WALK-THROUGH - HAWAII'S NEW TRAVEL POLICY: My experience traveling to Hawaii

[samara64]

I am currently at MKO enjoying the Hawaiian sunshine.

Maybe you can join the GOO tomorrow on Wednesday 7.30PM next to the resturant.

 

[sjsharkie]

Maybe you can join the GOO tomorrow on Wednesday 7.30PM next to the resturant.

Thank you. klpca sent me a note as well.

Will definitely try to make it.

Ryan

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[flindberg]

We were on the road early. Right now there is no traffic. It reminded us of our first trip in 1983.

Hanalei was Hanalei. It feels stuck in time....so perfect. We drove through on our way to Tunnels. At Tunnels the waves were rolling (full moon). We saw three monk seals, which was cool. After that walk we went back to Hanalei for lunch (Hanalei Gourmet), then for shave ice at the Wishing Well (closed!) before kayaking (rentals also closed!). It started to rain so we skipped the beach and drive back to Poipu where it was warm and mostly sunny, and spent some quality time floting around in the ocean. It's been a delightful trip so far. People are genuinely nice. It has exceeded our expectations by a large margin.

Thank you! So good to hear your experience was positive... in such a nerve wracking time.

 

[mendota1]

I thought I'd share my experiences here as well. I am currently at MKO enjoying the Hawaiian sunshine.

1. I also used a CVS minute clinic. Drive thru setup went smoothly -- test was taken ~67.5 hours prior to my departure time.
2. I did not receive my test results prior to departure. I was worried, because there are some horror stories online of people receiving tests in the SF Bay Area 6-7 days later.
3. Luckily, I received my results when I turned my phone back on after landing. They were sent at around 9AM Pacific time, so roughly 69 hours after I took my test. It felt like the old days when we deplaned as we walked out onto the tarmac and walked to the terminal entrance for screening.
4. I was able to upload the results via my phone to the website. Interestingly, the screener that checked my paperwork didn't accept the CVS app version of the test. She asked me to click on the text link which brought me to a different webpage -- this was accepted and I was approved for non-quarantine status. I was at the front of the plane, so there was no wait for me to be checked, though it did take about 10 minutes to sort out the paperwork. Greg's advice to be in the front of the plane is wise -- though there were about 9-10 stations at HNL checking people in.
5. Rental car and hotel both checked the app prior to letting me rent a car and check-in to the room. Check-in line was about 8 parties long when I arrived -- took about 20 minutes to get to the front. However, the resort itself does not seem to be that busy.

It rained yesterday and rain is in the forecast for the remainder of the week... but it's Hawaii so I'm not complaining.

Stay safe.

-ryan

 

[mendota1]

Greg,
Thanks for your detailed list.
I have questions that I am looking for answers from Tuggers please
We are flying out of MSP Thanksgiving morning and arriving in Seattle at 9am We leave Seattle at 5 pm for Kauai arriving at 10 pm . When does the 72 hours end at 7a with arrival to Seattle, or 5 pm leaving Seattle ?
We were planning to take a cab and see Seattle during the layover however I am now wondering if leaving the Seattle airport is not allowed.
When a person does not have their Covid results before they leave home, how do they get a paper copy of the final results to give in Kauai ?
Hoping to hear from Tuggers
Mendota1

 

[GregT]

Greg,
Thanks for your detailed list.
I have questions that I am looking for answers from Tuggers please
We are flying out of MSP Thanksgiving morning and arriving in Seattle at 9am We leave Seattle at 5 pm for Kauai arriving at 10 pm . When does the 72 hours end at 7a with arrival to Seattle, or 5 pm leaving Seattle ?
We were planning to take a cab and see Seattle during the layover however I am now wondering if leaving the Seattle airport is not allowed.
When a person does not have their Covid results before they leave home, how do they get a paper copy of the final results to give in Kauai ?
Hoping to hear from Tuggers
Mendota1

Hello Mendota,

If you are flying on Thanksgiving (Thursday) and your last mainland (to Hawaii) flight departs at 5pm PT, then you will need to take your COVID test on Monday after 5pm PT/7pm CT, which is your departure time for Seattle - Kauai. I don't now if any of the trusted partners are doing tests at night, so you may be Tuesday morning as early as you can. But I hope you can find someone that will do your test after 5pm PT/7pm CT on Monday. Good luck and enjoy the trip!

