With the plethora of concerns and ruined Hawaii vacations you’ve been telling us about in hundreds of comments, here’s a bit of good news for Thanksgiving week. This morning Hawaiian Airlines announced the expansion of their COVID pre-travel testing program that guarantees results within 36 hours. Also, this bellwether of all airlines that serve Hawaii has spoken out about their suggestions for clearing up the testing mess. As you know, tomorrow (November 24) the Hawaii quarantine rules change significantly.
Big problems with timely test results.
As a result of increased COVID cases on the US mainland, we are hearing many reports that some of the current Hawaii testing partners are unable to provide results within 72 hours of the transpacific flight. That will leave visitors unsure if they are arriving at a Hawaii vacation or a long-term jail (14-day quarantine) sentence.
Hawaiian Airlines, with the most at stake, is moving quickly.
The airline is not happy with the changes that eliminate the temporary quarantine of those who tested properly but arrive still awaiting results. They said, “We continue to believe there should be consideration shown for those travelers who do the right thing and — by no fault of their own — do not receive their test results in time.”
Taking the bull by the horns, Hawaiian just announced Hawaii pre-travel tests for “its guests” at Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Portland, and Seattle.
Los Angeles is the newest location which opens today in Culver City, near LAX. That is in addition to the already open San Francisco location. These are in conjunction with their partner Worksite Labs. Tomorrow their third location will open in Las Vegas, which is in partnership with University Medical Center.
And lastly, Hawaiian has partnered with US BioTek for tests at one location in Portland and three in the Seattle area.
“We know how important it is for our guests to have convenient, reliable access to pre-travel tests and we are pleased to bring them more options in key gateway cities. Our dedicated testing locations guarantee guests will receive results within 36 hours of being tested, so they can meet the state’s requirements and focus on enjoying safe travel.” — Avi Mannis, Sr. VP.
The airline is also partnered with Vault Health for mail-in tests nationwide. Most of you have reported excellent results with Vault, and the major concerns (according to your comments) were about tests delayed in the shipping process.
For the Hawaiian Air options, see hawaiianairlines.com/covidtesting.
More reasonable costs ahead.
The current range of tests being offered in partnership with Hawaiian are priced from $90 to $105 per person.
Why hasn’t temporary quarantine for those awaiting results worked?
The state has been unable to manage the 6-7% of arrivals who are in that group who are awaiting results. The new Hawaii Tourism CEO said, “This has been brought about by the number of people who have arrived with no test uploaded, test results pending. That segment of traveler has caused a tremendous amount of workload and a bottleneck in the system.”
What about other airlines?
You can accurately say that as Hawaiian Airlines goes, so goes the state. So if this proceeds well as planned, and we certainly hope that is the case, you will see it expand to the other airlines. They all have so much at stake.
Will this travel update make you more inclined to visit Hawaii? Please share your comments.
Beat of Hawaii photo taken at Mahaulepu Beach on Kauai.
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Tourism is the main staple for the state of Hawaii. If they can spend a few dollars to test the travelers with pending results, the return would be incredible, millions.. instead of being quarantined waiting for their results from mainland, tourist can be out and about contributing to Hawaii’s economy. Nothing comes free.. 🌴🤙🏽
Bravo! Well said! Extremely intelligent! WOuldn’t it be great if that was reality!
Hello,
We are currently quarantining on the big island as our test results (negative for all) were not received prior to flight departure on Nov 24, first day of the new rules. We used “Let’s check checked program” as recommended by American Airlines and followed all instructions, including waiting 3 hours for a virtual appt.
We were unable to rent a car. Now we will have one day after the 14 day quarantine ends to see the island, but we are trying to just be happy to be here.
We had planned to travel to Kauai on Dec 8 And will need to test to avoid quarantine there – any recommendations of what company to use for Interisland travel ?
