Daphne Khoo, formerly a contestant on Singapore Idol, is currently staying at the InterContinental Hotel for her 14-day stay-home notice (SHN) amid the coronavirus outbreak. She shared with 8days.sg about moving back from Los Angeles on March 31 and enjoying her ‘staycation’ with her dog Snowball. To make the hotel room comfortable, she even has her music equipment, crystals, post-its and posters.
Daphne said that people feel bad for her but they do not understand what she is going through as she is enjoying herself. She added that she does not need to meet anyone and she can just pay attention to her work. As a songwriter, she likes to be alone with her thoughts.
She enjoyed working from home when she was in LA so a two-week quarantine is nothing to her. She joked that she should be in a three-week quarantine. Luckily for her, her loved ones have sent her care packages and other items such as clothes, music equipment, food and antibacterial wipes at the hotel.
Her room window overlooks Bugis Junction so she can see which guests are coming. What she finds ‘weird’ is that she does not have fresh air and she cannot cook at this moment. Recalling her time in LA, Daphne never used air conditioning or heater so she is not used to the artificial air.
Daphne enjoys staying at the hotel because they gave her a care basket for her dog, besides having a wide choice of food. Work keeps her occupied and she starts her day at 8 am when breakfast is delivered. She spends time on work, music, her dog and also extra activities like karaoke sessions or filming makeup videos.
Others may have experienced a hard time getting a flight back to Singapore but for Daphne, it was a smooth ride. She was supposed to fly mid-March after her visa expired. However, she had to get clearance for Snowball to fly with her so her flight was postponed. During mid-March, the LA airport was crowded and Daphne’s acquaintance who took the flight that she was supposed to be on tested positive for COVID-19. Thankfully he has recovered since then.
Having been a cancer survivor, Daphne was not sure if her body would be able to deal with it if she had COVID-19. It was a blessing in disguise that she came back to Singapore on March 31 and her flight was empty. Snowball was with her on the flight as she is Daphne’s emotional support animal.
The singer is now looking forward to reuniting with her loved ones and she wants to hug them when she sees them. She also cannot wait for her family to meet her dog. Daphne is also looking forward to hanging out in fresh air.
This experience taught her not to take her loved ones for granted. She also realised that it is nice to have a staycation once in a while. /TISG