Travel to Hawaii & NO Quarantine: Our Experience

Planning a trip currently can be tricky. There are multiple steps involved in order to go and avoid the 10 day quarantine upon arrival.

Our trip to Hawaii is a little unique–we are not going to stay on a resort or even a hotel, but we are staying with my brother on the military base. Because we are staying in his home, we know what precautions are being taken as well as the people we are going to be making contact with. Your hotel/resort may have different requirements/safety measures, but this is our experience with entering into the state without quarantining upon arrival.

We used THIS SITE as well as our family there for our preparations.

Registering

You must register with a the Mandatory State of Hawaii Travel and Health form. This site allows you to register as a visitor, enter all your travel information (including flights and negative test results) and the 24 hour health questionnaire. You are also responsible for daily checkins, loaded on this site.

Testing (72 hours)

In order to avoid the quarantine, you must submit a negative covid test (which ones are allowed can be restricted, make sure you check-at our time of travel the only accepted tests were ID and PCR) The tests must be from a listed provider as well. Walgreens is who was approved, who had the type of test we needed (PCR and ID Now). We drove 2 hours to find a location offering the ID Now test. We wanted the 24 hour results and in previous testing, the PCR test came in too close to the 72 hour mark (when we would be leaving) for comfort.

The test must be done within 72 hours or less of THE TIME YOUR LAST FLIGHT LEAVES FOR THE ISLANDS. Make sure to take into account the time zones. You must only get it 72 hours or less from that flight time in that time zone or it is void.

24 Hour Health Questionnaire

24 hours before your flight, you visit the site you filled out your original form. You take the 24 hour health questionnaire.

It is very short and painless, but if you have gotten your flu vaccine, it will ask you the date of that, so you may want to have that on hand.

QR Code

Once you log your negative test results and take your 24 hour questionnaire, you will get a personalized QR code from Travel Hawaii.

It is recommended to print this QR code as well as have it on your phone.

Your MUST have all your forms entered prior to the scheduled time of your last flight. This means you MUST have your QR code prior to the last flight. You do not need to show the QR code in order to get on the flight, but if the time entered is after your scheduled flight, it will be void and you must quarantine.

Other information that may be required

They may ask you to have your lodging information. This you will need for the Hawaii Tourism paperwork required to be filled out while on the plane, as well as in the airport.

They may ask you to have your proof of return flight (proof you are leaving). A printout of your flight confirmation should suffice.

Organizing all the forms

To have all my arrival forms in one place, I screen shot both Alex and my QR code, our flight information, and the address of our lodging. I then printed them on one page as a 4×6 photo. Printed, I had all my proof in one place.

We also printed our negative results (from the lab-with our name, date/time of test, test provider, and results).

I also moved my airline app, my wallet (that is where tickets are on an iPhone), and the Travel Hawaii shortcut to their own folder on their own screen on my phone. I saved my QR code as a photo widget on that page.

Flight

Check with your specific airline for their own policies.

Masks are (currently) required in absolutely all areas of the airports we are visiting (some airports may vary, but this is the policy on the airports we are flying from) as well as our flight at all times (United). They were very strict on this, said it many times, and were also particular that the mask cover your nose and mouth. No vented masks were allowed, they (United) provided you with a mask to wear on the flight and store your vented mask if you had one.

Our flight is a 9.5 hour flight (Chicago – Honolulu) and there is no food service offered (in economy). They encouraged you to bring any food/snacks you wanted (no alcohol) from the airport.

Our flight on our small plane from Appleton International (it is a total of 8 gates, its TINY) to Chicago was FULL. I am assuming since most people need to get to bigger cities (Chicago) for connecting flights. Our flight to Hawaii had A LOT of open seats and people sat in their assigned seats upon boarding but then spread out when the seatbelt sign was removed.

Airport notes

Vendors at the airports may be limited so you may want to pack some snacks and know its possible for not all food options/dietary restrictions to be provided.

Masks were required everywhere we went in the airport.

Cleaning and sanitizing carts/staff were seen in many locations and throughout.

There were many hand sanitizing stations.

Almost everything was closed in the Honolulu airport. we stopped at a target on the way there to get some snacks for this flight.

Arrival Notes

They want to have your QR code, tickets, etc digitally. It is a multi-hour flight so make sure you have a charger cord or battery pack to make sure you have phone power upon arrival.

Once arriving in Honolulu, we were all herded to a Travel Hawaii site. They wanted us to have the QR code and ID ready–they even had us check and prove it was out half way through the line so it was very ready upon arrival.

The actual process was easy. They scanned the QR code, checked your ID, scrolled through your profile and sent you on your way to baggage claim.

Places of business really suffered when things were shut down due to the fact a majority of their economy is tourism. Places are happy and eager to be open, but are also cautious with bringing the virus to their island.

Places of business are running at reduced capacity so wait times and availability may be limited.