We are going on a vacation!
It seems so long ago that Teresa and I travelled to Japan. Some of you may have read my blog posts about our February 2020 trip to Japan which included visits to Sapporo, Osaka, Kobe, Hiroshima and Kyoto, and then Seoul before heading home. We were very fortunate to not only have an amazing trip but to return home just before the world shut down because of COVID-19.
We have not travelled since then. We had a great summer, enjoying the cottage, playing golf at Bay of Quinte GC and spending lots of time with family and friends. It was fun and although I would not say we were constantly "missing travel", we were certainly looking forward to travelling again. There are many places on our list to visit.
Given both Teresa and I are double vaccinated and cases seemed to be stable or declining (although this goes in waves and certainly the Delta variant and the fourth wave are concerning) we started thinking about travelling again.
We decided on a trip to Southern California and Hawaii. In addition to being beautiful locations and warm (it is starting to get cooler in southern Ontario), Teresa has family in both places. This would allow us to stay with them and in many ways, once we get to our destination, the risk of contracting the disease will not be much different than what we are experiencing here. Obviously, there is some risk at the airport and flying but we will follow the protocols in place and wear an N95 mask. We are hopeful the risk will be relatively low.
I thought I would post a series of articles on our experience with pandemic travel. We are gone for 27 days, so this first article is about preparing for our trip. I will then post an article weekly that will give a sense of travelling during the pandemic and insight into some of the places we visit and things we do.
Preparing for our trip:
Flights - I have a TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite credit card. As you use the card for purchases, points accumulate that you can then use to pay for travel booked on the TD Expedia travel site. The card does allow you to pay for travel using other sites but the best deals seem to be on the TD Expedia site. Off I went to the TD Expedia website. I was expecting the flights to be relatively expensive given that airlines are now trying to make up for the last 2 years. We required multi-city flights - Toronto to LA then 12 days later LA to Honolulu and then 13 days later Honolulu to Toronto. I have generally found these multi-city trips more expensive than a straight one-city return flight. So when I entered the city information into the site and $756 popped up for the Toronto to LA portion, I thought ok, these flights are going to be around $2000+ each. I was very (very, very) pleasantly surprised when I found that the cost for flights to LA, Honolulu and return to Toronto was $625.15 plus taxes fees of $162.46 for a total of $787.61. So the flights for the two of us total on Air Canada/United is $1575.22! I had approximately $1200 in reward points so the flight cost us just under $400! Wow, what a great start. The flights did not allow for cancellation but did allow for rescheduling at no cost (other than if there is an additional cost for the flight you change to which is pretty standard). The cost included advance seat selection (nice) and although the luggage allowed is restricted, my Air Canada Aeroplan Lifetime Million Mile Club membership should allow us to check luggage at no additional cost (it also allows us into the lounge before our flights - a nice bonus). With a great deal on the flights, we were off to an excellent start to our trip.
Medical Insurance - Next up is travel medical insurance. My VISA card includes 21 days of travel medical insurance and you can pay to top that up to the length of your trip. In our case 6 additional days for a total of 27. Does the VISA medical insurance cover COVID-19? The answer is no and unfortunately, they do not have an option to top up the coverage to include COVID coverage. After some brief searching around I chose Manulife's Cover-Me travel insurance which includes coverage for COVID. Unfortunately, you end up paying for non-COVID travel insurance as well as getting the COVID coverage but there was no other option. So I now have double coverage for regular travel medical insurance plus the COVID coverage. Interestingly, under the Cover-Me plan, the COVID coverage is up to $1M, however, if you are double vaccinated the coverage increases to $5M. With double travel medical coverage and $5M of COVID coverage, I feel we are well protected for our trip. The COVER-Me coverage was $146.34 for each of us for the 27 days. Given the potential cost of medical expenses in the US, I think this was well worth it.