Best,

Greg

 

[controller1]

Hello Mendota,

If you are flying on Thanksgiving (Thursday) and your last mainland (to Hawaii) flight departs at 5pm PT, then you will need to take your COVID test on Monday after 5pm PT/7pm CT, which is your departure time for Seattle - Kauai. I don't now if any of the trusted partners are doing tests at night, so you may be Tuesday morning as early as you can. But I hope you can find someone that will do your test after 5pm PT/7pm CT on Monday. Good luck and enjoy the trip!

Best,

Greg

The bigger question could be would the test performed after 5:00 pm PT (if available) on Monday arrive at the lab any earlier than the one performed Tuesday morning.

 

[melissy123]

Someone on trip advisor had reported that they weren’t looking at the time of the test as much as the date, that it had to be three days ahead of your flight.

 

[csodjd]

Someone on trip advisor had reported that they weren’t looking at the time of the test as much as the date, that it had to be three days ahead of your flight.

Maybe. But is that a chance anyone wants to take? There’s no cure if they do look and you missed by an hour.

 

[Henry M.]

I put this on another forum, but I thought it might be useful in this sticky location.

Trusted Testing Partner CVS reports test results using MyChart. My doctor's office uses MyChart. I was just playing with the MyChart app on my iPad, though not with a CVS COVID report file.

An iPhone/iPad trick to create PDFs is to go print a file, and then save a pdf before you actually send the file to a printer. For example:
1.) Open a document in MyChart -> My Documents
2.) Press the symbol on the upper right hand corner to share the document (rectangle with arrow pointing up). Say yes to the prompt from MyChart.
3.) Scroll down to "Print" and tap it. This will show an image of the document at the bottom and will try to locate a printer.
4.) Zoom in on the image (place your thumb and index finger on it and separate the fingers). The image opens up all by itself.
5.) Share that file (again, upper right hand corner) and "Save to Files". This will put a pdf into your iCloud files. I have a folder there called Hawaii Travel so I can put things related to my trip in one place.

On the Safe Travels web site, I can then go to "Documents" and then "Upload File". From there, I can "Choose File", then "Browse" and see my iCloud Drive to navigate to the Hawaii Travel folder and select the MyChart.pdf previously created.

This all sounds more complicated than it really is. You can try things ahead of time by selecting a photo or some other non-pdf file and trying to print it. A photo is saved as Photo.pdf, for example. The MyChart file is originally a tif file, but the printing process lets you save it as a pdf. Almost any file you can open and print should be convertible to PDF this way.

Alternatively, I have PDF Expert on my iPad. I can share documents from MyChart into it, and then save the document in PDF Expert as a pdf. It isn't worth getting the app just to save a document as a pdf. The app can edit the pdf and do many other things. The Print trick should work.

 

[melissy123]

Just wanted to add that the pink paper given to you when you clear the airport is very important. We needed that for renting the car and checking into the Marriott. Long line at the airport but everyone kept a respectful distance. But getting here, I have to say it was really even more stressful than I imagined. This process is not for the faint of heart. I love Maui but even I’m not sure I would want to repeat the process.

 

[klpca]

Just wanted to add that the pink paper given to you when you clear the airport is very important. We needed that for renting the car and checking into the Marriott. Long line at the airport but everyone kept a respectful distance. But getting here, I have to say it was really even more stressful than I imagined. This process is not for the faint of heart. I love Maui but even I’m not sure I would want to repeat the process.

That was exactly how I felt. I knew that I would have to be flexible and roll with the bumps in the road, but complying with the testing requirements was difficult at best because so much is out of your control. You are completely reliant on the labs and to them you are just one test in a million. They cannot worry about individual tests.

 

[Henry M.]

