From Monday 15th February, British Citizens returning to the UK from ‘red list’ countries must quarantine in a designated hotel for 10 days.
Who must go into hotel quarantine?
Whilst that may sound like bliss to some people, being confined to a room under police guard for that amount of time is no picnic according to travel risk expert Lloyd Figgins, Chairman of the Travel Risk & Incident Prevention Group (TRIP) an independent think-tank dedicated to improving knowledge, education, and awareness of travel risk management.
Lloyd has called upon his considerable experience in these areas to create his top tips for surviving hotel quarantine.
The top ten tips
- Create a routine – From the moment you wake up to the time you go to bed, make sure you have a schedule and stick to it. This will help pass the time, reduce stress, and make your stay in quarantine more bearable.
- Exercise – Build an exercise routine into your schedule. This can be as simple as doing some yoga, or as rigorous as creating a circuit training session inside your hotel room. The key thing is to get some exercise each day. It will help both your physical and mental health.
- Meditate – You don’t need any experience in order to practice some mindfulness and it will help you relax and come to terms with your quarantine. There are plenty of meditation apps available, which will guide you through the process.
- Detox – Many quarantine hotels don’t allow smoking, so if you are a smoker, this could be an opportunity to quit. Although some hotels do allow alcohol, most require you to buy it from them and it’s not cheap. Take the time to give the booze a miss and drink plenty of water instead. You will feel better for it.
- Sleep – Try to get into the habit of going to bed and getting up at the same time. This will help create a routine and allow you to adjust to any change in time zones.
- Connect – Use your time in quarantine to connect with friends and family. Let them know your room number, so they can call you. If you have Wi-Fi set aside time each day to message those close to you. Remember those you have not connected with for a while.
- Take books – Do not rely on the hotel Wi-Fi to download books to your Kindle. Take some physical books with you and set aside time to read each day.
- Download Movies – Assume that the hotel does not have internet, so download your favourite movies and boxsets onto an external hard drive. That way you will not run out of entertainment during your quarantine.
- Adaptors & Power banks – Make sure you have the right plug adaptor for the country you are travelling to, otherwise you may not be able to charge your electronic devices. Take a power bank in case there is a power cut during your quarantine, then you can still charge your phone.
- Promise Yourself a Reward – Give yourself something to look forward to once you are released from quarantine. This could be a slap-up meal, a glass of your favourite tipple or going to a place of natural beauty. Whatever you decide upon, make sure you see it through when you are free of quarantine.