I would just like to address the “excellent results with Vault” statement. Our family of six was supposed to fly to Kauai yesterday. Very few of Hawaii’s trusted partners are options for us in CO. We chose Vault b/c of articles like yours as well as the chart on Vault’s website that outlined which day to test based on what day you were flying to Hawaii and needed results. It all seemed very seamless and organized. We tested on the day we were supposed to, wrote “Hawaii Stat” on all of our mailers (as recommended), UPS delivered our tests on the day they were supposed to, but Vault failed on their own schedule. None of our results arrived on the day the chart promised. Worse, Vault only had one of our results available before out flight departed (without us- obviously). The rest of our family’s results trickled in throughout the day– useless. Vault’s results were fast compared to other labs, but unacceptable compared to their own schedule and what we needed to meet Hawaii’s requirements. We lost a vacation for a family of six b/c Vault misrepresented their capabilities. Interestingly enough, Vault changed their little Hawaiian testing chart yesterday (I have screenshots of their old chart versus the new chart). Now Vault says if you are flying on a Tues or Wed you should not use them. That information would have been helpful a week ago. Bottom line — please stop recommending Vault. Their lab is overwhelmed and they are not regulating capacity. They are not meeting their commitments to travelers. Do not choose Vault!
DANYEL J…
Just curious – were any of your travellers on Medicare because it appears we can’t even use Vault because we are Medicare covered. I keep wondering if it is only our state.
Hi Barbara,
No, none of us are on Medicare. I’m actually not familiar at all with Medicare. We just paid $900 (out of pocket) for late test results that lost us our vacation. Very frustrating.
Please let me know if there will
be a rapid response Covid test near Sacramento. We’e over 90 miles from SFO. We have Hawaiian Airline reservations to Kauai on January 10, 2021.
I took a test at Kaiser Roseville and after I took it, they said 3-5 days. I originally called and they said 1-3. I was down to my last resort and emailed City Health Urgent Care (Oakland airport) and they were able to see me today for 3 people at 1030 this morning. Paid $120 for expedited results and I got my test results back at 715 this evening. There isn’t a phone number, but they have been amazing at responding back via email and even Facebook messenger. Took me 4 hours total of driving and taking the test. I would have hands down took that route as Sacramento doesn’t have any rapid tests available. $120 was cheapest that I’ve found as well. We leave on Thanksgiving and I can finally feel relieved. Stress at it’s finest! Good luck and hope this helps!!!!
Hi Carolyn.
Congratulation on getting through all that and letting us know. Have a great trip.
Aloha.
Hi Carolyn,
I also have a test scheduled at Kaiser but in South Sac. How long did it take to get your Kaiser results? I was also considering driving to Bay Area to Hawaiians partner Worksite labs is SF. Thanks for sharing your experience with CHUC in Oakland. I may book there instead. Did you pay online at the time of booking or when you arrived to take the test?
Thank you for all you do. It’s sites like this that will save the day in the end! Best of luck to us all and happy Thanksgiving 😊
Hi Dianne.
Thanks. We appreciate your nice words. Happy Thanksgiving.
Aloha.
I am go to be visiting family in January. I will be flying from Indiana to Arizona then on to Hawaii. I am concerned my test done before leaving won’t be honored. Anything you can tell me would be helpful. Thank you.
Hi Carol.
You didn’t say if you were connecting or stopping over. In any event, the test must be within 72 hours of the scheduled departure of the flight from Arizona. Hopefully, there will be more options between now and January.
Aloha.
Thx-
Too bad Hawaiian Air Does Care about PHX passengers. We fly them all the time to Honolulu, and the haven’t proved themselves the most customer friendly air carrier. Must have miss placed the Ahola Spirit, glad they have found some.
Same here, have had an HI vacation planned since last year, I live in a rural town that does not have any “approved” testing facilities. I would have to drive 4.5 hours round trip to get a test then drive 2 hours to Albuquerque to take off to lax at 6am then HI. How in the world do they think anyone in us who does not live in a big city, can pull this off??? I’m about to give up, call American and spend my hard earned money and vacation in a place where they want me. I know you are just the messenger but you did ask us to share our frustration. Thank you
Hi Dianne.
Thank you for sharing your experience and frustration. You’re right – that’s what we asked for.
Aloha.
Mahalo
Aloha. I sent a note to Governor Ige and some others and happy to share it with you but it is a word doc. The gist of it is this. From the East Coast or the Midwest it is almost impossible to accomplish getting to HI with anything but an 108 hour grace period before boarding the plane to HI. The only way around it is what this article talks about. Here is how it would have to work. You fly to the “designated city” you spend 2-3 nights there. Day 1 early flight to desig city on West Coast, take test. Clock begins after gets to lab. Day 2 test processes. Day 2 night results in or in AM of Day 3 and you enter them in system. Day 3 you wait for system to say good to go. Day 4- board plane. Unrelated but my question is what if you island hop? We are trying to come home to visit mom in Hilo, dad on Oahu and then chill on Maui. Mahalo
Hi Randy.
