By Brandon
April 09, 2020 • 8 min read
So there we were waiting in line at the Siem Reap airport... the US State Department had just issued the unprecedented blanket travel advisory stating that US citizens abroad should not expect help returning to the US if they become stranded in a foreign country. With this, we decided that once we landed in Singapore we would try to fly back home as soon as we could, but little did we know that the next 48 hours would be one of the most interesting and exhausting travel experiences we've had yet.
After a lot of deliberation and the worsening state of affairs over the previous week, we had decided it best to go home after flying back to Singapore. Unfortunately, Singapore had recently instituted the travel restriction that everyone arriving from most countries, including Cambodia, would be required to self-isolate for two weeks if they wished to enter Singapore. We figured this wouldn't be too bad, so we canceled our original accommodations (we had planned to spend a week in Singapore before flying to Europe) and booked a reasonably sized Airbnb for two weeks. We were also able to take our original Singapore airlines flight to London (which we had booked over a year ago) and switched it to a nonstop flight to Los Angeles leaving a week later.
I had been growing concerned however, with the increasing travel restrictions and more and more airlines canceling flights and reducing routes. After the travel advisory was issued it seemed the longer we waited the more likely we might be stranded in Singapore; which to be honest, we weren't entirely opposed to... in fact, we had considered at one point simply staying in Singapore for a couple months till the situation improved in Europe since Singapore seems to have a pretty good handle on the situation compared to most countries. But we had decided it best to go back home with family, plus it was looking less likely that things would clear up anytime soon, and Singapore only allows a max tourist stay of 90 days (we weren't eager to find out what would happen if we had to overstay our welcome).
A major complication with changing our plans was the fact that we'd had to check our suitcases which meant that they were waiting for us on the other side of immigration. We spoke with one of the officers handing out forms to fill out for people requiring self-isolation. He had said that once we crossed immigration we had to stay for the full two weeks so the only way to get our bags would be to book a flight on a partner airline of the one we flew in on (Interjet) and they could transfer the bags. We then found an Interjet counter and confirmed the list of airlines we could book with. Next, we hunkered down at a Starbucks with our laptops and tried to find something we could book but anything within the next couple of days would either
A) cost us several thousand dollars
B) had an absurd number of layovers and increased exposure, or
C) wasn't an airline that could transfer our bags.
So it was with a heavy reluctance that we decided to give up our bags.
We had some of our most expensive items on our person but there were quite a few things we'd acquired on the trip that would be hard to replace. However we were out of options. With that decision made, we turned back to Singapore airlines. Though it took us a while to get through to customer service (understandable given everything going on), once we did, their service was world-class. After some back and forth, the rep on the phone had managed to get us on a flight to LAX with just one layover in Tokyo and he even managed to keep us on first class.
The only downside: it didn't leave for another 36 hours. That meant we would be staying two nights in the Changi international terminal.
Not too bad, we thought. Changi is a really nice airport and has 3 transit hotels in the terminal. Transit hotels are super convenient for people with layovers since they're located air-side and you can book them by the hour. Unfortunately all of them were completely full for the night. At this point we'd already been at the airport for 7 hours after our 3-hour flight from Cambodia and we were mentally exhausted. We wondered if we'd be tired enough to pass out on a semi-soft bench somewhere - Changi does have lots of comfortable spots to potentially sleep but they were all taken by this point.
Then we had the idea to check if the Singapore airlines' first class lounge would let us in early, and mercifully they did. We were able to find some couches to lay on, attendants brought us pillows and blankets, and I passed out around 3 AM.
And was awake 3 hours later.
Apparently 6 AM is when the breakfast buffet starts so the lights come and the lounge is a bustle with activity and rattling dishes. But if I do have to be woken up ungodly early, it's much nicer when there's free breakfast.
After eating, we did a bit of shopping for some spare clothes and other essentials.
When we got back to the lounge we noticed Singapore airlines had their own check-in counters within the lounge. So with only a tiny hope, we explained our situation to them and asked if there was any way they could get our bags onto our flight. They also didn't seem very hopeful but none the less they proceeded to make a series of phone calls. It was impressive watching these two ladies work. They worked in tandem looking up the numbers and departments to call and getting the various bits of information they needed and in the end they told us "Yes" our bags would be on the flight. We almost hugged them we were so grateful, but we restrained ourselves. Another miracle like that and they would qualify for sainthood. We settled on buying them some excellent macarons from a shop downstairs.
The next bit of good news was that we went back to one of the transit hotels to see if they had any cancellations and they told us they could give us a room from 1 AM to 7 AM that night. "We'll take it!"
Elated that we would have an actual bed to sleep in that night, we returned to the Singapore Airlines lounge to spend the rest of the day in "The Private Room." It's a luxurious portion of their lounge reserved for travelers taking a first class flight within the next 24 hours. It's a lounge experience unlike any we'd had before, with a service that felt on par with luxury resorts. They check you in and have someone come get you and take you to your gate when it's time. There's a restaurant with delicious food, and the incredibly attentive staff that will make sure you never lift a finger for drinks or food and even offer to push furniture together if you need to get some rest. There are definitely worse places to be stuck for 24 hours.
The lounge experience was probably only topped by the one we had on the flight. By far one of the best values you can get for credit card points is redeeming them for first class long haul flights, but they can be hard to book as availability is limited. This is why Chris had booked our original tickets so far in advance so we were incredibly lucky that we were still able to experience a first class flight on Singapore airlines which is known for having a great experience across all their ticket classes.
Once we made it to LAX we were just glad to have made it back to the States with all our luggage! I did also go ahead and do my onsite interview to finish my Global Entry application since they were still offering and there were hardly any people. I figured why not?
We eventually made it to Austin by 10 PM local time. Our good friend Marcus picked us up from the airport and dropped us off at an airbnb we were staying at for two weeks to voluntarily quarantine before staying with my family since we were in an airport for almost two days. We fell asleep by midnight and didn't wake up until 6 PM (it took us a while to get back on a regular sleep schedule).
We were so grateful to be back home and that everything worked out really well, all things considered. There were some definite stressful points but we ended up having a much better experience trying to get home than a lot of people. And we couldn't be more thankful to all the airline staff that helped us along the way.
January 25th to February 20th After our brief stay in Singapore, we more or less spent the next month (from January 25th to February 20th) on various Thai islands. It was a blast and a really unique experience. Looking back on it I'm probably struck the most by how different the experience was on each of the islands. We also had some interesting experiences getting to and from the different…