Latest / Hawaii Travel Podcast by Hawaii’s Best: Plan a Better Hawaii Vacation / How to Travel to Maui Right Now

Transcript

How to Travel to Maui Right Now · Hawaii Travel Podcast by Hawaii’s Best: Plan a Better Hawaii Vacation

• 0:00
  Bryan Murphy: Today we're talking all about how to travel to Maui right now, whether you're flying direct or have a layover on Oahu. This episode answers all those questions.
• 0:11
  Bryan Murphy: Let's do it.
• 0:14
  Hawaii's Best: Welcome to Hawaii's Best podcast where we help you prepare for your next trip to Hawaii. Discover the experiences, businesses and stories that make Hawaii the Aloha state. And now your host, Brian Murphy.
• 0:28
  Bryan Murphy: Hello and welcome to another episode of Hawaii's Best where we help prepare you for your next trip to Hawaii. My name is Brian Murphy, the owner of Hawaii's Best where we offer resources, tips and local cultural insights to get the most out of your visit on the islands so you can discover the Aloha state on episode 50. I went over how to travel safely to Hawaii right now during this COVID season and how to navigate the state's Safe travels program. Today, this has been our most downloaded episode within a week of its release, which is amazing. Thank you so much. However, it opened up a Pandora's box if you will. And the messages and emails started flooding in with a lot of questions asking about inter Island travel since there are so many layers to traveling to Hawaii right now. Over the next few episodes, I'll be unpacking how to travel to other islands such as Maui, Hawaii and Hawaii Island. We're gonna jump right in and talk about how to travel to Maui right out. And as a refresher from Episode 50, the five steps to travel to really any Island right now and to navigate Hawaii's Safe travels program. Step one is you're going to want to select a COVID test option. And it must be from a Hawaii approved testing site.
• 1:56
  Bryan Murphy: And step two would be take the test no more than 72 hours prior to your last leg of departure.
• 2:06
  Bryan Murphy: Children five years and up must be tested. And you're gonna want to take into account time zones and all that stuff, especially if you're flying from the east coast and you have a layover on the west coast. You want to take into account 72 hours as the last leg of your departure. And to get all that info. Be sure to go to our show notes and listen to Episode 50 where I unpacked all that good stuff. Step three, create an account on the state of Hawaii's Safe travels website. pretty self explanatory. Step four is upload your negative test results to your safe travels account. And Step five is you'll need to present your QR Code of negative test upon arrival. And that is definitely at the airport. And also if you're planning on renting the car, they'll ask to see your QR code as proof of a negative COVID test. Also, if you are checking into a hotel or resort, they're more than likely asked to see that QR code as well. All right, so now on to Maui County, Maui County being the islands of Maui. Lanai and Molokai II. The other counties of Hawaii and Hawaii Island have a few differences. And those will be covered on a later episode. Probably one of the most asked for islands how to travel to would be Maui. We're going to cover that right now.
• 3:36
  Bryan Murphy: And the other ones we'll we'll tackle within this month.
• 3:38
  Bryan Murphy: Probably the biggest news right now is coming out of Hawaii.
• 3:42
  Bryan Murphy: They have just been approved to rejoin the states Safe travels program. And that's going to be starting on April 5. That is amazing news because for the last few months, they've been doing this resort bubble thing that's been honestly kind of confusing how to navigate and and travel to Hawaii has been pretty confusing, honestly. So starting April 5. Now he will rejoin the Safe travels program and we will unpack all that at a later episode. So stay tuned. Be sure to subscribe and follow.
• 4:19
  Bryan Murphy: Shameless plug there anyways, anyways, when thinking about this episode, there are three main questions or topics that we've been getting at Hawaii's Best about travel to Maui. And those three would be questions like my final destination is Maui, but my connecting flight is on a while. Another question that we've been getting is I'm flying direct to Maui. What should I know? And we'll unpack some of that because it's a little bit different than flying direct to Oahu. And the other question is What's with this aloha safe alert app? So we're gonna unpack those three things pretty quickly here. But first I just want to give you this week's review of the week, as we are all about spreading aloha here, at Hawaii's Best.
• 5:15
  Unknown: around.
• 5:20
  Bryan Murphy: I don't know what it is, but our podcast really has shot up in the rankings in in ratings this last few weeks.