You will need to test before mainland departure, then test on Oahu before Maui. No test needed before travel to Oahu.
Aloha.
Randy,
You describe exactly what we did in early November. Traveled first from Wyoming to San Jose California on Friday Oct 30th. Took Vault tests Monday 10:30 am Nov 2nd, and dropped off at UPS store by noon. Got results late Tuesday Nov 3 (election day!); uploaded results and filled out Health Questionnaire morning of Wednesday 4th; results were immediately accepted, and we received the QR codes from the questionnaires being completed; Got on plane for your 9 am flight Thursday 5th.
The extra travel/expense involved is not insubstantial. Was not a problem for us, because we are able to combine with visiting many friends and family we have in SV area, but that is a deal breaker for anyone having only one week total available, since most all of it would be on west coast instead of on Hawaii.
As long as you have UPS store in reasonable distance, you should not have to do this just to make the three days, but you then have to trust Vault. For reasons expressed in these comments, that is gambling a bit.
Aloha David. The solution I ran through is the only one we could see happening but 3 nights in San Fran or LA or Vegas is not what we are trying to do so there is that. As a general comment for broader readers, there are many points of failure and that is the problem. From East Coast, many airlines have stopped non stop from airports to West Coast- that adds time. From what I have seen on the back end, there is no assurance of timeline once you put your negative result into the SafeTravels app, so website suggests 24 hours- that adds time. The squeeze is simply too much when squeezed from both sides of the trip. Many many issues and it is not just about the new mandate of having a test before you take off- that actually makes a lot of sense to us, but the 72 hour has to be extended. We calculated 108 hours which was Day 1 Test- Days 2,3,4 test process. Day 5 Put into SafeTravel App and fly to West Coast hoping app is updated when you land. Day 6 fly to Hawaii. (This is normal for East Coast 2 days to fly to HI). So HI either extends hours or East Coast is shut out of Hawaii- unless you plan 3 days on West Coast before HI.
Are they going to get more travel partners not located on the west coast? We are on a direct flight from Chicago and there is nothing other than CVS and Walgreens, which often take longer than 72 hours, to accommodate people not on the West coast.
Aloha Stephanie
We live in AZ (from IL) and got our rapid test at Walgreen’s. We had results in less than an hour. A quick search of participating stores shows several in the greater Chicago area. Just be sure to choose rapid test locations. You can easily back time the 72 hours with a direct flight. Pomaika’i
I could say so much but here is my advice after the experience my family had after reading every forum, being from Seattle and being uber prepared.
1) Use Carbon Health if testing in Seattle/Flying out with Alaska. They get you results under 24 hours. I got mine in 12. Lots of appointments daily and last minute as of the 22nd of November. Clearly Alaska wants travelers and doesn’t want testing to stop that.
2) Be careful with Vault! We ordered 4 tests and sent them back 80 hours before we flew (yes, not 72 hours because Vault has an exception to the time stamp so you can test Thursday morning even if you are flying out Sunday evening- that part had me worried that our tests would be rejected, but I was assured they would not)
*WRITE “STAT HAWAII” on the inside box not just on the shipping bag (we were told it didn’t matter.. BUT, 3 of my family wrote it on the inside and outside and got their results in less then 24 hours) My results they couldn’t find a result and assured me they be there Saturday night. They did not come. When Sunday morning came we had to rush to find a testing site (Carbon Health!!) for my test which wouldn’t come till the next day.
3) If one in your party has a delayed test do not travel with them! You will all be subjected to quarantine! Better option is to ask the airline to change your ticket and travel when your result comes. That is what we did and they helped us for free since we had done everything right and the testing company messed up. THANK YOU ALASKA AIRLINES!!!!
4) Argue for your money back for missing tests. Vault was at least apologetic and paid for all 4 of our tests since it caused such a hassle.
