A lot has happened since I last posted!
First, we got word that our kids have the option to return to school in person starting 9/28, a week from Monday. Woot! Woot! We are going with that option. The kids are looking forward to going in person again.
Summer weather is still lingering here in Arizona (of course it is!) but I'm thrilled to report that the low temps are now in the 70s early in the morning instead of in the mid-80s. YES! Our garden is thankful for the relief.
Then, we finally and officially cancelled our Maui trip for next March. We were supposed to go with my sister, who was footing the bill for the condo we'd all be staying in. That trip was originally going to happen this past summer, but COVID-19 got in the way of that. My sister rescheduled the accommodations to what would be our kids' spring break and I was able to change our United airline flights with no change fees.
Since then, I've been following the Hawaii local news about traveler restrictions. Honestly, the level of disorganization that the state government there appears to have right now is pretty bad in my opinion. It took the governor's office 7 months to come up with a plan and announce yesterday that there will be a way for tourists to not have to quarantine for 14 days inside their hotel room. Some of the highlights of the situation include:
- starting 10/15, tourists can get a COVID-19 test 72 hours before they get on the airplane. Has to be the poke-you-in-the-brain test.
- You can ONLY get the test at Kaiser Permanente (which doesn't operate where we live) or CVS Pharmacy.
- You have to bring a paper copy of the test results with you when you land in Hawaii.
- Your test results have to be negative.
- It costs $140 per person for the test.
- If you don't take the test, you must quarantine in your hotel room for 14 days. This means no stopping between airport and hotel or condo to pick up food at the grocery store. No leaving to get take-out from a local restaurant. You must drive straight to your hotel. If you are caught breaking the rules, you are arrested.
- The island of Kauai got state government approval to set up ONE big hotel resort as a 'resort bubble,' which will allow tourists to not have to stay in their hotel rooms for 14 days. BUT you can only stay on the hotel grounds. And you must wear a GPS tracking bracelet the entire time. If you tamper with the bracelet or take it off, it automatically notifies the police and you are arrested.
- The island of Maui (where we were going to go) is developing plans to set up a couple of similar hotel resort bubbles, too. The local officials think that this will bring tourists back.
- VRBO or AirBNB condo or house rentals are forbidden right now temporarily (which is the sort of place that we'd be staying).
- The island of Maui has ONE hospital. It's regularly been in the local news over the last year for having questionable infection control practices. Earlier this year, employees were not practicing proper infection control and cross-contaminated MANY patients and staff with COVID-19, resulting in some deaths.
- On top of all that, if you need medical care in Hawaii, there is a ~4% tax added onto your bill.
Over the past 7 months, we've watched the HI governor first announce that he's doing one thing, then change his mind, then allow businesses to reopen, then shut it all down, then say they're starting the 3-day testing program on one date, then back off on that and cancel it, etc., etc. What a nightmare for everyone who lives there.
The state has ~ 30% unemployment right now. Lahaina (a town which I really love) is basically totally shut down right now because all of the businesses there run off of tourist dollars. As a result, the homeless apparently have moved in from the hills and are camped out on the sidewalks like you see in downtown LA.
So we're not going. My sister is still going. She's not rescheduling the condo reservation. She's going to ask some friends to go with her. I hope it works out for them and I hope that they have a good time. But I'm glad to not have to bother with that mess right now.
Last night, I checked on the United Airlines website and it said that both of our flights (TO and FROM Hawaii) are eligible for refunds!
So am I happy today? YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT! We were going to fly out of LAX. Yes, we were going to DRIVE from Phoenix to LAX and then fly to Maui. Why? Because that would save us $2000 on the airfare alone. And now I'm getting all of our money back from the Hawaii flights. YAHOO! With the refund, this will basically pay for the rest of our WDW trip and leave enough left over to cover our food expenses for our adults-only trip to WDW this January.
YAY!
In other good news, there is talk on the Disneyland board (in the Disneyland reopening speculation thread) that there might be DL reopening announcements coming soon. That would totally make my week, month, heck it would make my YEAR! Why?
Well, because back in January, I bought 2-day 1-park-per-day DL tickets for the 4 of us so we could go experience Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. We were going to go over our spring break in March. Well, a week before we were to go on that road trip, YDD came down with influenza (not COVID-19, confirmed with a nasal flu test at an urgent care). She was sick for about 5 days but didn't really get her energy back until a couple of days AFTER we would have been at DL. We didn't go.
It turns out that it was probably good that we didn't go because during spring break back in March is when everything shut down. Our school shut down and went to all online. So did everybody else's school pretty much everywhere.
I still have those tickets on the DL app on my phone. I still have the 2 1-day parking passes that I purchased, too. When DL reopens, I just might take some of the Hawaii refund $$ and spring for a 1-night's stay at the Paradise Pier Hotel so we can get priority on park reservations. That would be pretty darn fantastic.
In yet other good news, the new Mandalorian Season 2 trailer came out the other day. OMG! If you haven't seen it yet, you should go watch it!