Id be interested in knowing:

Test Company
Day of the week test taken
Day of the week results received

or any links to discussions of the various companies. I am going for Vault based on another TUGger's experience, but I really have no idea which is the quickest service to return results. My flight is on a Wednesday, so that complicates getting a UPS shipment going, since they don't pick up next day air until late Monday.

I ordered the Vault tests Friday around 3:00 EST. I just got notice from UPS that they are out for delivery this Saturday morning, less than 24 hours later.

 

[melissy123]

Walgreens. Tested on Tuesday morning. Results on Thursday morning.

 

[slip]

I used CVS in Honolulu and tested on Wednesday and got the results Friday morning.

 

[Grandma2016]

Id be interested in knowing:

Test Company
Day of the week test taken
Day of the week results received

or any links to discussions of the various companies. I am going for Vault based on another TUGger's experience, but I really have no idea which is the quickest service to return results. My flight is on a Wednesday, so that complicates getting a UPS shipment going, since they don't pick up next day air until late Monday.

I ordered the Vault tests Friday around 3:00 EST. I just got notice from UPS that they are out for delivery this Saturday morning, less than 24 hours later.

I leave in januady and so far Vault looks like my choice too.

 

[klpca]

It will be interesting to see if the surge in cases will affect turnaround time in the labs, especially in light of Hawaii saying that you cannot get out of quarantine unless you have your results before departure.

We tested on Wed morning, Oct 28 at CVS (who uses Quest). I received my results on Friday Oct 30 at 7am. My husband received his results on Friday Oct 30 at 8:30PM. That led to some tense times at our house. The first leg of our trip departed at 7am on Saturday morning.

I have heard that despite taking the test in the morning, there is just one pick up from the testing location per day, and that is late in the afternoon. So really we are talking about needing a 48 hour turnaround on the test results (day after the test plus the following day) since on day one (test day) it is just sitting somewhere waiting for pickup (even Vault), and then you need it *before* your travel day since you cannot depart without the results. That is a very narrow window and if testing demands increase I can't see how they can maintain this turnaround time. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

[csodjd]

It will be interesting to see if the surge in cases will affect turnaround time in the labs, especially in light of Hawaii saying that you cannot get out of quarantine unless you have your results before departure.

We tested on Wed morning, Oct 28 at CVS (who uses Quest). I received my results on Friday Oct 30 at 7am. My husband received his results on Friday Oct 30 at 8:30PM. That led to some tense times at our house. The first leg of our trip departed at 7am on Saturday morning.

I have heard that despite taking the test in the morning, there is just one pick up from the testing location per day, and that is late in the afternoon. So really we are talking about needing a 48 hour turnaround on the test results (day after the test plus the following day) since on day one (test day) it is just sitting somewhere waiting for pickup (even Vault), and then you need it *before* your travel day since you cannot depart without the results. That is a very narrow window and if testing demands increase I can't see how they can maintain this turnaround time. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Two things come to mind from your post. First, I think Hawaii might be doing us all that want to travel to Hawaii a favor by basically saying, don't come if you don't have your results yet. Going and hoping is not a great strategy.

Second, knowing something about the pickup/shipping/delivery schedule of test specimens can be very helpful, especially when it comes time to decide what time you want to schedule for your flight and your test. If there is an overnight shipment at, say, 6:00pm, you can test at 4:30pm, make it in time for that shipment, and look for a flight that departs at 3:00pm or so. That gives you most of the day you are flying on to get results.

 

[Henry M.]

The issue is that many people have connecting flights. You really need to have the results before you leave for the airport.

In my case, my flight to Maui leaves at 12:30, but my initial flight leaves at 8:21 and it takes me an hour to leave for the airport. I need the test results by 6:30 in the morning. I think Vault might be able to deliver, it we will have to see. Fortunately, with the airlines doing away with cancellation fees, I can just postpone departure by one day of the results are not back in time. I would call the timeshare and let them know I'm coming a day late. We'll be there 7 weeks, so a single day is not a huge issue.

