Made it through one of the world's longest quarantines

So, time for some final reflections. Firstly, the hotel. Throughout my stay, the service has been excellent. The hotel team is very responsive, and they do try hard to fulfil your needs. I have had a few things delivered to my hotel, including a phone, and whatever I had delivered would be brought to my room immediately. Every meal, check-in, phone call, and update is on time to the minute.

I find it quite hard to believe that I've been in this room for twenty-one days. The final fourteen days started again with staying up an ungodly hour to watch England. After managing to stay awake until 2.50 am, my VPN appeared to break ten minutes before kick-off. It transpires it did not break; I just don't know how to use it properly. At the time, I didn't know this, and my Mum, back in Manchester, came up with an ingenious way to make sure I didn't miss the football. I FaceTimed her iPad and watched the game perched on top of a cushion tower in front of the TV. Top tip: If one location isn't working on your VPN in a particular country, you can switch it to another, such as Hackney instead of Wembley.

I did not enjoy days eight to eleven. For some reason, those days felt particularly dull and empty. There's a feeling of missing out, and you're very aware that your friends are all getting on with their lives. Unless you've been in an extended quarantine, it's probably not a great idea to say things like 'think of it as a holiday' or 'at least you can relax and watch Netflix all day.' You may choose to watch Netflix all day, but it's nowhere near as fun when it's imposed on you because there's nothing else to do. There are various Whatsapp and Facebook' support groups' for 'quarantiners' and quarantine veterans, and one group has 43000 members. I have avoided them, to be honest, because misery loves company, but I have heard they are very encouraging spaces. Some even host virtual quizzes and games nights for those holed up in a hotel, so that option is open to you.

One thing that I hadn't adequately considered is that you barely see a soul during your stay. The only person I have interacted with is the technician from the Covid lab, and they are with you for about 25 seconds. Staff delivering your meals seem to teleport down the corridor in the time between ringing the bell and you answering the door. I can't be sure if this is true for every hotel, but it seems to be a standard policy. Three weeks with no in-person human contact is an extraordinary and abnormal experience. I'm a bit worried about what the long-term impact will be on my social skills!

Halfway was a good day, marked by another efficient visit from the Covid lab, their impressive equipment increasingly reminding me of the ghostbusters machine.

Picture credit Xennial Traveller Youtube

Work has been a helpful distraction, but it is easy for the day to blur into one before you've realised you have been online from 9 am to 9 pm. This is very intense in one room. You can't go for a walk or take a proper break. It's also quite likely that word is getting around that you are in quarantine at work. Cue requests to 'jump on a call' at 10 pm. In hindsight, vitamins would have been a good idea as I have found it hard to concentrate at times.

I think it's beneficial to differentiate weekdays from weekends. I saved fancy restaurant takeouts for Saturdays. For my grand finale weekend, I caved and broke the 'Jesus Christ how much does Marks and Spencer's cost out here' mental barrier. It's probably best to hide the side of the screen with the prices unless you would prefer to know that you've spent £5 on crisps and £7 on cheddar cheese. The final week has flown by, and I couldn't tell you what I've done to fill the time. What I did not do was my overly ambitious online Mandarin course.

Once you have completed your quarantine, if your day-19 test result is negative, the front desk will call you to arrange your 'discharge process.' You need your quarantine order again to leave the hotel. A particularly demoralising mistake to make is misinterpreting the actual end of your quarantine. Your quarantine ends at 23.59 on the day you are permitted to leave, i.e., you can leave at midnight the day your quarantine officially ends. Don't be misled into thinking you can go at any point!

On leaving, you enter a period of 'self-monitoring' essentially being extra vigilant with your health, taking your temperature, and avoiding unnecessary risk. Hong Kong has a system where you may be automatically contacted by the Centre for Health Protection and required to quarantine at a government facility if you have been in close contact with a suspected case. The last thing you want to do is inadvertently send your entire office into quarantine. This is especially true if, like me, you are heading into a new office for the first time. Stay away until you have completed all mandatory Covid tests post quarantine and you are sure that you are safe.

So, there we go, completed the world's longest and strictest travel quarantine! There's no rulebook for how you will respond to the situation – it just depends on your personality. Quarantine is stressful, and our personalities can work against us in stress, particularly when there's no one around to vent to in person. There are hard days, try to do something you genuinely enjoy, call a funny friend, eat something nice, and I can't emphasise this enough, listen to Lighthouse Family. One day, I hope all this will be a memory and just a bizarre story.

'Hey, remember that time when you flew somewhere knowing you were putting yourself into solitary confinement for three weeks when you arrived? That was weird'.