Entry requirements - Next I was off to find out the COVID testing/vaccination requirements for entering the US (as it turns out Hawaii has its own requirements) and then returning to Canada. Here is what I found:
Entering the US - The requirement to enter the US is a viral test (NAAT or antigen). This is commonly referred to as a rapid test. Unfortunately, I could not find anywhere that was performing the rapid test outside of Switch Health which is the authorized health clinic at the airport. All the other labs seemed to only offer the full PCR test. In addition to taking longer to get the results, the full PCR test is significantly more expensive $280 versus $68. The test must be performed a maximum of 72 hours prior to your flight's departure. So our choices were to drive out to the airport the day prior to our flight (kind of a waste as it is a long drive) or make an appointment the day of our flight. We opted for the second choice. We booked the first time available at 5:00 am for our flight at 8:00 am. The clinic is off-airport so we have arranged with our limo driver (he has been driving for me for 20+ years) to take us to the drive-through portion of the clinic. We will take the test and he will then drop us off at the terminal. The test results are then sent to your Switch account electronically within 15 minutes of taking the rapid test. If the drive-through does not work for you there is a walk-in clinic which apparently you can get to from the Pearson terminals via the shuttle train. Our driver is picking us up at 4:00 am (ugh) to make the 5:00 am appointment. I will let you know how it works out. Hopefully, my priority Aeroplan membership along with our Nexus cards will get us checked in and through customs for our flight at 8:00.
Entering Hawaii - Hawaii has its own set of entry requirements separate from the mainland US. Essentially you are required to quarantine for 14 days with the following exceptions. If you are a US citizen and are fully vaccinated you can enter Hawaii without the requirement to quarantine. If you are a Canadian (and a few other countries) whether you are fully vaccinated or not you are required to take the full PCR COVID test (no rapid tests allowed) 72 hours prior to your flight. Hawaii is very specific about this and only accepts tests from certain providers. That means once we get to LA we will need to scout out an authorized provider and arrange for the required test. In addition to the testing, you need to set up an account on the Travel Safe Hawaii website, fill in the required personal and travel information and then upload your test results to this site once completed. No account on Travel Safe Hawaii, no entry.
Entering Canada - in order to avoid quarantine in Canada you need to be fully vaccinated and take a full PCR test 72 hours before departure. All of this information must be uploaded to the ArriveCan app for entry into Canada. We will have to arrange for our third COVID test in Hawaii prior to flying home.
I feel like all of this testing will be a challenge, both in terms of taking the tests but also ensuring that we are taking the right tests at the right time and getting the information uploaded into the correct places. Having said that, it is a requirement for travelling during this pandemic so has to be done. I will let you know how it goes.
Rental Cars - I have seen a few articles online that indicated that rental cars were scarce and very expensive. We are not renting a car in California but have rented one in Hawaii. I have a corporate discount code leftover from my workdays embedded into my profile for the car rental company and it seemed to give me a very good rate for the rental. It certainly did not seem out of line compared to the cost on previous trips and they had cars available.
Other Stuff - If you have read my Japan travel blogs you will know that Teresa and I had bought amazing Columbia hiking shoes which we wore in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Japan. We also wore them while hiking in California, Quebec, the Maritimes and Southern Ontario. They were fantastic. Comfortable, waterproof and with a sole that was thick enough to cushion against rugged terrain without being clunky. We enjoyed them so much that we wore them out. We searched both Solomon and Columbia websites and landed on Columbia PeakFreek X2 OutDry Hiking Shoes. OutDry is Columbia's waterproofing technology. They come in men's and women's and are $144.99. Teresa and I each got a pair (different colours). These ones are very similar in design, sole, etc so we are looking forward to hiking in California and Hawaii. We also have Outdoor Research rain jackets and pants from our previous trips (again same jackets and pants in different colours). These are heavy-duty apparel that offers incredible protection from the rain. If I remember correctly you can stand under rainfall as heavy as a waterfall and not get wet. Great if the weather gets cooler or we get caught in the rain.
There was a time after we booked our flights that we were unsure whether we should travel or not. Obviously, both the fourth wave and the Delta variant are a concern but our family in both destinations are happy to have us visit. We really want to see them and know we will enjoy our time in California and Hawaii. So we are planning to go. I will keep you up to date weekly with how it goes.
As always if you have any questions or comments you can email me at thethirdperiod.ca@gmail.com
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