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Back to UK for a quick visit


Smiler

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37 minutes ago, Smiler said:

As the travel restrictions have been largely eased, I am off to Blighty for 3 weeks.

Travelling on Tuesday and hope to be back here in the jungle around the 20th November.

Flights are cheap enough, got KLM return for £450 though I will most likely upgrade coming back to Thailand.

No need for a PCR test however I will get a LFD one from Dr Donna in Bangkok on Tuesday morning for 600 baht.

When I left UK in June there wasn't the option to get a proof of vaccination other than the poxy little card they gave you. With a bit of arse ache I now have a letter of confirmation obtained from my online NHS records printed out.

Booked my day 2 LFD test with Boots (£20ish) for when I am in the UK. Quite surprised at how many other providers were booked up with no availability. Boots were definitely not my first choice.

Started doing the required UK passenger locator form but am unable to complete as it has to be within 48 hours of travel.

From my experience, yes it's cheaper now than when I traveled to UK in February this year. Still hassle though. 

Who knows what the trip back to Thailand will entail.....

I'll update as and when.

If I remember correctly, you live in the New Forest area. If I am correct, how's about some pics of the trees continually changing colour. Both of my Thai wives were fascinated by it ......Not at the same time I might add !!

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55 minutes ago, boydeste said:

Yup, it's well chilly now, plus the wind has been bitter over the weekend.

i'll second that,just been for a walk around the village & if you're sheltered from the wind & in the sun it's warm,if you're in the wind then it's a bit parky.Not bad for nearly the end of October though.

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28 minutes ago, coxyhog said:

i'll second that,just been for a walk around the village & if you're sheltered from the wind & in the sun it's warm,if you're in the wind then it's a bit parky.Not bad for nearly the end of October though.

As a kid, late October was still reasonably mild whilst we went through the woods around the village collecting wood for the bonfire in a nearby field. Then on Nov 5 it was as if some bastard decided to ruin the night by making it freezing cold with horizontal rain and the weather never seemed to improve until school summer holidays when we'd burn our skin to a frazzle on the beach! Such FUN!

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54 minutes ago, Derek Dangleberries said:

As a kid, late October was still reasonably mild whilst we went through the woods around the village collecting wood for the bonfire in a nearby field. Then on Nov 5 it was as if some bastard decided to ruin the night by making it freezing cold with horizontal rain and the weather never seemed to improve until school summer holidays when we'd burn our skin to a frazzle on the beach! Such FUN!

I had the same conversation with a mate earlier today, he said we may get a mild bomfire night.

You described it as I did, never can I remember a mild one, even the day before can be nice then wham, freezing ya nads off on the 5th.

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3 hours ago, coxyhog said:

i'll second that,just been for a walk around the village & if you're sheltered from the wind & in the sun it's warm,if you're in the wind then it's a bit parky.

I'm surprised that the forum software didn't automatically delete that last word! 🙂

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9 hours ago, Smiler said:

As the travel restrictions have been largely eased, I am off to Blighty for 3 weeks.

Travelling on Tuesday and hope to be back here in the jungle around the 20th November.

Flights are cheap enough, got KLM return for £450 though I will most likely upgrade coming back to Thailand.

No need for a PCR test however I will get a LFD one from Dr Donna in Bangkok on Tuesday morning for 600 baht.

When I left UK in June there wasn't the option to get a proof of vaccination other than the poxy little card they gave you. With a bit of arse ache I now have a letter of confirmation obtained from my online NHS records printed out.

Booked my day 2 LFD test with Boots (£20ish) for when I am in the UK. Quite surprised at how many other providers were booked up with no availability. Boots were definitely not my first choice.

Started doing the required UK passenger locator form but am unable to complete as it has to be within 48 hours of travel.

From my experience, yes it's cheaper now than when I traveled to UK in February this year. Still hassle though. 

Who knows what the trip back to Thailand will entail.....

I'll update as and when.

Have a safe trip and will be interested to read your travel experiences.

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19 hours ago, KWA said:

I hope you've got the heating on back in the UK.  It was getting chilly when I bailed out the other week.

Mate it was noticeably colder here in the jungle this morning but yeah will feel positively Baltic at Heathrow on Wednesday. 

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9 hours ago, AJSP said:

Have a safe trip and will be interested to read your travel experiences.

Going to be in Bristol 01/11 for a funeral. Sad for sure but looking forward to catching up with the family and having a party in celebration of a much loved man.

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4 hours ago, Smiler said:

Going to be in Bristol 01/11 for a funeral. Sad for sure but looking forward to catching up with the family and having a party in celebration of a much loved man.

I hope you have a great celebration next week under the circumstances- be wary of local strength ales / ciders !

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39 minutes ago, AJSP said:

How was the journey mate ? -

unfortunately it appears you have moved from one wet season to another, albeit temporarily!

Flooding in northern England and parts of Scotland. Big delays on trains to Glasgow from the borders.

Still  pissing down this morning.