• 5:29
  Bryan Murphy: And I just want to say, honestly, thank you so much, when starting Hawaii's Best starting a podcast was kind of always on the back burner, something that I've always wanted to do. And it's really cool that it's actually here and this podcast that we so desperately want to provide value to you and for you as you visit Hawaii and I just want to say thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. It really means a lot. And today's review comes from sky boy mF CEO on Apple podcasts in his title one island to another. He goes on to read Aloha. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. And I've been in love with Hawaii since I had sent a reasoning I found about this podcast through Instagram. And I'm so hooked with all the information and storytelling. Hawaii and its people have an amazing place in my heart. I go multiple times a year and hoping to call it home sometime soon. Thanks for bringing aloha miles away to those who love and respect Hawaii the most. Stay safe and be well. Aloha.
• 6:41
  Bryan Murphy: Sky boy MCU. I don't know your real name. But I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, I appreciate that. And thank you so much for taking the time to do that. And if you've been listening to Hawaii's Best for a while, I would highly encourage you to just take a couple minutes and leave a rating and honest review below that would mean the world to us here at Hawaii's Best. Alright, so going on to how to travel to Maui.
• 7:07
  Bryan Murphy: Let's do this. So the first question may be complex at the surface, but it's pretty, I think an easy answer. And I'm gonna read right from the Safe travels website. To me it sounds a bit confusing, and I'm going to unpack that for you. It goes on their read in their Frequently Asked Questions my flight lands in Honolulu on Oahu, but my final destination is one of the neighbor islands.
• 7:32
  Bryan Murphy: Will I need to show my pre test negative results QR code to airport personnel in Honolulu or do this when I arrived on the neighbor Island. That is my final destination. And the answer on the website Safe travels is this upon arriving at Honolulu, you will then be required to fill another Safe travels Hawaii program application form that will apply to your trip from Honolulu to your neighbor Island destination airport. This would also be the process if you land on the island of Maui, Hawaii or the island of Hawaii first in transit to a another island.
• 8:15
  Bryan Murphy: obtaining your QR code for Hawaii airport processing prior to departure will significantly reduce your arrival airport screening. So a further question would be to this. What if my final destination is Maui, however, I have a layover on Honolulu wahoo. And here's what the Hawaii State Department of Health had to say on that quote, if you have just a layover in Honolulu, then the negative test result is good through your final departure, such as Maui, and I answered that and it goes on to read if your break in Honolulu is more than a layover.
• 9:02
  Bryan Murphy: Then you are captured by the inter Island quarantine captured why I don't know why use the word captured. But anyways, what it means is if you have a layover as simply a layover in Honolulu, and you're traveling to Maui, then your negative test result is good through your final destination being Maui.
• 9:26
  Bryan Murphy: And it's kind of ambiguous the wording is what's more than a layover. And I would say like if you're not traveling the same day or if you're not traveling, you're connecting flight isn't within a couple hours of arriving in Honolulu, that's probably more than a layover. If that's the case, then you got to do the whole process again and that's what it means about being captured by the inner Island quarantine. It goes back to the testing negative to COVID 72 hours prior to departure. And you have to do that through inner Island travel as well, we're gonna link in the show notes, the approved testing inner Island partners. So be sure to check that out. If you are planning on traveling to Maui, and you've stayed on a wahoo, say, for seven days, 14 days, you're going to need a test again at your own expense, kind of like how you tested going to a wahoo, you're going to need a test again, in order to get to Maui. But if you simply have a layover in Honolulu, at the airport, and your connecting flight is within a few hours of going to Maui, then your native test results that you took initially will be good to get you in to Maui.
• 10:49
  Bryan Murphy: Goodness, I hope that all made sense. Now, if you are flying direct to Maui, all the things apply as far as everything that we talked about in Episode 50, you know, getting results of a negative COVID test within 72 hours of your last leg of departure that all applies flying direct to Maui. If you're flying, for example, le X to Maui that applies for that route. Some of the things you should know flying to Maui, I would say to any of the islands but especially to Maui, people are taking safety and health precautions very seriously on Maui. And I would just ask you to travel Pono traveled responsibly. wear a mask when you're out. And you've probably heard this over and over and over. And I don't know where you stand with the whole mass thing.
