Just back
from a two week trip to Hawaii and feel compelled to recount the challenges of
traveling in Hawaii with what may be the most onerous restrictions anywhere in
the USA. In general, Hawaii has lagged the rest of the country when
it comes to reopening and when we arrived they were still requiring masks and
social distancing inside and outside. So, if you wanted to relax
poolside in a lounge chair you were supposed to wear a
mask. Thankfully, as a practical matter, the hotel staff did not
seem interested in enforcing the mandate, if only because the hordes of
tourists chose to ignore the mask mandate when outdoors. A shortage
of service staff, social distancing and indoor dining restrictions made for
long lines for most anything, food, drinks, sundries etc. This put a
strain on the staff that had returned to work, and we found the famed Aloha
spirit rarely exhibited. Hawaii requires all mainland visitors to
register online with a government site, that tracks health status and health
records, including COVID testing. As a rule, Hawaii requires a
negative COVID test within 72 hours of arrival or they supposedly impose a
ten-day quarantine. Hawaii does not accept rapid COVID testing and
requires lab-based testing from its “Trusted Providers” who advertise that
their results will be available in 48-72 hours after the nasal swab, which
makes for a problematic timeline, not sure if your result will arrive before
you do in Hawaii. Our flight departed on Wednesday, so after a
little research we headed on Sunday morning to a Dulles Airport test
facility. After suffering an unusually painful nasal jab, the clinic
could not guarantee that our results would arrive in time given the fact that
the test facility used UPS which does not operate on Sundays. Having
paid for the test out of pocket this was not good news. The results did arrive
on time, and when we embarked our flight from Chicago to Honolulu, we were able
to wait in a special line for Hawaii travelers so a gate attendant could check
our “Hawaii Safe Travels” app and confirm a negative COVID test and receive a
wrist band that indicated as much. We then waited to board. Upon arrival in
Honolulu even with the wrist band we were ushered around the airport to stand
in line with the rest of the debarked passengers so that a Hawaii health
official could verify that we had the required test and were COVID negative.
After a long, tiring and all-night flight the line did not move fast enough for
anybody.
Having arrived on Oahu we
now needed to determine how to get a COVID test before going to Maui. The
concierge at the Hilton was helpful, and we were tested in a temporary clinic
on the ground floor of a nearby Waikiki hotel. Again, we waited
nervously for the results to show up before the flight to Maui. However,
this time the results were available in less than 48 hours so we could upload
them to the Hawaii Safe Travels website. One recurring problem with
the web site was that although it acknowledged the test results, there was an
indication that the results were not acceptable. This was in fact
not the case, and in the end the necessary QR code was sent via email for us to
show the local health authorities at the airport. The line at the
Maui airport included passengers from more than our flight, so it took over an
hour to clear the health check. We were only in Maui for four nights, so we had
to act quickly to comply with the requirement for a COVID test within 72 hours
of our trip to the Big Island. This was indeed problematic, because
the lab work is not done on Maui, but must be sent back to Honolulu for
analysis, thus creating a delay in the process. We were perplexed
when one of us got our results and the other did not. After spending most of
the morning on the phone with the test facility and the lab, it turns out that
the nurse had transposed a first and last name despite reading the information
directly from a driver’s license. As a contingency for the test not being
completed in time to fly to the Big Island, we made reservations on Hawaiian
Air for the next day and extended our stay by one night at the Hyatt Regency
which due to the high demand was now charging pre-pandemic room
rates. The challenges with first and last name were resolved, and we
were able to leave as planned. We did not have to pay for an extra
night at the Hyatt, but according to a Hawaiian Air ground person, the airline
does not refund cancellations despite purchasing insurance from the airline for
that reason.
Arriving on the Big Island
we were once again ushered into a long line so that we could show the QR code
on our iPhone to a health official. This line moved quicker than the
one on Maui due to more health officials assigned to check the arriving
passengers. Unfortunately, there was a long line at the Hertz rental
facility. On Maui the Hertz Gold protocols permitted us to walk to an aisle and
select a car of our choice, but on the Big Island renters must wait in line
before the agent confirms your reservation and orders a car to be brought from
the parking area to the front of the Hertz building. Although the shortage of
rental vehicles had received a lot of attention in the media, this did not seem
to be the reason for the delay at the Hertz counter because the parking lot was
full of vehicles. Arriving at the Hilton Waikoloa, we once again had
to line up to show the latest QR code on our phones. This time we were rewarded
with a white wrist band that permitted us to roam the hotel, and let the staff
know at a glance that we had been tested COVID free.
Bottom line is that the
costs for testing added up to almost $1,000 and we do have a $250 credit with
Hawaiian Air that we can use in the next year – if we return. Hawaii will
relax some of its COVID restrictions on June 15.
