- Ask the usual question of when do we want to leave; or rather what date should we arrive? Realize there are a lot more questions than usual to consider here.
- The first of which is when are we considered fully vaccinated? 2 weeks. Can we wait that long? How effective is the 2nd Pfizer vaccine after a week? 90%. What are the chances we will not have to quarantine if we're fully vaccinated? Decided that as the kids aren't vaccinated, that we'll probably all be quarantining anyhow. Decide our travel window is one to two weeks after our 2nd covid vaccine.
- Should we travel together or have Jonathan come later? Let's all go together so the family's not exposed to Covid twice.
- How much are these flights? Wow! That's seriously the cost for one way. Don't think about how much the flights cost. We need to focus on how long it takes to get to Canada.
- We need to have negative covid tests before we board the plane. How fast can I get my Covid test results? 24 to 30 hours through Doctors Anywhere. They have clinics all over Singapore. $160/test. You can book your time slot online. We need our last flight to Canada to leave within 72 hours of taking our tests and we need a bit of margin in case of delays.
- Who needs a test in our family? Everyone except MsI who is under 5 years old. That's $640 SGD in Covid tests. So if MsI Maybe we will need a Covid test for MsI for our transit city. The 2 sets of tests in Canada are free (one in the Vancouver Airport and one via a take-home test kit).
- Time to search flights - How do we get the shortest flights? Duration? Lets only look at flights with 1 connection or less. I want us exposed to the least number of people necessary. No direct flights available.
- Do we want a long flight and then a short flight? Nope, we need the opposite. We need a short flight first, so that we are on the last flight before our 72 hour test result window passes. I don't care how long the second flight is.
- Here's a flight that looks okay. It doesn't have a 15 hour layover. It's via Japan. What are Japan's Covid number like? They're more than Singapore, but Japan just lowered their Covid restrictions, so it's probably safe-ish to fly through.
- Let's see if we can get it with our Aeroplan miles instead of paying cash? No flights available. OK, try another day. One flight available. It's a different flight, but not too bad.
- Should use up our Asia flight points before our Aeroplan ones? New search. Still can't use those flight points.
- This flight goes through Taiwan. What are their Covid cases like in Taiwan? Oh, that's a big upswing, even though the cases aren't too high. They'll likely add restrictions which could impact us flying through.
- How bad will their Covid cases be in a few weeks? I think we should wait and book these flights closer to leaving. It's impossible to predict what Covid cases will be like where so far away.
- Repeat 1 - 12 a few more times. Forget everything we learned and book flights through Taiwan.
- Book flights on Expedia.sg then realize our full names and passport didn't transfer over from Expedia.ca even though it appeared to.
- Try to call Expedia.sg a lot of times, before you realize that their offices may be closed due to Covid restrictions.
- Try the chat online, finally get the flights cancelled, so that they can be re-booked in the proper name. No cancellation fee as it was Expedia's mistake.
- Re-book flights with proper names this time through Expedia.ca.
- Research to confirm that MsI still doesn't need a Covid test to transfer through our transfer airport. Accidentally discover that Taiwan has a transit ban in place and isn't allowing planes to land to transfer through the country. Still don't know if MsI would need a Covid test or not.
- Confirm there is a transit ban, but it ends in a week.
- Spend a long time on hold with Expedia. Talk to an agent who tells us that as flights are technically allowed on our dates, we would be charged cancellation fees by the airline. Decide to wait a week to see if the transit ban is extended or lifted before cancelling these flights.
- Spend all our spare time googling flight options from Singapore to Vancouver and the rest of out time googling Covid conditions in Taiwan. Notice Covid cases have come down a bit in Taiwan, but that they're still 200+ a day (which is still better than some of our other transit city options).
- Realize that the Taiwan transit ban has been extended, but still not as far as our flights. Spend a long time on hold with Expedia again, only to decide to keep the flights and wait and see.
- Get an email from the Airline saying our flight has been cancelled, but has a different reference number.
- Look up our itinerary on Expedia. It seems to still be there. Also our flight is still available through google flights. Wonder what is happening?
- Spend a long time on hold with Expedia to learn that Jonathan has been bumped off our flight, but the other 4 of us are still booked through Taiwan. They can try to re-book Jonathan on it or they can cancel the rest of us. Decide to wait and see if the Taiwan flight will cancel the rest of us.
- Decide to book new flights anyhow while we wait. Repeat questions 1-13. Realize that flights are cheaper quite close to departure, but that the duration times go way up as all the shorter flights get snatched up. I do not want to take 40 hours to get to Canada with 3 children in tow.
- Jonathan gives notice that he is quitting his job and then we find out the our medical insurance ends on Jonathan's last day of work.
- Contact 5 insurance companies to fill the gap while we are still in Singapore before we get to Canada. We contact companies in Singapore, Canada, and even a Global one in the U.K., only to be declined by all of them. Determine we should fly to Canada while Jonathan is still employed.
- Try to figure out how to still get our 2nd Covid shots while also taking a sooner flight. Our Covid shots were scheduled for one week after our first/second flight. That was the soonest we figured we could safely fly without experiencing any side effects from the vaccination like fever, which would likely get us carted off the quarantine in Japan and certainly bar us from getting on any flights. The process to request sooner Covid vaccination takes 5-10 weeks in Singapore. We will be gone by then. Apply anyhow.
- As a last ditch effort, try to determine if we got our shots and then went strait to the airport, whether we would make it to Canada before getting any vaccine reaction. Realize we are crazy, but also discover that we are one hour short on time from when my vaccine appointment is till we need to check in for the flight that leaves Singapore that day. Pretty much give up on getting our 2nd vaccine in Singapore; we can get it in Canada.
- Book our 3rd flights 10 days earlier than our 2nd. This time through Japan. Japan has removed their "State of Emergency," has declining Covid number, and look like they have allowed flights to transit through Japan through most of the pandemic.
- Hope we don't forget to cancel our Taiwan routed flights before the deadline.
- Next, we need to book our Covid tests. How do we do that?