I thought I’d posted this already so apologies if this is a duplicate…
IF you are traveling over Christmas or New Years… Be very diligent in your homework regarding testing as even the 24/7 shop at Vault is not working full days and UPS’s shipping schedule is limited. (Vault’s website has infinite detail on monitored calls, lab hours and even UPS shipping.) (Azova doesn’t work on Saturday and Sunday anyway and Christmas and New Years are on Fridays.)
We’ve actually moved our trip out two weeks because we couldn’t see how we could get tested on time for a 12/27 departure. (We have no access to Rapid Results testing.)
I tried to schedule testing in Las Vegas for our return Hawaiian Airlines flight back home to Hawaii in 3/9, and received message that no appointments available. (At airport). Now what?
If you truly mean your travel is March 9, I doubt very much any appointments would be available yet. If I misread your comment and you can provide accurate date, I’ll be happy to give suggestions.
It’s not mentioned that the test in Culver City is $90 per person. But with that said, the security of knowing that it will be done on time and accepted when I arrive in HI is worth it.
Hi Carole,
It’s pricey to travel during a pandemic both for your heath and the health of those around you, not to mention your wallet.
Please help us keep the islands safe by quarantining in LA as well in before your flight and wearing a mask and distancing form others as much as possible in flight. Also, when in the islands please take a post travel test to continue to ensure the safety of the islands along with wearing our masks and following state & county guidelines.
Thank you for your diligent work in keeping us updated!
Hi Diane.
Thanks for saying that.
Aloha.
I commend Hawaiian Air and others who may be proactive in trying to save their businesses. But it doesn’t make much difference because the HI government is still unpredictable and inconsistent in their actions. As long as the target keeps moving, visitors can’t effectively plan a vacation to HI.
It is a start. Does not answer problem of people who do not live in the four areas served. It means a 2 day lay over. Because of this, I have cancelled my 2 months on the islands. Maybe see you next year!
This is great news,but I’m flying from the east coast. I’m not at fault if “trusted testing partners” don’t report results within the aloted time. If there a contract with these partners, there should be quick results?
Too little too late. We are scheduled to leave Wed the 25th. We did our test on Sunday. Unless the state of Hawaii extends the “quarantine until results are available” we can’t even try. There should have been testing options in place before the change.
Sorry Anna that you feel the new testing rules implemented to actually try and make the safe travels program a bit more safe( Kauai alone has had over a dozen people fly here awaiting results that have been positive) to has cost you your pandemic vacation!
There were testing options in place which you have taken advantage of by your own admission your. Demand for testing is increasing everywhere and thus it’s hard to guarantee tests results in a timely fashion and shouldn’t be blamed on the State of Hawaii but rather people in your own community. Some people would consider your own action of leisure travel during a pandemic to be a risky behavior contributing to COVID’s spread. Hawaiian Airlines is trying to solve the problem with speed of testing providers at the west coast airports for their own bottom line and to appease people like you!
While I personally have lost faith in the safe travels program and it’s effectiveness, at least the state is attempting to make it better with the new rule today requiring the test to be upload prior to departure rather than getting rid of it all together and going back to the 14 day quarantine.
Question: How does a mask work against catching a Virus which escaped from a Level 4 Bio-weapons Lab ?
VAULT UPDATE: If you are traveling around Christmas or New Years and intend to use Vault for your Covid testing, you need to visit their website. They are extremely clear on what their working hours will be, what their lab hours will be AND even what UPS shipping restrictions will be.
Behooves Hawaii state officials to review the protocols utilized by the oil companies for their off shore oil platforms. Particularly for quarantining. The oil companies cannot afford an outbreak of covid and yet quarantining for two weeks requires a huge increase in personnel and expense. At least some oil companies have implemented a viable alternative.
Still no testing for Canadians, despite the announcement.
Good luck. We used this Hawaiian Airlines approved testing, guarantee for the rapid test. 12 hours or less, we received it in 2.5 days!. That means 2.5 days of quarantine… No problem for us but anyone else, ruined vacation for 14 days house arrest with this new mandate. Everyone is back logged for weeks on tests. Dont see Hawaiian Airlines pulling this off…but great effort!
I have read in the last couple of days that there is some approved testing site’s in Alberta.
