Winter is Coming… Again! Well, it is getting near the end of summer in Canada which means winter is coming! Seems to happen every year. The US border showed no signs of opening up so we decided it was time to head elsewhere. Bill and Tracy had been kind enough to let us spend the summer with them, but it was time to give them back their home. Naturally, our thoughts turned to Thailand and Chiang Mai… which has really become our home away from home.

What? Wait Manitoba? Yep, you bet and what a wonderful time it has been. We spent the month of May in Creston getting vaccinated, helping Paul’s Dad with building a deck, seeing our friends Pati and John and trying to get organized for the continued van build. We had a quick trip to Calgary to see my Mom. She ended up spending a night in hospital with her heart so we went to make sure she was okay. Our family situation was handled as much as possible and we needed to locate a place to live and work on the van.

With the resurgence of COVID in Canada, they had made further entry restrictions. For Canadian citizens we had to have a negative covid test result within 72 hours prior to arrival, take another test on arrival and go to a quarantine hotel for a minimum of 3 nights or until we received a negative result. If you received your negative results in less than 3 days, you were not reimbursed for unused nights and still paid the full amount of $500/night BUT then you were allowed to move to your final destination using air, train or any form of public transportation! Once you were at your final destination you had to quarantine for 14 days with another test on day 8. I wouldn’t consider myself political but I have to say these restrictions were useless and were only so the current government could say “hey we did stuff”. Our quarantine in Canada cost almost as much as our 15 nights in a 5 star hotel in BKK… CRAZY!!! Anyhoo, back to the story…

March 5th arrived and we headed out bright and early to get our flight to Bangkok. With Covid making another resurgence, flights were restricted and the direct flight from CNX-HDY no longer operated which resulted in a connection in BKK. We hoped to be able to make the trip in one go, so booked a taxi pick up and ferry tickets for that afternoon hoping we could make it work. The flights were on time and our taxi driver was a maniac so we arrived in time to grab some snacks before getting on the boat.

Our flight from BKK was mostly empty with maybe 25 people on board the Thai Airways Boeing 777, including crew. We were advised that masks must be worn for the 45 minute journey, and that no food or beverage would be served. It wasn’t a problem for us as we had a large breakfast before we left the hotel. The take off was pretty epic. You could really feel the difference in acceleration due to the very light load. No idea why they needed a 777 to fly 25 people for 45 minutes but it was nice.

After an uneventful flight from Taipei, we landed on time in BKK. When we disembarked, there were staff in full PPE giving directions where to go, probably a staff member every 10 feet or so. It was fairly easy to follow since everything was roped off and we could only go one way. We were in the first group to disembark so we were lucky to be in the front of the pack. We had to stop at the document check where we had temperature checks, were assigned numbers and handed over our paperwork for review. Once staff confirmed we had everything, we moved on to the health check area. We had a temperature check, had our test results and fit to fly reviewed, then answered questions. After that we were escorted to immigration where we had our Certificate of Entry reviewed, confirmed our arrival flight before going through to be officially stamped in. It was a very smooth process.

December 13, 2020 and we are off on our next adventure… hopefully! We packed up the apartment and Paul’s parents took us to the Cranbrook airport for a quick hop to Vancouver. Once there, we masked up and headed to the Marriott Vancouver where other then the Covid-19 tests, the plan was to hideout until Wednesday at midnight when our EVA Air flight leaves. If everything goes to plan, we will then be on our way to Thailand.

We have been hiding from the wrath of COVID in a small town which until recently had less than 5 cases… lucky us! In October we had moved into our little apartment out in Lister, BC and expected to continue working on the van. Unfortunately the universe decided to continue the spread of COVID and it was becoming even harder to get items we needed. Sure we could get a few things but it was turning into more of a struggle, delays were longer and costs increasing. The weather was also changing… which is a big factor when you don’t have an indoor area for the van.

We decided to skip the ferry this time and flew from Kuala Lumpur to Hat Yai. While we were in KL we tried to find sanitizer and masks, but didn’t have any luck. When we landed in Hat Yai there were sanitizer stops to get through customs, temperatures were checked and sanitizer again when finished. We stopped to get some water before heading to our taxi. While there, we asked if the store sold sanitizer and the lady gave us a bottle. An unexpected kindness. We had booked a private taxi with Thai Beach Travellers, we’ve used them before and know the owners so like to support them, not to mention they also provide excellent service.