“New Rules” (with apologies to Bill Maher):
We are fortunate that our hotel quarantine stay was only five days, with the next three in the apartment we have for the duration. If no apartment, hotel quarantine would have been eight. This is the most recent regulation for quarantine when traveling to Beijing. I think! Right now, the situation is changing daily. But we are done.
Old Rules: A Hodgepodge Since 2020
Hotel quarantine in China has been all over the map, so to speak, since the onslaught of COVID. In 2020, after our granddaughter Rivah was born in California, the time was two weeks. Also, then, one couldn’t fly directly into Beijing at all, but needed to quarantine in the arrival city and then fly on afterward. Amy, Mirah, and Rivah went back first, as Jonathan, no longer accredited in China as a New York Times journalist, needed a new visa to return. (Thank you, Donald Trump, for messing with Chinese journalists’ visas enough that China revoked those of Americans working for the Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. This was in March 2020, no less, just went the world went crazy with COVID). Fortunately, he got a family reunion visa and returned to China within a month of his family’s departure.
The girls flew into Shenyang, a northeast city, where they stayed in a large glitzy suite (lots of red and gold) in what looked like a Trump-decorated hotel. Jonathan later flew into Shanghai, where he was less lavishly accommodated. All survived. At some times in the past year, the hotel quarantine period to get into Beijing was up to three weeks. This was one reason the kids were reluctant to travel to the US. When it dropped down to ten days (either all in hotel or seven hotel plus three at home) last May, they decided to book their summer visit. Upon their return, they did all ten days in a Shanghai hotel that was a downgrade for Amy and the girls and an upgrade for Jonathan.
Some couples and families have been separated in quarantine, which is why we brought two of everything from food packets to utensils (and I skimped on an extra sweater or two I might have packed). To get around that possibility, Jonathan had advised Eli to bring a doctor’s letter (which Jonathan translated into Chinese) stating that Eli needed to be with me because of a medical history of passing out. But no need; we were together.
The Routine
Our experience at the Holiday Inn Airport District was somewhere in-between that of the kids’ hotels, but really just fine. Hazmat suits showed up daily for our testing. Meals showed up outside the door three times a day. The garbage was collected (we left a bag out the door) every day. Most of what we threw out was the detritus of the meals. We had ample bottles of water. The place was shabby, but the beds and 1.5 bathrooms were clean. It’s unlikely the living room sofa had been thoroughly vacuumed–or the windows washed–in a while, but it could have been much worse. There were a few quirks to the space, such as the middle room between living room and bedroom, furnished with a desk covered by a heavy green tablecloth, more boardroom than dining room. In the living room the coffee table had a decorative insert that apparently had been a burner with a spigot–now unconnected to any power. And the full bathroom obviously used to have a bathtub.
Room and Board
The first day and a half we were on the regular diet. The meat dishes were really inedible, partly because of the odor. (Gross disclosure: Right after lunch was delivered, I accused Eli of passing gas near the food, but the smell was the meat!) Now, we’ve had some fantastic meals in China over the years, but these weren’t it. Jonathan was in touch with the hotel quarantine officer and asked if à la carte was available (not) or whether or not takeout could be delivered. The answer to the latter was they would spray whatever came in with the same anti-viral disinfectant they used on our luggage, so we wouldn’t want it. We switched to vegetarian, which wasn’t great, either, but at least we got yogurt and apples or pears or bananas every day. We “cooked” (poured boiling water from our instant pot) some of our REI dried food packets (coconut curry was one) a couple of nights. I viewed this period as a dieting opportunity.
But Not Bored
Somehow, the time passed relatively quickly–as it usually does at our age. We have with us plenty to read in print, on iPads, and to listen to on our phones. I religiously walked the suite listening to a book up to 10,000 steps every day. The TV had CNN and one other English language news station, and the WiFi was sufficient to watch Netflix on a laptop and communicate. And we knew the prize was in sight!
As we’d checked in late at night, so, too, did we check out! That was Wednesday night, December 7. We got what we think was our get-out-of-jail pass early in the evening, then waited until the bus from our apartment’s community arrived to pick us up, after 10. We were more than ready for the next stage.
And did I mention that we paid for this? Also, they charged our credit card for eight days, instead of five; we’re still waiting for the refund.
To Be Continued (Spoiler Alert: All is Well!!)
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