View the routes:-
Phnom Penh to Singapore
Singapore to London
Date of the journey:- December 2020
Distance travelled:- 7680 miles
Having been in Cambodia for 9 months, it became apparent that we were not going to be able to resume our travel plans.
With the world in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic. Left with no alternative, other than returning home to the United Kingdom from Cambodia in December 2020. The second wave of global lockdowns made planning our return anything but easy.
Starting to trawl through the many booking portals at the beginning of October allowed us a couple of months to organise our flight. However, it wasn’t as easy as we imagined. Firstly, there were no direct flights from Cambodia to the United Kingdom. Secondly, the booking portals were offering multi-stop flights, which were not possible, owing to quarantine restrictions.
Offered a multi-stop flight by a company called Flyandkiss. The journey consisted of a flight from Cambodia to Singapore with one airline, followed by onward flights to the United Kingdom, via Switzerland with another company. Under normal circumstances, this combination would have been perfectly acceptable. However, under the COVID-19 travel restrictions, this journey was not possible.
Because only airlines that were allowed to transit passengers through Singapore airport were those within the Singapore Airlines Group. Namely Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Scoot.
Should we have taken the Flyandkiss option, on arrival at Singapore airport, we would have had to pass through immigration to allow us to check-in for our next flight. Meaning we would have entered Singapore and we would have been required to comply with their quarantine entry restrictions. Two weeks in quarantine would have resulted in us missing our connecting flight.
Being aware of this information allowed us to review exactly which flight companies could get us back to the United Kingdom. Out of the dozens of booking portal flights on offer, none of them met the COVID-19 travel restrictions. The only airlines offering fully guaranteed transit flights were, Singapore Airlines, going via Singapore and Korean Air going via Seoul.
Our advice would be, carefully check that any international flight you want to book complies with the COVID-19 travel restrictions in place at that moment. At the time of writing, the restrictions were changing weekly, making booking anything, far more complicated.
Eventually, we managed to book a flight with Singapore Airlines, who were extremely forthcoming with information on how we could transit through Singapore airport.
Flight booked with much relieve. It was time to start looking at our options to get to Phnom Penh from Siem Reap.
As we were returning to the United Kingdom before Christmas, Tania took the opportunity to purchase some Christmas presents while we were in Siem Reap. The upshot of that was we required an additional bag to get the presents home.
Previously we had travelled from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh via minivan, however, on this occasion, we had to consider travelling with extra bags. A private taxi would be the perfect solution, but at $55 it was more than we wanted to pay. The convenience of a door to door service won the day over for the journey in a private taxi.
48 hours before landing in the UK, as part of the COVID-19 requirements, a passenger locator form must be submitted. It must be completed online before arrival in the UK, even if arrival is from a country on the travel corridors list.
If not completed and submitted by the time you reach the UK border. A fine could be imposed and entry could be denied. (unless you’re either British or a UK resident).
To complete the form you need:
- Your passport details
- Your travel details, including times and dates
- The address where you will stay in the UK (if applicable)
Complete the form here
At our time of travel both Cambodia and Singapore, our transit stop was on the travel corridors list. This meant that on our return to the UK there was no requirement for us to self-isolate.
Journey to Phnom Penh
On the morning of the 30th of November, our private taxi arrived at Angkor Dino Home to take us to The Plantation Urban Resort in Phnom Penh. A 5 and a half hour journey with two comfort breaks along the way. The roads between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh are very good and the journey was very smooth.
The following morning was spent relaxing in the hotel and arranging our luggage for the final journey home. As we had extra bags we arranged a car to take us to the airport, as a tuk-tuk wouldn’t have been big enough. Booked through Pass app for $6 for the 30-minute journey.
Arrival at Phnom Penh airport
Arrival at the airport was a very strange surreal feeling. Our flight was the only flight of the day. With the exception of the 50 or so other passengers on our flight, the airport was completely deserted. All the shops, restaurants and cafes were all closed.
Whilst in Cambodia during the COVID-19 pandemic. We were accustomed to having our temperature checked long with sanitising our hands on entering any building.
Strangely this was not the case on entering the airport. The cynic in us believes that this could be because we were leaving Cambodia posing no further threat to the locals.
The check-in and security checks were simple processes as there was no one else there. We sat at the deserted departure gate, awaiting our Silk Aeroplane to arrive. From the departure gate, we could see the runway, in the hour or so we were waiting, no other planes took off or landed.
Boarding the flight we collected our bottle of water and a COVID-19 travel pack, containing a mask, hand sanitiser and sterilising wipe.
Passengers were spread out around the plane with social distancing taken into consideration. We were sat next to one another. The rows of seats in front, behind and the three rows next to us were all empty.
Foodservice was the same as it is on a normal flight. The only difference being, Singapore Airlines had just introduced a new menu. New food packaging made of cardboard and completed with bamboo knives and forks.
The plane departed on time and after 1-hour and 40 minutes we landed at Singapore Changi airport.
Transit Singapore 🇸🇬
Things were a little different here in Singapore. Airport staff were wearing full protective suits with gloves and face coverings as well as masks.
Everybody on our flight was transiting through Changi Airport. We all queued, keeping a safe social distance apart whilst we were processed, before being escorted to the transit holding area. Walking in single file keeping a distance of 2m between each other, we felt like school children on a school trip. Changi airport staff were brilliant, the whole transit process ran like clockwork and we felt very safe throughout.
After about 10 minutes in the transit holding area, we were called to our onward flight to London Heathrow. Only 7 of us in total from the SilkAir flight transiting to London Heathrow.
The staff escorted the seven of us through the terminal and the security checkpoint on the way to the transit passenger holding area at the departure gate. Transit passengers were first to board the plane, collecting another bottle of water along with another COVID-19 pack as we did so.
Singapore to London
The plane was probably less than one-third full. Once again, passenger seating was arranged taking into account social distancing. Generally, as a rule, there was one person on each row of three seats. Except for couples travelling together, who were allowed to sit next to one another.
The 13-hour 10-minute flight back to London Heathrow was very smooth and seemed to go very quickly. Being a night flight we managed to sleep, keeping our masks on for the full duration which was compulsory.
Arrival at Heathrow
London Heathrow airport was a completely different experience to that of Singapore airport. It was cold, there was no staff to enforce social distancing, no escorts for passengers to immigration, staff wandering around without masks.
What had we come home to? Probably the biggest surprise of all was when we were queuing at immigration, the immigration official wasn’t wearing any protective equipment, no mask, face shield or gloves.
Once again the airport was completely deserted. Meaning the total time from disembarking the aircraft to leaving the airport was no more than 40 minutes. Brilliant.
Our original plan was to take the underground into London where we would get the train to Whitstable, and collect our car, to then drive home. However, the cost of travelling on the train was excessive, tickets being £25 each. That together with £5 each for the underground journey, would have made the total cost £60. Tania looked into a private transfer which only cost £95. Needless to say after such a long journey we chose the private transfer, using a company called Coastal Cars.
The journey back to Whitstable in the private transfer was very quick, being so early in the morning, the total journey only took about an hour and a half.
Once at Whitstable we were able to collect our car from where we had stored it. Fortunately, our youngest son Jake had prepared the car for us, which required a new battery after sitting in the garage for 16 months.
The final stage of our epic adventure was driving our car back home to Eythorne and back to the real world.