WFH

A week ago, I arrived in Honolulu.

I didn’t tell people because even me musing about the possibility created a kerfluffle. Well, I’m here and you can kerfluffle all you want, but I’m still here.

One does not just walk into Hawaii. Right now, Honolulu has a 1.1% positive COVID rate, and they’d like to keep it that way. You can’t get on the plane without first getting a specific type of test from one of the approved partners, and all the LA ones are drive-through, except the one at LAX. I don’t have a car—on purpose—and usually it’s not a big deal, but this was one time when it was annoying. I couldn’t exactly ask a friend or an Uber to drive me through for a COVID test.

So I took a Lyft (double-masked with the window down) to a luggage storage locker near LAX at 8 am last Sunday, then walked to the airport and got a COVID test. My flight wasn’t until after 1 pm, but the results take 3-5 hours to show up, then have to be uploaded to your account on the Hawaii Safe Travels site. I couldn’t check in without the test results, so I met a friend to sit on some steps and drink coffee. And remember how I read that blog post on how to walk to In-n-Out Burger from LAX and laughed? Well, now I found that blog post and followed the instructions to and from the luggage lockers nearby. But there’s a modification…now you can take a shortcut across the LAX-It lot, where the ride share companies pick up.

Eventually, my results showed up (negative!) and I uploaded them so I could check in.

Then I got a spinning beach ball followed by “Verification in Process.”

What? In process? How long will this take?

At 12:30, I was still waiting, so I changed my flight to a 4:30 one via San Francisco. There aren’t many flights anywhere right now. If I didn’t get on the 4:30 one, I’d have to wait for the next day. But that’s why I only booked two nights at a hotel—too many X factors, wasn’t sure I’d get there.

I dug around online for an answer to what I was supposed to do when the app got stuck—someone said to just print the results and get on the plane. I went back to the test center to ask for a printout, but they said they can’t do that for privacy reasons. Finally, I checked in and went to the airline’s customer service counter, and they printed out my results.

I realized I might be stuck in quarantine for a few weeks, which would suck since I wouldn’t even be able to go for a walk, but I went ahead and got on the plane, wearing my N95 for the LAX-San Francisco leg, then double-masked from SFO-Honolulu.

On the other end, I showed my printout and was processed on into Hawaii!

A friend was here on Monday night, so we met up that evening for carry-ou

t outdoors, and I spent the first day checking out just about every hotel with kitchenettes in Waikiki. I was also scouring the usual sites—AirBnB, VRBO, FlipKey—but those would give me little clues that would lead me to local condo rental agencies. And that’s what I ended up going with, a place called Ali’i Beach Rentals. I moved to a 20th floor condo in the Jack Lord building from the opening credits of Hawaii Five-O (the original).

Due to the time difference from LA, I work 7 am to 4 pm. Then I go swimming or for a walk. I have a bus pass for when I walk too far and need to get home. I have groceries, and because I’m on the outskirts of Waikiki, I can get carry-out. Many things are closed, of course, but several restaurants are open and some stores. The ukulele factory tours are, sadly, all closed for now. I’ve made a day trip to Pearl Harbor and taken a rental car up to the North Shore for a look around.

When they said “WFH,” I thought they meant “Work From Hawaii.” 

Photo album is here.