We were in Portugal this summer and there is no problem in finding a place to get a test. It is very simple to find a pharmacy that does them very quickly. Same in Spain…
It was wonderful in both places as crowds are way down.
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We are planning Portugal for June. I’ve been reading the Trip Advisor forums and they are saying the same as you.
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Thank you for the update. This is good to know. Maybe we could consider for the early fall.
Never know where to post Covid info, but for those looking for home test, Costco in the last hour, shows the Flowflex test available. You can order 3 sets of 5 per account.
Dropped off S and DIL near their airport earlier today for their flight tomorrow - had to beat the snowstorm tonight. Essentially everyone in the hotel was masked, clients and workers. Such a change from our hotel in PA where H had his medical procedure done last week when almost no one was masked. The physical areas are only about 2 hours away from each other, but a world of difference when it comes to Covid precautions.
The US sure isn’t united to say the least.
I hope when we leave for St Thomas our hotel is among the masked group. Time will tell.
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FYI. For traveling to HI, new rules are likely coming soon:
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/hawaii-travel-covid-booster-shot/index.html
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Our Covid numbers are reaching new records daily and hospitals are very stressed.
the problem is that omicron doesnt care that you have a booster. I know so many boosted people who have gotten it, and then I know so many that have not been boosted that have exposed and have not. By the time we want to visit Hawaii, who knows, they may require shot number 4. It was number 1 on our vacation list this year, but may be moving down. Not to take away from what is going on there, but their situation is the same as most of the other states, and is it really coming all coming from Tourists?
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I believe it’s still mostly the unvaxed who are getting the most serious cases and ending up in hospital, icu. & morgue. Sure, there are breakthrough cases but thy TEND to be milder and everyone can just do their best to protect themselves and hopefully avoid long Covid.
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Apparently, the new requirements for HI travel (booster of 5-day quarantine) are supposed to take effect on January 24th.
So if we have the booster, we’re good for Hawaii, correct?
I need to figure this out, but if you know, I appreciate it - do we need to get our vaccine data loaded to a website or something before we travel, or does the card work?
TIA
They have a safe travels hawaii website. I’d start there.
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You will have to register with Hawaii Safe Travels and fill out your trip info. Each adult passenger has to have their own login. Just follow the instructions on the site and fill out every piece of information that is mandatory. You will need to upload a PDF of your vaccination card in addition to entering the vaccination information in the Safe Travels form. If you do all of this, you will be fine! You will get a QR code emailed to you. Please bring the vaxx card with you so your information can be verified by the airline, or if the airline is not doing verification, you will have to go through this verification process upon arrival to HI.
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I just returned from Maui. BunsenBurner is correct about what to do online. It is a little confusing but not too bad. It is actually easier now to fill out the information than it was at Christmas time, when the site really pushed using a separate app like Clear. I had some trouble with getting our info into the Clear App and then linking it to our trip; I had more luck just uploading the PDFs directly to the Hawaii Safe Travels site rather than linking to Clear. I did two people and then the state made it easier to put in the trip info by the time I finished the third. I would check back after the 24th also and see if there is anything different to answer about the boosters. Print out your answers right away as it seemed hard to go back and do it later. (As it turned out, we only needed the QR codes at the airport, and at the hotel, where signs near the registration desk specifically said to be prepared to show the printout or login to the safe travels site, we were only asked for our paper vaccine cards.
Traveling is somewhat uncomfortable, what with the masks for such a long flight and the anxiety about being around people so much in the airport, but I felt a safer at the airport knowing that Hawaii does require vaccines or tests. In Maui, shops and hotels required masks. There are plenty of places to eat at outside tables or restaurants that are very open to the outside air. Not everything is open, hours are limited at some places, some services are limited (like housekeeping at hotel, and luggage and requested items all brought to the door but not inside, etc.) It felt quite safe compared to being at home.
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We head out first to CO for grandsons birthday and then off to Maui for 4 weeks. Since we are both boosted we feel it should be ok. I’ve done the safe travels site. We’re traveling with KN95 masks from the approved list, wet ones wipes, hand sanitizer, and our own test kits so we can test before seeing grandson. He turns 5 and is celebrating with his first shot. I think we’ve covered everything.
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I just filled out my Hawaii Safe Travel form. It was pretty easy. I did get stuck on the signature portion - I assumed they wanted it typed - like all of our escrow docs. Tried two browsers before I figured out they wanted it via track pad. Well, okay. Looks like one of my chickens walked across the screen. But I got my QR code and SWA does departure gate verification. I think that means I get a wrist band of some kind.
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When we were in Hawaii last summer some of the restaurants required seeing the vaxx card and registering on a contact tracing thing.
Okay. Thought I’d ask this here since there seem to be some rather sophisticated travelers.
I have two non-refundable tickets with UA that I know we will not be using. Originally purchased with CC miles. If I cancel them, the funds stay on account for a year from original booking.
So…I just asked a booking agent the following…If I take those $$ credits - which were originally CC points and then booked flights - and purchase two fully refundable tickets with them - which I cancel in a week or so…what happens.
I was told the new ticket contract would dictate the refund type. And in this case, cancelled refundable tickets would convert back to mileage points on my CC.
This seems like a heck of a loophole…or incorrect info.
Any thoughts/
Thanks to both who responded - Very helpful.
I will wait until the 24th just to make sure I’m complying with the latest requirements. I feel like we’re going from 0 to 100 with this trip. We’ve stayed pretty close to home and been pretty careful, but we plan on making this trip.
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Since several people have mentioned Maui, any suggestion for going to Mama’s Fish House vs. Lahaina Grill? (Or possibly both, but they look very expensive). We’ve been to Mama’s, but it was 5 years ago.
I made reservations at both (we have 2 birthdays on our trip), but will likely only go to 1. I forgot to make other restaurant reservations, and now it seems we may be too late.
We will be heading to Kauai also, if anyone has suggestions there.