• 11:35
  Bryan Murphy: But if you're planning on going to Maui, please be respectful of I would just say on the heart and behalf of the local business owners to Yes, go out and explore Maui. Go support local businesses go support the businesses of Maui. But please just be mindful of the mask requirements there as you're traveling and going about and doing your thing. So thank you for for doing that. If you're planning on doing road to Hana, which is such a huge and epic journey, which is like a whole day process, right? Just be mindful that Hana has slowly started being to being reopened.
• 12:21
  Bryan Murphy: The locals that live in Havana have been pretty reluctant, honestly, to welcome back travelers again, because resources out in Havana on the east side of Maui are so precious and so scarce, we just have to be mindful that a lot of influx to that location could be damaging, it could compromise the health and well being of Honda. So as you're traveling to Havana, I'm not going to discourage traveling road ohana.
• 12:55
  Bryan Murphy: Because if you do it responsibly, like travel Pono.
• 12:59
  Bryan Murphy: If you do it responsibly, you do it with a we do with Aloha, you'll be welcome. But just be mindful of the trails you go on.
• 13:07
  Bryan Murphy: Be mindful of where you're traveling in the car where you're hiking. And that can really go a long way on Maui as you're traveling to ohana. And I mean that can go a long way on any of the islands as you travel Pono. The other question is about this aloha safe alert app.
• 13:29
  Bryan Murphy: And this is kind of where Maui is set apart from the other counties. They require you. And they're super serious about downloading the Aloha safe app.
• 13:39
  Bryan Murphy: And we'll link that in the show notes because it's super important. If you don't have that on your smartphone, you are subject to the 10 day quarantine. So Maui is super serious about making sure you have this app downloaded prior to entry into Maui County. And I'm just gonna kind of go through a few of their frequently asked questions on Maui county.gov about this app.
• 14:09
  Bryan Murphy: And you can I'll link it up in the show notes because I only want to give you official information and not speculation.
• 14:17
  Bryan Murphy: So one of the first question is you probably wondering what is the Aloha safe, alert app? Now he county.gov goes on to say that it's a free app for your mobile phone that notifies users of possible exposure to someone who has tested positive to covid 19. Why does Maui County require all arrivals to download and activate this app and it goes on to read it is another layer of protection in our communities battle against Coronavirus early exposure notification alerts users to be tested and if needed, participate in contract tracing in quarantine to prevent additional spread. So probably the biggest question is question three on this website is, well, how does it work. And they go on to say if a person is diagnosed with COVID-19, they will receive a text message from the Department of Health with a verification code to input into the app using Bluetooth technology. The app will anonymously alert other devices about possible COVID-19 exposure. It anonymous, it anonymously, I can't see that word. It anomalously tracks, you get it devices that have been in close contact within six feet in over 15 minutes. During the past 14 days, individuals who receive an exposure alert will not know where how or when they were exposed. So you can read the rest of the FAQs on Maui county.gov about this app. I don't want to go into all of them. There's like nine different questions. 1011 Oh, my goodness, wait, there's like 1214 there's 14 different FAQs about this app. And you can go to Maui county.gov, if you really want to get to Maui, you're gonna want to make sure you download this app, it's not a big deal. But if you are on the fence about having this app, I totally get it. Maybe your next trip to Hawaii isn't Maui, but it is on a wahoo where if you want to travel to wahoo, go to Episode 50. And all the things that I discussed there, we'll get you in to a wahoo. But traveling to Maui, there's not a lot of additional hurdles, there are some but just to be mindful of.
• 16:39
  Bryan Murphy: That's why I wanted to bring you this episode. And I just want to say thank you so much for listening to this and being a part of this community. Like I mentioned about the review earlier. If you've been listening to this podcast for some time, and you like it, and you want other people to find it who love Hawaii as much as you probably not more than you but as much as you go ahead and leave a rating and review if you are listening on Apple
• 17:08
  Unknown: podcast. I
• 17:09
  Bryan Murphy: totally appreciate that. Well until next time, friends be well. Aloha.
• 17:15
  Hawaii's Best: Thanks for listening to Hawaii's Best podcast. To stay up to date on future episodes. Be sure to subscribe. For more information to help you plan your next trip to Hawaii visit Hawaii's Best travel
• 17:28
  Bryan Murphy: calm