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2 minutes ago, Jambo said:

Flooding in northern England and parts of Scotland. Big delays on trains to Glasgow from the borders.

Still  pissing down this morning.

We’ve escaped the bad stuff and looks not too bad today 

missus wants to go hunting for mushrooms in the wye valley 

 

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3 hours ago, AJSP said:

How was the journey mate ? -

unfortunately it appears you have moved from one wet season to another, albeit temporarily!

Was not too bad.

Absolute chaos at Dr Donna's in Bangkok getting the (negative) rapid flow test. Not sure if I want to go through that again so might pay more for less hassle at a hospital if there is a next time.

Going through Swampy was an absolute breeze, simply nobody around. First time I have ever seen immigration almost empty, went down the escalator and straight up to a desk.

My KLM flight originated in Philippines so there were already passengers when we boarded. Guessing the flight was around 40% capacity.

Got to Schiphol 40 mins early. You have to go through a health check area where all paperwork is scrutinized, particularly the UK passenger locator forms.

UK border at Heathrow took about 15 minutes but I was lucky with my passport at an e-gate, lots of other people weren't. 5 minutes wait for bags and it's all good.

Got to the bus station just as a bus was departing so had to hang around for a couple of hours. Weather wasn't so bad and I actually took off a jumper because I was too warm.

Last thing today was doing a pre ordered rapid flow test. No probs but the Boots reporting site was a kin nightmare - took over half an hour to upload my results. Bunch of UK tax evading twats.

Next week I will start the process to return to Thailand 18/11......

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1 hour ago, Smiler said:

Was not too bad.

Absolute chaos at Dr Donna's in Bangkok getting the (negative) rapid flow test. Not sure if I want to go through that again so might pay more for less hassle at a hospital if there is a next time.

 

 

Why did you have to do this?

I thought that was no longer required for access into the UK now.

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11 minutes ago, boydeste said:

Why did you have to do this?

I thought that was no longer required for access into the UK now.

I transited through Amsterdam and it was a KLM requirement.

There were no checks whatsoever at Heathrow.

99% of people at the airport were wearing masks. Was a bit of a shock to get off the national express bus at Bournemouth to find nobody wearing them. Taxi driver laughed at me when I asked, it was wonderful after almost 24 hours to take mine off and enjoy the fresh air.

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3 minutes ago, Smiler said:

I transited through Amsterdam and it was a KLM requirement.

There were no checks whatsoever at Heathrow.

99% of people at the airport were wearing masks. Was a bit of a shock to get off the national express bus at Bournemouth to find nobody wearing them. Taxi driver laughed at me when I asked, it was wonderful after almost 24 hours to take mine off and enjoy the fresh air.

That's interesting, I did wonder, hence the question.

Be interesting to see how many other airlines will enforce this.

Just another reason to fly direct if posible.

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1 minute ago, boydeste said:

That's interesting, I did wonder, hence the question.

Be inteersting to see how many other airlines will enforce this.

Just another reason to fly direct if posible.

Think you will find most if not all airlines will require a test of some sort for long haul travel, direct or with a transit.

As I understand it you will still need a PCR test within 72 hours of travel to Thailand and another when you arrive. 

Going to be interesting watching how the new Thailand arrival process unfolds over the next week or so.....

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7 minutes ago, Smiler said:

Think you will find most if not all airlines will require a test of some sort for long haul travel, direct or with a transit.

As I understand it you will still need a PCR test within 72 hours of travel to Thailand and another when you arrive. 

Going to be interesting watching how the new Thailand arrival process unfolds over the next week or so.....

I wasn't aware of that until your post.

Yes that is the requirement after Nov 1st.

Yes, for sure.

 

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I have spent a few hours looking and having a play with the new Thailand Pass site today.

Looks like a number of bugs and glitches reported yesterday have been fixed but I am guessing it's far from bomb proof.

The big issue is you need to complete the entire application in one go. There isn't the facility to save your progress and return to the form at a later time.

No attachment can be above 2mb in size and no PDFs. So I have been printing, taking photos and then resizing the following: passport, hotel booking, covid vaccinations. 

I stopped at that point because I am shopping around for insurance which will cover my extended non O visa and the $50k covid requirement.

Guess I will also have to photo my visa and contact details, will report back when I complete the process hopefully tomorrow.

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On 10/29/2021 at 12:16 PM, Smiler said:

Think you will find most if not all airlines will require a test of some sort for long haul travel, direct or with a transit.

As I understand it you will still need a PCR test within 72 hours of travel to Thailand and another when you arrive. 

Going to be interesting watching how the new Thailand arrival process unfolds over the next week or so.....

I'd be surprised if many airlines implement this unless the country they are flying to require it. 

Sounds like a very bad business move to me, but it's a crazy time ...

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Well I have just submitted all the required documents and completed the new Thailand Pass registration system.

Absolutely no problems or glitches, very easy in fact.

Wonder how long it will take for approval or if all the docs I sent are correct? I am flying 18/11.🤞🤞

 

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