The dynamics of serving quarantine in a hotel are completely different experiences from staying in a hotel for a vacation. From spending our first few days in quarantine, my wife and I prepared a few things we thought would make our quarantine stay more comfortable. One thing I learned that may be useful when the country you are transiting to requires a mandatory stay at a hotel for a few days is bearing this in mind:
"You are your own housekeeping."
In the pre-pandemic days, you either would sync your time leaving the hotel during the time housekeeping would drop by. And when you return, your room is neat with the bedsheets nicely folded, the snack bar is fully stocked with snacks and drinks, and toiletries in small sample-sized containers are nicely displayed beside the sink. And in case you weren't leaving the hotel just yet, you could simply call housekeeping to tidy up your room.
During quarantine though, no one is allowed to enter your room. So guess who does this for you? No one else but you. So these items can make your quarantine stay a better one.
1. Snacks
We had the luxury of choosing our meals from the hotel menu. Other hotels though have a set menu leaving you with not much of a choice on food selections. And even if you do get to select from a menu, you may have tried everything on the menu after a few days. Bringing snacks offers a bit more variety with your food choices.
Don't rely on the usual snack bar that's stocked during a regular hotel stay. Our refrigerator and snack counter was empty. I think it has to do something with disinfecting everything in the room between guests and preventing any consumable items left in the room.
2. Sponge and soap
Dishwashing utensils aren't the usual items you'll find in a hotel because that's the job of housekeeping, except during quarantine. There are a limited number of cups and silverware available. Even if plastic forks and spoons are provided per meal, it's nice to use actual silverware. And if you do, you'll need to wash them for the next meal.
3. Your devices (preferably with streaming subscriptions)
If your hotel provides cable TV, then that's great. But why be constrained with the limited choices when you can have more. Your Netflix, Hulu, Disney, or any other streaming platform subscription will especially come in handy for entertainment.
4. Your creativity
Don't think of quarantine as prison or punishment. We actually treated it as a staycation and welcomed the time to rest and relax after the stressful preparation for travel. Take this time to recharge and rejuvenate. This doesn't necessarily translate to eat, sleep, and repeat. There are things you could do during the day to keep your mind active while still taking this mandatory break. I did some exercises and was surprised to total over 6,000 steps in a day while walking inside our hotel room. Some photography also put my creativity to the test. The bottom line is don't feel sad during quarantine.
We just finished our hotel quarantine after getting our negative swab results and as much as we were happy to go home, we didn't regret staying at the hotel serving quarantine. Good luck with quarantine if you're required to go through one and have a pleasant experience.
- Wednesday, November 10, 2021
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