‘The days were never long enough’: Londoner tells of ‘terrific holiday’ in a quarantine hotel

“After 10 days, 11 nights and two negative Covid tests, we’re packed and ready to head out the door” – so said Gunter Straub, as he and his wife Dr Josevania Martins ended hotel quarantine on Heathrow’s so-called Isolation Row.

The couple travelled back from a family visit to Brazil in late February, after the introduction of the government’s “Managed Quarantine Service” for arrivals from the 33 red list countries – which also include Portugal, the UAE and South Africa.

Yet instead of counting down the minutes, Mr Straub said “the days were not long enough”. 

With all direct passenger flights from Brazil banned, the couple faced a complicated journey from Rio via a third country to the UK.

They originally booked on Swiss via Zurich, but faced a battle with complicated bureaucracy that involved them taking no fewer than five Covid tests each.

Only the final test, which took place at Sao Paulo airport between flights, enabled them to book their rearranged flights on Lufthansa via Frankfurt to Heathrow.

On arrival, they were passed along a relay of officials between the plane and their quarantine hotel: the Renaissance, which adjoins the northern runway at the UK’s busiest airport.

Yet after the couple returned to their home in north London, he painted a positive picture of their enforced stay.

“The time was very productive for both my wife and I,” he told The Independent.

“The food was plentiful and varied. Watching aircraft take off and land from my window was a novelty.”

They paid a total of £2,400 for their 11-night stay, which included three meals a day.

“My wife said ‘this is a terrific holiday because I can work all day long undisturbed’.

“I watched a movie, I went for a walk once or twice a day, I caught up on my notes. I did whatever I wanted to do. In many ways the days were not long enough.

“I really must give the Renaissance Hotel 100 per cent for friendliness.

“Security was always helpful and accommodating for my daily walks. It was all done nicely, efficient and friendly.”

Mr Straub was allowed out to exercise for 15 minutes, though “sometimes it was possible to negotiate a few more minutes”.

On returning home to north London, he jokingly complained to his wife that he would open the front door on Monday morning and find there was no meal waiting outside.

Mr Straub said that on a Sunday afternoon walk around Hampstead he was concerned about the absence of mask-wearing and social distancing.

“What really blew my mind was that I think I saw three people wearing masks. I felt safer in Brazil. I don’t like wearing a mask, but you put on your shoes, you put on your glasses, you put on your mask. What’s the big problem here?”

Mr Straub, who is a psychology coach, advised anyone else going into hotel quarantine to be positive about the possibilities offered by the unusual situation.

“It all comes down to the mindset. How do I see this? How do I look at this differently?

“Find a way around it, and make the best out of it. And I think we managed to do that.”