Please be sure to get tested at Hawaii safe travels test approved partners. I did not, just so I could meet my travel deadline. I quarantined for 14 days at my daughter’s home. It was not easy but you can avoid that lock down by using an approved by Hawaii lab. My results of negative covid were not enough and I could not leave my quarentine go test locally. Hope this helps
I arrived today in Kauai from Seattle, read every forum, did everything right even when info is confusing. When we booked our trip most testing was already booked in person so we used vault. Confusion # 1 – vault said take the test on Thursday am and yet that was more than 72 hours before we flew Sunday night (turns out Vault doesn’t time stamp and since they need the shipping time you really are testing 80 hours before flying most likely but it’s approved by Hawaii to do this for only Vault I believe ) 2#2 if use Vault, make sure you write “stat Hawaii” on the inside box AND the shipping bag. Everyone in our party but 1 did that and all tests but that 1 came back in 24 hours. The final test came back 80 hours later (Monday morning) which made it invalid and led to lots of changed flight and last minute tests booked and was super stressful. Be careful! Carbon Health with Alaska was great. Test was back 4 am the next day and guaranteed by 9 am (though varies by location). Make sure you have QR code and health form and negative tests uploaded in advance and that part was amazingly quick once we landed!
Hi Lala,
Glad it all worked out for your family but your experience proves why traveling during a pandemic is risky and leisure travel isn’t likely worth all the extra stress.
However, now that you are on Kauai where since the safe travel program started the cases have nearly doubled and we lost a Kupuna yesterday: please mask up, follow all the county’s rules (which may be changing soon due to all new travel related cases and participate in the county’s post travel surveillance program.
Yes Sarah,we get it,I’m a Kauai resident too. We will have cases,covid is circulating everywhere,but,people will travel. As you say,wearing a mask,limiting gatherings are what all of us can do to mitigate covid;don’t demonize the traveler.
You are correct that Vault does not time stamp – they only date stamp. We still waited until within the 72 hour window. This is a (mostly) anonymous blog, but you probably don’t want to advertise that you took your test too early, and got away with it.
Yes on “STAT Hawaii”. We wrote that all over the package and box and even the inner bag that holds the test tube in big black sharpie pen. The Zoom ladies recommend that.
Absolutely ready to visit with this news! Thank you Hawaiian Airlines! Now the other airlines will hopefully follow suit.
Having said that, the real issue is the Hawaii Gov’t needs to be proactive and get in the middle of this – why do the airlines need to fix your crazy rules? Put some thought into this and let’s get it right!
Hi Mike,
The Hawaii’s government focus needs to on keeping it’s residents safe, and start exploring other options for economic support of it residents rather than the safe travels program which is causing an increase in cases in the islands for very little economic benefit.
This program is proving to be extremely risky for the islands (take a look at what is happening on Kauai) and it wasn’t the airlines fixing the flaw in a program. The Hawaiian airlines solved the problem that the state’s testing partners can’t meet the deadline because of rise in cases on the mainland and thus the increasing demand for medical an exposure related reasons.
That is all the only thing the state should be doing with regards to fixing the Safe Travels program is to continue to make improvements to the program to make it safer for the islands. Not improve speed to benefit the people who are choosing to travel during a pandemic.
I’m still confused. US BioTek can get me in at 9 a.m. (73 hours before Monday flight) or 10:30 a.m. (71.5 hours). Is either of those correct?
One of those times is much better than the other
DN,
You need to pick a testing time with 72 hours of your scheduled departure. Since you are struggling to figure the safe travels program requirements out, I’d suggest contacting the Hawaii Tourism Bureau for additional assistance with this or any other questions you may have. Wouldn’t want you to come back here to complain about how Safe Travels program screwed you over since you can’t understand the published information on the website and be have to quarantine for 14 days! 😉
I did. No answer despite multiple emails. I suspect they are swamped.
This only applies if you coming in from the west coast, I did an all nighter to make an appointment which wasn’t guaranteed from a trusted partner in Iowa, until you get an email from them,thankfully my family member got a confirmed date and time, which by the way is 2 hours away one way. I live on Oahu, and due to the time difference of 4 hours i did this all nighter trying to find a date and time, I got it at 3:30 am Hawaii time. What doesn’t make sense is the 72 hrs, I got an appointment on Friday for Sunday test and Tuesday flight, got test results in 1hr and it was free
JANET…
Don’t know how to reply to you personally but the PRC test IS an NAAT test.
