Safe travel for Hawaii, Your Travel Specialist Tips and Experiences
The search for the proper QR code. The right Safe Travel Hawaii web site and the perils of when you pick to get the test. To start go to
On the Safe Travels site add your travel information and find the accepted Covid Testing site. You must have a negative Covid test withing 72 hours of getting on the plane for the last leg of your flight.
This is a wee bit scary, you will need to make sure your test will be returned quickly, I found in Colorado the Urgent Care center we went to did the test and handed us the result within 10 minutes, some pharmacy’s can take up to 4 days to get your result back. That is a problem you don’t need. Without the test you will either need to guarantee a place to quarantine in Hawaii for 10 days or you will be denied entry to the plane.
One issue we had was snow in Colorado, we had a 2 hour window for our 72 hours (if the plane was delayed 2 plus hours we were screwed). We did a second test the day before leaving to make certain Maui was in our future. For us these tests were covered by insurance. The tests cost between $125 to $225 if insurance doesn’t cover it.
Once you get your result you have to upload them to Safe Travels Hawaii and within 24 hours of leaving you will need to fill out the health questionnaire on line. When you do that you will be granted your QR code. It will be on the website (not an App) so you will need to access that site in the airport or download the code to your pictures. Different airlines have different practices we flew United. They will give you a wrist band that shows you have met all of Hawaii’s requirements and that wrist band walks you past the QR police in Hawaii as well. The rental car company accepted the wristband as well. When we arrived at the hotel we had to show the actual QR code.
Flying on a plane full of tested folks. This is still not 2019, You must remain masked the entire flight, the plane was packed with people. There was no relaxation of protocols and it is a long flight from Colorado.
Maui is about 3 months behind Colorado in relaxing regulations. Restaurants are at 6 ft distance and 35% occupancy. What this means for tourists is you need to make dinner reservations up to 3 months in advance. Between the distancing and that many hotel and restaurants workers left the Island or the industry your favorite restaurant is full, We did reservations at Fleetwood’s on Front St and the Canoe house at Mauna Lani 6 weeks out, while on the island no reservations have been possible at the better places. We have been having bigger lunches (easier to get in for lunch) and catching dinner as is.
On the streets in Maui (out doors) about 60% of the folks wear masks, closer to 100% carry a mask and place it over their face when passing a masked person. In restaurants and shops you must be masked. Shops have severe restrictions on the number of folks inside and there are lines at a lot of the shops outdoors.
More Hawaii info to come in the next few days. Greetings from Westin Nanea.