 

[Grandma2016]

The issue is that many people have connecting flights. You really need to have the results before you leave for the airport.
in my case, my flight to Maui leaves at 12:30, but my initial flight leaves at 8:21 and it takes me an hour to leave for the airport. I need the test results by 6:30 in the morning. I think Vault might be able to deliver, it we will have to see. Fortunately, with the airlines doing away with cancellation fees, I can just postpone departure by one day of the results are not back in time. I would call the timeshare and let them know I'm coming a day late. We'll be there 7 weeks, so a single day is not a huge issue.

Thats exactly what i was planning. Just move flight one day and call timeshare.

 

[csodjd]

The issue is that many people have connecting flights. You really need to have the results before you leave for the airport.

In my case, my flight to Maui leaves at 12:30, but my initial flight leaves at 8:21 and it takes me an hour to leave for the airport. I need the test results by 6:30 in the morning. I think Vault might be able to deliver, it we will have to see. Fortunately, with the airlines doing away with cancellation fees, I can just postpone departure by one day of the results are not back in time. I would call the timeshare and let them know I'm coming a day late. We'll be there 7 weeks, so a single day is not a huge issue.

That works, but only IF you remain within the 72 hour window from test time to departure (of the next day's flight). And that may not be possible if you were giving yourself the maximum possible time to get the test results.

Seems to me the best approach is an afternoon test on a Monday (~4:00pm), before either the cut-off for sending an overnight (Vault) or before the specimens are picked up for delivery to the lab (Quest). Plan a Thursday late morning (10:00 - noon) departure for Hawaii. And, hopefully, there is another flight in the early afternoon (2:00-3:00) that is less than 72 hours from your Monday test time. So now you have all day Tuesday, all day Wednesday, and Thursday morning, or if necessary until mid-day Thursday, to get results. (This also works Tuesday-Friday).

This assumes a direct flight to Hawaii. If you have a layover you really do need that test back by Wednesday night.

 

[Henry M.]

I'm starting my adventure getting to Maui. I ordered the Vault test. I went through the Hawaiian Airlines web site, since they claim a special relationship with Vault: https://learn.vaulthealth.com/hawaiian/. My wife set up two separate accounts to order the tests. I ordered the tests on Friday, Nov. 20, and had them in my hands the following day, Saturday, Nov. 21.

Today (Monday, Nov. 30), I took the test with my wife. We have a flight on Wednesday, Dec. 2, but UPS doesn't pick up on Sunday, so we waited until the flight time today to take the test. This way the results can still be used for a Thursday flight. UPS doesn't pick up from the UPS store until after 5:00 pm anyhow. If we don't have the results by the time we need to leave for the airport on Wednesday, we will just cancel Wednesday and go Thursday. I have mileage tickets on American Airlines and there is no cost to cancel as long as you do it at least two hours before the flight. Apparently, the test results don't include a time, so it may not be critical to wait for exactly the 72 hour mark. Just make sure it is no more than 3 days before the date of the flight.

I logged on to the Vault Health web site on two devices to register the test kits. Each login said the wait time would be approximately 15 minutes. Clicking on Next had me fill out the test ID from the barcode on the test tube. My computer's camera couldn't scan the code. After clicking Next again is asked for the tracking ID of the UPS envelope included in the kit. Clicking on Next a third time actually gets you to the waiting room and there was a different number for the approximate wait time. In my case it said 20 minutes, but an agent came on in about 5 minutes.

I was logged on on two devices, but the agent said she could process both tests on one session, so I closed the other one.

Testing was pretty easy. The agent has you spit into the tube. It is a bit of spit and the agent went away for a few minutes, but came back right as we were ready. At the end, you screw a top with some liquid onto the tube with your spit and shake the tube to mix it well. This top took a little effort to screw on, and it has the potential for spilling. Still, it wasn't too hard to do.

The agent then told us to put both tubes into a single box and write "2 Individual Tests" on the outside of the box. Then we placed the box in the prepaid shipping envelope. The agent recognized these were expedited tests because the envelope had a pink sticker on it. She said this would cause the tests to be processed as soon as they were received. We dropped off the envelope at a nearby UPS Store. I'll report back as the tests are received and processed.

