- What's it like to travel right now in Hawaii.
I'm Chris,
this is the Traveling Princess.
We just got back from O'aho.
Actually, we're here right now.
By the time you see this video
we'll be back so you can see it on YouTube.
We're going to tell you everything you want to know
about how things are different in O'ahu.
If you're traveling here this summer.
But before I tell you what it's like actually
different in Hawaii.
Let me tell you what's different
about the airline experience getting here.
We flew out of John Wayne, Orange County Airport.
United just started offering new flights this year
this summer
direct from Orange County, California to O'ahu.
We got the flights
for about two-hundred fifty bucks each
pretty good deal.
We bought seats for me.
Osee girl,
and our eighteen month Traveling Princess.
Note, I have never traveled with so much
stuff in our life.
This is our first time traveling
with a toddler
more about that will be coming soon
in our video all about tips for traveling with toddlers.
So the first thing that was different
about this trip for us to Hawaii
is this the only trip we've gone to Hawaii
where we've had to get a COVID-19 test before we go.
So Hawaii has this list
of trusted providers that you have to get a test with.
And they range in price.
We're members of Kaiser Permanente,
which is a HMO health insurance organization.
And they actually have a location
a few miles from our house.
So we went to Kaiser seventy-two hours
before our trip to Hawaii.
We stayed in our car.
We got our nasal swabs, twenty-four hours later
we got our COVID-19 result.
It was negative.
And so then we went
to the travel.hawaii.gov website,
uploaded our information.
When we went to the United check-in counter
we printed our boarding passes.
We checked in our luggage.
And when we did that, then they asked to see our QR codes
and they verified our QR codes there at the airport
in Orange County, and then gave us these United wristbands.
And they said with these wristbands
you can bypass the QR code checks at Honolulu airport.
That was pretty nice.
And I'll get to more about why that was so nice later.
So now boarding the plane United's is back
to it's usual boarding process
with the group numbers
and priorities and all those sorts of things.
As we walked onto the plane
a flight attendant was handing out disinfecting wipes.
That's a new one.
And of course, everybody was merry, wearing masks.
Once the flight boarded and the door was closed
the flight was about sixty percent full
I would think in normal times, flights
to Hawaii would be almost a hundred percent full.
So this was generally less full than most
of the flights I've taken in the past to Hawaii.
On the plane,
they were doing drink service with a cart
but the food service was significantly limited.
They were handing out an all
in one snack bag to people
that included pretzels,
the Biscoff cookie,
and sanitizing wipes, and a water
all in one bag.
For Buy On-Board,
they didn't hand out menus.
They had a QR code,
you could scan.
They were not taking cash
or credit cards on the plane.
They were requiring you to register
your credit card
in the United app or on the United website
before you fly to then purchase things on the plane.
We didn't actually do that,
but the new check-in experience
does prompt you to register a credit card,
so you can buy on-board.
If you are expecting to buy food on-board
on United
then make sure you register a credit card ahead of time.
The other new thing on the plane is in the bathrooms,
in addition to the soap
they also had a hand sanitizer dispenser
right next to it.
We didn't have any significant mask altercations.
None of the passengers
on our flight were punching the flight attendants.
I will say that the mass compliant was decent.
The flight attendants would remind people
occasionally.
Some people were probably
wearing their masks a little less than they should.
So after a smooth five and a half hour flight,
we landed in Honolulu airport.
When we got off of the jet bridge
we were greeted by a military officer who wanted to
take our Traveling Princess's temperature.
He didn't take our temperature
but he did take our baby's temperature.
I guess that worked out well.
So we were allowed to continue through the airport.
Now, as we walked out
of the terminal where the United flights are
there then became some lines and signs about
have your QR code ready.
There were a whole bunch of line stanchions set
up on the right hand side,
but they looked at our wristbands
and sent us to the left
and said, go on with things no problem.
Which was nice,
because those lines looked
like they could be quite long
to scan the QR codes at the airports.
Not all airlines are doing this
and not out of all airports,
but some airlines out
of some airports are doing the pre-clearance there.
So if your airline is offering it, your airport
make sure you take advantage of it.
So you don't have to stand in line when you get to Hawaii.
Now, if you pass the QR code checks, the general vibe
of the Honolulu airport was pretty much dead.
A lot of the stores
and restaurants were closed or they had limited hours.
We picked up our baggage as we usually do headed
across the street to pick up our rental car.
The rental car lines were unusually short compared
to previous years.
I know there is whole rental car shortage
and there are stories about people getting here
and not having rental cars available for them.
That wasn't a problem.
We got our rental car
with Hertz
that we booked about four months ago.
For six days, we paid four-hundred and fifty dollars.
I tried to look
at what the rates are like a week or two ago.
They were all sold out.
So they weren't even booking cars.
So if you're planning a Hawaii vacation
make sure you book a car well ahead
of time because the rates are pretty crazy
but we did get our rental car,
no problem.
They gave us a Ford Explorer, which is a huge car
which is kind of tough to drive in Honolulu
um but it was nice to put all the baby gear in it.
So then we drove our Ford Explorer
towards Waikiki and stopped at our favorite Zippy's
for some Hawaiian plate lunches.
Now the experience at Zippy's was different
because there was no dine in at all.
Everything was takeout.
In Hawaii, They are currently allowing dine-in
but not all restaurants
are actually allowing dine-in.
So Zippy's is one place that was just to go.
So we got our Zippy's to go
we ate in the car.
It was still pretty tasty.
Made our way to the Hyatt Regency
in Waikiki, where we checked in
our room wasn't quite ready,
but as we were checking in,
they asked to see our QR code
on the Hawaii safe travels website.
