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There have been a few of these threads, but I thought I would share my experience traveling from Australia to South Korea in the times of COVID. Thread follows:
Only foreign nationals are allowed to travel internationally, and so I arrived at Sydney airport to find it mostly empty. There were 2 security checkpoints before I could check my bag where they confirmed I was not an Australian passport holder or PR
Check-in was pretty normal (no line!), aside from some confusion among the Asiana staff whether I needed to sign a quarantine form (as a Korean PR, I don't need to go to a facility, but it took some convincing ;)
Only a single cafe was open in the terminal. All duty-free stores and restaurants were closed.
Prior to boarding all passengers were required to wear a mask and our temperatures were checked. Anyone 37.5 C (99.5 F) or above could not board the plane
Prior to boarding all passengers were required to wear a mask and our temperatures were checked. Anyone 37.5 C (99.5 F) or above could not board the plane
Seats appeared to be socially distanced, though I imagine this was pretty easy to do given how few people are traveling these days
On the plane I filled out several forms with standard info (name, DOB, residence address, occupation, etc) along with questions such as medical symptoms etc
Arriving in Seoul, there were several checkpoints to pass through including a big full-body thermal imaging station. At 2 of these checkpoints they ensured I installed the K government's self-check app and that I knew how to use it. More forms to fill out too
Here's what the app looks like. I need to update my temperature and any symptoms twice a day for the next 2 weeks. If I don't, people will come to my door and ensure I fill it out. GPS is also enabled to ensure I stay at home for the next 14 days.
After the checkpoints and customs I was referred to a makeshift "transportation center", which had buses and high-speed trains available exclusively for at-home quarantiners. Thankfully family came to pick me up
On our drive from the airport to our residence, we received several calls to confirm my information and schedule a COVID test. At-home quarantiners must get tested within 72 hours. The test is free.
I scheduled a drive-thru test for 3pm, about 10 hours after I arrived at the airport. The testing center looked like this. They performed both an up-the-nose test and a back-of-the-throat test. Uncomfortable, but fast and painless.
About 18 hours later I received a text message saying I tested negative. A few hours later, this awesome care package was delivered to our door, including masks, SPAM, ramen, and ginseng. This is also free.
A lot has been written about the impressive ways the S. Korean government has handled COVID, but something I'd like to emphasis is that everyone was extremely kind and helpful along the way. Imagine the stress and workload it takes to make such a system like this function
And yet everyone, from airline staff to the COVID testing person, were friendly, professional, and did all they could to ensure travelers coming to Korea were as unencumbered as possible. 10/10 would travel to Korea during COVID again.