Recently returned to Napa from Kauai. We did the vault saliva test via zoom which was easy, organized and our results were returned within 36 & 48 hours (shipped to the lab on the 5 PM UPS transport). My wife’s results returned more quickly so I reached out and they were responsive with updates. Obviously the concerns were with the overnight shipping (and inconclusive results) but they let us know when the samples arrived at the lab. As a back up we had scheduled Kaiser Permanente testing the day before travel.
Biggest issue on Island was the lack of people wearing masks… specifically on hiking/walking trails…hopefully Hawaii can reinforce that masks should be required everywhere.
Stay safe.
Aloha
We have been trying to get ahold of Vault for over a week to correct a problem with the names on our tests, 2 are in my name and 0 in my Granddaughters name! Can any help us, we are supposed to leave December 4th
I had tried to reach out to Vault through voicemails and emails and no one contacted me. We did our zoom testing yesterday and she took verified both of us over the zoom call… So hopefully they can input all your correct information at that stage? Good luck
Is it okay to bring your chest results to the airport because we’re flying out of San Diego to Hawaii can we show Hawaiian airlines that we did get tested and we did get negative results
United already had testing with results in 15-20 mins set up for flights out of San Fran long ago with their partner lab Dignity Go Health UC located in the International Terminal. Also with Color outside in parking lot D. Kudos to United. We used them, got our results…were helped by the staff to download our QR code to Hawaii Safe Travel website. Made for a Most easy travel. Would Most Def Recommend
Do you know if Chicago airport is offering this thru United airlines?
No, United only offers the rapid test out of SFO and you will need a layover time or an hour or two, you must be a United costumer, plus $250.
Why even trying to book a vacation to Hawaii, they made so hard to get a test and results on time, like we have the money to lose on vacation rentals and tests that are not guaranteed to be on time. Sad State of Affairs.
There are so many businesses “temporarily” closed, there’s no reason to visit Hawaii unless your plan is to lay by the pool at a resort. And they haven’t bothered updating their business info. So, you don’t find out until you arrive at their front door. Been on Maui for the past few days and I haven’t seen any enforcement of mask wearing. Seems to be mostly locals not wearing masks and having big parties. But tourists are getting the blame for the issues. Treating requirements are not difficult, especially if you love and understand Hawaii even a little.
Exactly how me and my Spokane friends feel. We can’t guarantee the testing to get back to us in time and can’t lose all that money on booked rentals. We had everything lined up and had to cancel. Walgreens is the only approved testing here and they have no available appointments. I’m not going to spend thousands of dollars hinging on a test that can’t be scheduled or the mail in ones with delayed results. Sooo sad. The testing successes seems to only come from the major west coast cities.
Thanks! This site is very helpful and my daughter and I traveled to Kauai on November 13th and returned on the 21st 2 South Carolina and we had no problems we accurately followed all the safe travel procedures had our documents in time and thoroughly enjoyed our vacation mahalo
Hi Lisa.
Thanks for sharing that positive experience.
Aloha.
Hello,
Great news about pre travel tests, but I’m wondering if they will become available in San Diego? We are scheduled to fly out of SD in January and it would be great to have the test available to us.
Thank you so much. Mahalo
Hi Paula.
You would think so but we haven’t heard anything. Alaska has San Diego testing you might check on. Their website states: “San Diego International Airport (SAN): Valet Parking – 2375 Airlane Road, San Diego, CA 92101. Alaska guests must show their flight itinerary and will pay a discounted cost of $170
Appointments are available daily from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm. Test results will be ready by 2:00 pm the next day.”
Aloha.
If Im due fly out on Thursday will I have test results if I take it on Monday
Maybe
THOMA… Just because Walgreen’s and/or CVS exist in an area does not mean they will test. We have a Walgreen’s on just about every corner of our metro area of 850,000+ but only 3 are testing!
Donald I.
We had been scheduled to be in Kona this month. Very disappointed at the obvious confusion at the highest level in Hawaii. Had to cancel. Wanted to re-schedule for May 2021, but the recent moves on testing and quarantine ruined our confidence in their desire to solve the problems.
Still love Kona, but there are lots of other premium destinations which seem to value clients/visitors more than Hawaii. Just booked with one at a huge discount. Thanks to Beat of Hawaii for keeping us informed. We will be back.
Hi Donald.
Thanks for the update. We look forward to your return.
Aloha.