Actually, they wanted more than the QR code.
They wanted both Osee girl and I on our cell phones
to log in to the Hawaii Safe Travels website,
and show them the page that has the QR code
and the flight information.
And I'm going to tell you just a little bit more
about the hotel experience
and then I'll tell you about the rest of Hawaii.
So the hotel itself,
the check-in lines were long
because they had only two check-in counters open.
I think they've got less staff due to the pandemic
and everybody was still arriving in three o'clock
at the same time.
There was no valet parking
only self parking, which is annoying
because the parking structure here is really lousy.
We would've valet parked, (baby cooing)
actually we self, parked.
And then at the check-in desk,
when she said, "Hey
are you self parking with us?"
And I was like, we did
but I think we'd really like to valet park
When we come back,
she's like, ah, yeah, about that.
Yeah, we're not doing valet parking,
like, Hmm, okay.
They asked if you know we want housekeeping every day,
every couple of days,
every four days
we opted for every day.
So they are doing daily housekeeping,
at least at the Hyatt Regency.
Now across the hotel,
many things are still closed.
Many restaurants are still closed.
Many shops in the hotel are open limited hours.
The breakfast buffet is now full service,
so instead of serving yourself, they serve you.
They also offer a takeout option.
If you dine in at the breakfast buffet
then they were doing a temperature checks.
And they also asked us to do a contact screening
where we filled out our name and information.
The Traveling Princess back here
has decided she wants to be
in the video.
We just finished breakfast here on the balcony.
And she was like, Papa, why am I not in this video?
Well, now you are Traveling Princess.
Now that we're finished
with the flight experience, getting to Hawaii.
Let me tell you what it's like actually here in Hawaii.
And coming into Waikiki,
the traffic, there's still traffic.
Actually, there's more traffic than we thought.
I think people are now starting to come back to work.
So traffic is starting to get busy again.
Getting to Waikiki,
we thought it would be empty and nobody was here.
But as soon as we started coming down that main street
we saw lots of people on the beach.
Lots of people on Waikiki's main business district.
When we checked into our hotel,
we found the parking garage to
be quite full
long lines at check-in,
and so even though there are no Japanese tourists here
even though Hawaii is open to the Japanese.
There aren't any Japanese tourists
cause they have to quarantine
when they go back home.
There's still a lot of tourists from the mainland,
probably because it's cheap
and so a lot of people want to come here.
Although a lot of the businesses
and the restaurants are still closed,
which makes the ones that are open,
get extremely busy
the Eggs and Things in Waikiki
the Morrow Gamay Udon had lines that went all the way
down the block, because there's about half
as many seats in those places
as there used to be.
Our favorite place to eat
in Waikiki, Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin
we usually have no problem eating there.
If we get there at opening
or get there at three o'clock
we got there ten minutes before they opened
and they told you we had to come back
in two hours because everything was on a reservation basis.
We found a lot of the restaurants we would go to
would do temperature checks.
They would ask us to fill out information
about our name and our phone number,
like contract tracing.
Sometimes people ask us to do it on a phone.
Sometimes people ask us to hand write it.
It was really hit or miss how they did it
and actually some stores were doing temperature checks too.
So overall, most thing
like the big tourist attractions
like Diamond Head right here,
it's open.
The beaches are open.
Probably the best thing,
if you're planning a trip now is that
um you don't have to wear masks outside.
Masks are only required inside,
but you'll still see a lot of people out
on the streets wearing masks,
maybe cause they had them on.
cause they went out of a store
maybe they feel more comfortable.
So it's about fifty-fifty
people outside that are still wearing masks.
Now a lot of people ask me about live entertainment
and there is still some live entertainment
in Waikiki out here at Duke's on the Beach
there's a live band.
at the Westin Moana Surfrider
there was a live band,
but what we didn't see,
we didn't see the typical
hula performances that are everywhere,
in front of the Hyatt
there's usually hula performance.
Ala Moana there's hula
at some of these shopping centers,
you'll see fire knife dances.
The torches that are usually on,
on Waikiki beach
the public ones on the beach.
They are not on,
there's a few torches here
at the hotels that are on,
but it just doesn't
have the same amazing lively Hawaiian vibe where
you just like walk into a mall,
And you're like,
oh my gosh, there's someone
like dancing with fire,
but it is busy
and at Duke's,
we heard there were some people waiting
for a table for three hours.
So if there's some places that you want to eat at
definitely make a reservation
or you might be waiting a really long time for your table.
Now overall, although things were busy
we had to wait in line to eat.
Things were limited.
We had to wait in line to get into stores.
We still really enjoyed our Hawaii vacation.
Just plan for things.
If you're coming to be a little bit more island time
because due to the pandemic
things take a little longer.
It takes longer to get through the airport.
It takes longer to pick up your rental car.
It takes longer to check in.
It takes longer to eat places.
And also
restaurants, shops, open later
and close earlier.
In Waikiki, lots of things were opening at noon
and closing at five.
So if you do come
make sure to plan
to get to things as they were open.
For example,
Diamond Head right here
the last entry is usually four-thirty,
due to the pandemic,
the last entry is now four P.M.
Well if you enjoyed this video,
you might enjoy watching some
of our other videos on Hawaii.
In particular, you'll find our video right here,
all about this hike, all
about hiking Diamond Head
or our full playlist right here.
As usual, we won't say goodbye
because we'll see you in one of these videos.
Since we're in Hawaii,
we'll actually just say "aloha."
(wind blowing) (baby cooing)