I have been twice since October. 9 hours and 7 hours wait for result. I arrived on the London flight at 630 ish, so maybe a longer wait due to early arrival. A goode time for me to catch up on my sleep.

There may be some different use of the "rt". I just did a quick look up, and some sites call "rt" real time, and some call it "reverse transcript"

"quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR)".

Either way, I think you are good.

I think the "q" stands for quantitative, and I think that means your lab would have done something extra, so you should be better than fine. I believe the "rt" (real time) would be the more important part of your test type.

Ah. I am usually going/coming from North America. As the saying goes, 2 different people can see the same thing 2 different ways, and both be right. 🙂

@Mike ******

, ya HKG disappeared as a connection for the next few months unfortunately. It truly is/was the gateway to SE Asia.

That is why my last couple of trips have been for just over 3 weeks. If I test positive, at least I should have 1 week free in Thailand. 😅

I DO agree what with a day 5 test, you probably did not bring it in. But I would say 50 / 50 you caught it on the plane or else in Thailand. There are a fair amount of people testing positive on arrival these days, so it would be a safe bet that some of those day 5 positives were airplane infections.

On a related note, I think it should be a day 3 or 4 test personally, instead of a day 5. Or day 5 needs to be an antigen test. (Just my humble opinion.)

Yup. I am visa exempt, and my retirement plan (which isn't too many years away) is to base myself in Thailand with my girlfriend, and travel around south east Asia. The current restrictions would have messed that up royally. I definitely would have been trying to figure out how to extend my stay anyway I could.

I stand corrected. Koh Samet wanted my license.

Yeah, your best bet is either something close to your hotel (Or ANY hotel), or one that the hotel recommends. And I have yet to find one that didn't want my passport (Although I have only rented in Phuket and Hua Hin.

In Phuket, you book your PCR test separately from the hotel. And also note that it is not only proof of hotel reservation, but proof of pre payment for at least the arrival and day 5 nights.

Saying that, I would suggest booking your hotel direct with the hotel site if you can.