretch out - but 11 hours . . . . .

I've done 4-5 hours there but am fortunate enough to have Qatar Airways lounge access.

Sorry it's not much help

I've done 6hrs there in the lounges....stuff doing 11.

Yes i know 11 hours is rubbish but as there is only one flight from Doha > Hanoi once per week then its my only option. At least i will get 14 days quararntine in the Intercontinental West Lake to get over having a square arris.

I came through Doha on Friday evening, the quiet rooms were chocker with snoring, farting guys, all the lounge chairs were taken and the overspill were on the floor, I turned and left. Went to one of the upgrade lounges and found that for $55 i could have 6 hours in a tiny armchair and it was very small. I then went to look at the sleeping pods, which i was surprised as they looked really comfortable, at $96 for 6 hours i thought it looked the best option for getting a few hours shut eye, so took the plunge, best thing i ever did, they were comfortable, air conditioned and quiet, i must have had 5.5 hours of sleep. I got kicked out at 07:00 found a shower room and did my bit then a 3 hour wait for my follow on flight to Hanoi.

Arrived in Hanoi to find that myself and a work colleague were the only two foreigners in the whole aiport with hundreds and i mean hundreds of young Vietnamese coming back home after finishing contracts over seas. We were "scouped up" by some goverment guys and guided through visa on entry, then to the front of the queue for immigration, 15 minutes waiting for luggage then out to our pre-booked quarantine hotel for foreigners, im in the Intercontinental West Lake Hanio and first impressions are very good, Ive got 14 days stuck in this 5* luxury hotel.

Somehow i was worrying over nothing last week, its all turned out really well and very impressed with the organised chaos at the airport. Plus really looking forward to getting back to work out on site. Love it.