TOPS Day -10

The test line on the COVID-19 ART test cartridge was an alarming deep red. My weeklong overseas research trip to Ipoh with NTU-USP (called Travel Overseas Programme for Scholars, or TOPS) was in 10 days. If I test positive on the COVID-19 PCR test before the trip, I cannot go. Hoping for some assurance, I scoured the internet for answers. COVID- era air travel was already cumbersome in itself; navigating the unwieldy bevy of rules and requirements regarding post-recovery travel made me even more apprehensive.

Disheartened but not discouraged, I contacted my NTU-USP peers whose TOPS plans were made uncertain by COVID, too. Together, we discussed a plan to overcome this – take a COVID-19 PCR test first, then consider an ART if we could confirm that the “recovered travellers” concession applied to us. A sense of hope sparked amongst us. “Stay Positive, Test Negative” was our philosophy, our mantra, and our Telegram Group name. If I could just stay positive, maybe everything would turn out well.

TOPS Day 0

My PCR test did not turn out well. As I had not yet recovered for 11 days, the “recovered travellers” concession did not apply to me either. It was now official. I would miss TOPS 21/22 in Ipoh.

With a heavy heart, I confessed my predicament to my peers in NTU-USP. A few others from the stay-positive-test-negative gang were in the same boat. We wished our peers safe travels and wondered how best we could support our peers’ research from Singapore.

In my TOPS Pre-Trip Projection, I had promised myself I would be open-minded towards the unexpected events faced in this trip and grow as a person from it. I took solace from the fact that, overseas fieldtrip or not, I had attained my TOPS objectives regardless.

TOPS Day 1

Watching my NTU-USP peers’ Ipoh escapades on social media was bittersweet. On one hand, everyone had made it to Ipoh safely and were enjoying their trip and research, which we never took for granted, especially for pandemic-era travel. On the other hand, the thought of what could have been nagged louder at the back of my mind. Oh, if I could just not have taken that PCR…

Stay Positive, Test Negative.

Wait a minute. I can just take an ART test instead, right? Today was my 11^th day of recovery, so I qualify for the concession. No, that wouldn’t work. All Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) flights were probably fully booked and far too pricey.

Wait – how about a non-VTL flight? It should be cheaper and have vacancies, and as a recovered traveller, I am exempted from mandatory quarantine even if the flight is a non-VTL, right?

There was a lifeline. I rushed to take a supervised ART – negative! I took the plunge and booked a non-VTL for the next day. It felt too good to be true – after all that, somehow, I would still make it.

Sadly, it was another false dawn. The airline sent me a pre-departure checklist which contained an obscure traveller pass needed to enter Malaysia for non-VTL travellers. Reading the online government portal issuing this pass felt like a dagger to the chest – the approval period for the pass was “up to 14 working days”.

I felt dejected. A final nail in the coffin for my TOPS journey; maybe it was just never meant to be.

TOPS Day 2

“Zaheen, your mom told me you’ve been stressing out about some overseas trip. Where was it again?”

“I’m sorry Dad, it’s 2 am and I need to sleep. I don’t think I’m going anyway.”

“Hmm… I found a VTL ticket to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. You sure you don’t want to go?”

“What?!”

I ran to check. It was true – departure time was 7 am, and the ticket price was reasonable.

“Are you crazy? This flight is in 5 hours. I have nothing prepared at all.”

“I don’t need to be crazy; you do. Are you crazy?”

Stay Positive, Test Negative.

I was.

All I could remember about the flight to KL was showing papers, napping, beautiful dawn skies, then napping again. I probably confused the airport doctor by fist-bumping the air when my on-arrival test was negative. The treacherous bus trip from KL to Ipoh probably deserves a blog entry of its own.

I made it to TOPS in Ipoh in one piece. Entering the hotel for the first time felt surreal. My NTU-USP peers helped me settle in immediately, and I began my research proper the next day.

It was not over yet. I still had peers in Singapore eager to follow my path. However, this time, they knew, it was never really about the testing negative. It was always about the staying positive.