What might happen when the Hawaii legislature returns on January 20 that could change current travel policies.
104 thoughts on “Hawaii Travel Rules | Conflict Among Officials on Next Changes”
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The 72 hour testing “window” isn’t feasible in all instances. Case in point – my wife and I arrived in Kona on Jan 7th. Did our testing with Vault on the 4th and had our results on the 6th before we left – perfect!
My son and girlfriend took tests on the 6th to arrive here on the 9th. She received her results early on the 8th. Fortunately for them, they had a 6 1/2 hour layover in LA on the way here. He received his results as they were closing the door on the plane in LA for the flight to Kona! No one needs that type of stress! They are here for 9 days – can you imagine doing everything right and still having to quarantine your entire stay through no fault of your own? Something needs to be changed! If you receive your results a day late you should only have to quarantine until that time!
I understand and agree with the whole testing process but some common sense needs to prevail!
The most pressing concern in my opinion, is there is no consistency in the state for rules of entry. The “rules” are so confusing to people! And, on top of that, they’re confusing to residents who leave the state and then try to comply w/ the regulations upon return. Everything is geared towards the “tourist” without regard to residents returning from a trip, i.e. the Safe Travels online form. I was in Carson City, NV the beginning of Nov., and no facility within 100 miles had availability.
Another issue that has arisen is the acceptable labs for testing. Some people have access to other labs that perform the same tests, but if they’re not on that “list” they are subject to quarantine!
Thank you for allowing me to comment.
Can you please tell me if there has been any mention of how people that have been vaccinated are going to be handled?
Hi Michael.
No word yet; hopefully soon.
Aloha.
The vaccine is supposed to prevent the recipient from experiencing the symptoms of the virus … it is unknown if the vaccine reduces the recipient from spreading the virus. The vaccine is not a miracle shot that sends us all back to normal life and the ability to travel freely with immunization papers. There is still an enormous amount of research to be done.
Aloha BOH hope you are well
Through my business I recently made a new acquaintance who is quickly becoming a friend.
Today he brought us a 2021 Hawaiian calendar.
Born and raised on the Hawaiian islands he recently moved here and retired with his wife from Kihei for two reasons. One being his wife has family here the other was our cost of living is much lower then on Maui. That’s a first someone moving to California, because of our lower cost of living.
Anyways during his last visit to our shop we spent a good hour talking about Maui. He relayed that retired citizens still living on Maui are enjoying the break from tourism, but those who relied on it for a living are really suffering.
He also went into depth about how tourism and tourist disrespect changed how citizens view visitors to the islands. He told me a gut wrenching tale about The Blue Pool located at Helele’ike’oha Falls.
He spoke of how years ago locals were allowed by private land owners in the area to visit the popular swim spot. How what a special place it was and the fond memories he had for it.
That was before the travel guide book Maui Revealed was published.
He said Maui Revealed has single handedly caused the most damage between locals and tourist. After Maui Revealed was published The Blue Pool was over run by tourist trashing the place, defecating, trespassing on private land and theft of property.
He said it got so bad that local land owners blocked the private road leading to the spot, so that no one can now enjoy it. He relied tales of private land hiking trails now closed, because of Maui Revealed and sue happy tourist.
My new friend is a quiet spoken man very like able had no resentment in his tone just disappointment. He had myself and a couple of my other good customers captivated with his tale. It brought home why there’s not as much aloha on the islands as in the past.
Hi Richard.
Thanks for your more than 100 comments!
Aloha.
Many “locals” on Kauai have the same feeling about the Kauai version of the guidebook. Used to be sold at Costco back in the day. Things change. We feel entitled to have things the way they used to be for ourselves. Pull up the drawbridge behind me. And no matter where you are, being a LOCAL is now the ultimate entitlement.
There are nearly three times as many people on the planet (8 billion) than there where when I was born (3 billion). And the standard of living world wide has never been higher. People live much longer. Cheap airfare, and the portion of the 8 billion that can afford to travel is a LOT higher than the portion of the 3 billion back in the day. All these people want to go someplace interesting and “safe” and visit “secret” and “special” places like the Maui blue pool (Kauai has several similar places if you know where to find them). And social media obsession has magnified this 10 million percent. It’s all about the picture they post on Instagram or whatever. I recall some idiot managing to kill himself by actually standing over the blow hole on the north end of Maui some years ago. We used to take our kids there every visit. When the surf is big, it is a magnificent natural wonder. They used to be all over the islands, but most were destroyed (dynamited) back in the early plantation days because of the salt spray.
Your observation of how someone moved from Maui to California to lower their cost of living is telling. Supply and Demand. No one beyond the privileged that come from wealthy families, or perhaps have good paying government jobs (because they knew/were someone) can compete with mainland money. Most mainlanders cannot compete with mainland money, for that matter.
There is a similar complaint on Kauai regarding a popular guidebook. I don’t think we can blame the guidebooks-travelers everywhere seek out hidden travel spots on the internet. I too am guilty of seeking out these places when I traveled. How both travelers and residents co exist moving forward is a challenge and concern.
What will the new rules be for visitors and returning residents who have been vaccinated and what about children under 16 who cannot yet be vaccinated. All islands should have the same rules. The legislature needs to step up and end one person making the rules.
To me it’s just scary for us to travel, we have our flights books, spent $4000 on a condo, plus all the excursions and to think that it’s a “time game.” We get our tests done but we are at the mercy of the facility doing the test. Do we cancel? $40,000 to be refunded by excursions in Hawaii, condo refunded. I agree with the Covid testing but geez make it so we can show you after we have landed, quarantine us until our results get back.
What about the vaccine? 2 doses we should be allowed to bypass the test. I have to make a decision soon to chance it or cancel.
The legislators in Hawaii are worse than California. Hard to believe.
We are in Maui right now. We used the Vault testing service. It was very easy, and we got the results back very quickly. It has been really great to be here. We are very appreciative and it seems like most of the people who are working here, seem glad to have us here as well! We are respectful and follow the mask rules. I do wish they would have clear cut policies for all of the islands. We would like to possibly visit some other islands, but we will stay put for now.
Thank you for the current update;I hope to see a unified plan for all the islands soon ,including a 96 hour window. BTW-the Covid testing at The Hawaiian Monarch Hotel in Waikiki ,ran by Kalihi Kai Urgent care is professional,fast,easy— and friendly!-results within 6 hours to your e mail,125$-
We just returned from Arizona and talk about confusion. We could have gotten a Covid-19 test anywhere but it needs to be an ‘approved’ vendor by the state of Hawai’i. So, being in the Tucson area there weren’t any available dates within the 72 hour frame unless we wanted to drive to the 2 hours to the Phoenix area. So we did not get the test. When we arrived in Hilo, expecting to be tested there, we were directed to a line and told where to get our ‘results’. We were not tested, just left the airport on our own. We have quarantined our selves with the daily check in online. It would have been nice to have a negative test and not be quarantined. It’s extremely hard to quarantine in Pahoa with no delivery services available.