 

[slip]

I'm starting my adventure getting to Maui. I ordered the Vault test. I went through the Hawaiian Airlines web site, since they claim a special relationship with Vault: https://learn.vaulthealth.com/hawaiian/. My wife set up two separate accounts to order the tests. I ordered the tests on Friday, Nov. 20, and had them in my hands the following day, Saturday, Nov. 21.

Today (Monday, Nov. 30), I took the test with my wife. We have a flight on Wednesday, Dec. 2, but UPS doesn't pick up on Sunday, so we waited until the flight time today to take the test. This way the results can still be used for a Thursday flight. UPS doesn't pick up from the UPS store until after 5:00 pm anyhow. If we don't have the results by the time we need to leave for the airport on Wednesday, we will just cancel Wednesday and go Thursday. I have mileage tickets on American Airlines and there is no cost to cancel as long as you do it at least two hours before the flight. Apparently, the test results don't include a time, so it may not be critical to wait for exactly the 72 hour mark. Just make sure it is no more than 3 days before the date of the flight.

I logged on to the Vault Health web site on two devices to register the test kits. Each login said the wait time would be approximately 15 minutes. Clicking on Next had me fill out the test ID from the barcode on the test tube. My computer's camera couldn't scan the code. After clicking Next again is asked for the tracking ID of the UPS envelope included in the kit. Clicking on Next a third time actually gets you to the waiting room and there was a different number for the approximate wait time. In my case it said 20 minutes, but an agent came on in about 5 minutes.

I was logged on on two devices, but the agent said she could process both tests on one session, so I closed the other one.

Testing was pretty easy. The agent has you spit into the tube. It is a bit of spit and the agent went away for a few minutes, but came back right as we were ready. At the end, you screw a top with some liquid onto the tube with your spit and shake the tube to mix it well. This top took a little effort to screw on, and it has the potential for spilling. Still, it wasn't too hard to do.

The agent then told us to put both tubes into a single box and write "2 Individual Tests" on the outside of the box. Then we placed the box in the prepaid shipping envelope. The agent recognized these were expedited tests because the envelope had a pink sticker on it. She said this would cause the tests to be processed as soon as they were received. We dropped off the envelope at a nearby UPS Store. I'll report back as the tests are received and processed.

Hope everything goes smooth for you!!

 

[Henry M.]

Following up on my testing experience through Vault:

After taking the test yesterday, I put the two samples in one box and took it to the UPS store around 1:45 pm CST. UPS notified me the tests were delivered at 9:06 am today. Vault sent me an e-mail that they had the sample at 10:11 am. The e-mail said it would be between 24 and 72 hours to get the result. Both my wife and I received separate e-mails, so I am sure they are working on both samples and didn't just go by the UPS tracking information to receive the material into their system.

When I looked at the tracking information at UPS.com yesterday, the site said the estimated time of delivery was "by 9:00 PM". Fortunately they beat that by almost 12 hours. I think that is just a standard message. From what I've read elsewhere, the samples are typically delivered in the morning. Hopefully the results will be in by early tomorrow.

 

[csodjd]

Following up on my testing experience through Vault:

After taking the test yesterday, I put the two samples in one box and took it to the UPS store around 1:45 pm CST. UPS notified me the tests were delivered at 9:06 am today. Vault sent me an e-mail that they had the sample at 10:11 am. The e-mail said it would be between 24 and 72 hours to get the result. Both my wife and I received separate e-mails, so I am sure they are working on both samples and didn't just go by the UPS tracking information to receive the material into their system.

When I looked at the tracking information at UPS.com yesterday, the site said the estimated time of delivery was "by 9:00 PM". Fortunately they beat that by almost 12 hours. I think that is just a standard message. From what I've read elsewhere, the samples are typically delivered in the morning. Hopefully the results will be in by early tomorrow.

There's a big difference between 24 hours from receipt at the lab and 72 hours from receipt at the lab when dealing with Hawaii travel!