To say the last few months have been a whirlwind feels like an understatement. We just got here 8 days ago – July 31st – and yes we are quarantining (more on that later). But first, the obvious: how did we end up here? I also briefly detail what our day of travel experience was like.
Over Memorial Day, we drove down to Pismo Beach to get out of the city for a socially distanced weekend. On the way out, we ordered from Philz Coffee (an SF staple) and Leigh was picking it up while I waited in the car. Leigh gets in with the coffees and begins to tell me about a conversation she overheard in line. A couple ran into some friends and begin telling them they were moving out of SF to road trip for the rest of the year. They would move to a new location every month.
Lightbulb!
By Memorial Day, I think most of us were beginning to question the point of life after having been cooped up at home for the better part of 3 months. For us in particular, we started to question why are we living in the most expensive city in the US when we really don’t need to physically be here? We spent the rest of the weekend scheming as to what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go.
With San Francisco being so expensive, we figured we could literally move ANYWHERE for cheaper than what we’re paying now. That and the fact we don’t have anything tying us down to SF left us in an the unusual position of being able to choose our next move.
When we made the list below, we had no idea that the first wave of COVID would actually never end. It was that weekend that the United States hit 100,000 deaths from COVID, while today we stand at more than 160,000 with no signs of abatement.
Our criteria was as follows:
- Reduction in cost of living (easy)
- Lots of free outdoor activities, including the winter, when we expected the second to hit
- A killer view
Tahoe? Sounds awesome, but what about the winter? If the second wave is as bad as scientists are saying, will the ski resorts open? How about a SoCal beach town? Sounds awesome, but the weather isn’t great in the winter, not to mention the “town” part of it could be severely reduced. The Pacific Northwest was also high on our list, but again, winter. The idea of moving monthly also sounded appealing, however my concern was that if things went south, where would we be when the music stopped? What if short term rentals got shut down again like they did in many places in March/April? A lot of risk, we decided.
“What about Hawaii?” one of us asked.
Coincidentally my brother was in quarantine at port when there was an COVID outbreak on his naval ship about this time, allowing us to be able to talk to him regularly. Hawaii is notoriously difficult to move to with a pet because they’re a rabies-free state (the only one in fact). Since he’d done it, we picked his brain and it sounded daunting. We started to look into the requirements and I thought, okay this is a lot of stuff, but it’s manageable. I’ll provide those details in a separate post.
At the same time, I started casually looking at apartments on different islands. Oahu sounded great if things opened back up because there’s so much culture on the island, but traffic sucks, housing is more expensive, and it’s just crowded. I’ve been to the Big Island several times and absolutely love it there, however it’s a little too laid-back. Maui – where we’ve both been exactly once – seemed to split the difference between the two.
After sifting through a lot of scams on Craigslist, we ended up finding a rental from a local realtor who was taking her vacation rentals off the market. At that time, she had a couple from Seattle that had come to Maui for about a week in March and was still there…in June! The location of the unit in Kihei looked perfect, not to mention it was ocean front. The pictures looked incredible; we’ll take it!
And so began the whirlwind that was the last 2 months of dog vaccinations, blood work, and vet check-ups, all the while packing up an apartment we really loved. Leigh’s work quickly approved her move, however mine was a little more complicated but ultimately got approved. During the same time, my work was requiring 60 hours a week, leaving my what feeling perpetually drained.
We elected to not tell anyone until we get all of our affairs in order, including the certification from the state of Hawaii that we could bring our dog, Dallas. To think all of our plans could’ve been torpedoed by a dog!
We made it, but how was traveling again?
The last time we were on a plane was March 19, when we flew back from Mauritius. To say it was a surreal experience isn’t really adequate. We’d flown through Istanbul – and the incredible new airport there – in both directions. We started our trip in South Africa, and on our way there on March 4, the airport was mostly bustling; the business-class lounge was a great experience. On the way home was another story. The airport was mostly shutdown; huge swaths of the terminals were barricaded, blocked by police, the lights dimmed. The lounge went from buffet/self-serve, to almost everything being individually portioned, using an insane amount of plastic. We arrived back in the US with no temperature checks or hand sanitizer to be found.
Needless to say, we were both ready to flying again and had some idea of what to expect from great reporting on several of the other blogs. Our expectations were, even in paid first. We certainly didn’t expect a great airport experience so most of SFO – including the Centurion Lounge – was shutdown.
We moved out of our apartment in San Francisco the day before our flight, electing to stay at the new Grand Hyatt that’s connected to SFO. I’d stayed there before and it’s a phenomenal hotel, not to mention being connected to the airport would make our lives much easier the next morning.
The hotel amenities were mostly unavailable, including the bar and restaurant. They did have a market/take-away cafe which had decent food, snacks, and plenty of drink options (non-alcoholic and the hard stuff). Prices were steep thought, however as a Globalist, we did get the choice of 2 free coffees + 2 breakfast items, two drinks, or two dinner entrees. Since the dinner food looked weak and the breakfast food was inexpensive, we opted to use it on a severely marked up bottle of wine.
The morning of, we walked Dallas several times and took him back out to the parking lot where we were able to throw the ball with him to get him tired. After that, we took our checked bags to the airport to drop off since we had Dallas with us + carry-ons. We had the maximum amount of bags we could get for free with United; since I’m 1K, we each got 3 bags at 70 lbs each, which we used every bit of. The hotel was nice enough to take us in their Sprinter van with our bags rather than try to drag them onto the AirTran: a lifesaver! We went back to the hotel, had a liesurely breakfast, then headed back to the airport, this time on the AirTran.
SFO was a ghost town when we got back to the terminal. Leigh and I both have Clear, however her Pre-Check didn’t print onto her boarding pass, so rather than walk down to get another reprinted, she opted to just go the regular route since there was no one in line. I was through in seconds, however she ended up having some issues I could only laugh about at the time (she definitely didn’t think it was funny).
So as we were packing, we did bring some things out of our panty, including a 2 pound bag of Italian 00 flour. We ran out of space in our checked bags and that bag of flour ended up in her roller board. Well I’ll let you guess how TSA viewed that bag of flour! Hint: TSA is not looking for drugs, so they weren’t concerned that Leigh was Scarface, but rather the Unibomber.
They called an explosives expert who started doing all sorts of tests on the flour and Leigh’s bag, all the while I’m just laughing. Surprisingly, Leigh didn’t find this so funny! We offered to just throw the flour away, which they wouldn’t allow until we sat through a full inspection of her bag. Things did get a little more stressful once we got the boarding notification and her bag was still sprawled out.
He ultimately let said no big deal, have a good flight, but at the point we had to book it to our gate. Getting sweaty before a flight is one of the absolute worst things on the planet and something I try to actively avoid. I failed on this day.
The gate area was empty and we shortly found out the plane was too. We bought first since we had Dallas, and it was completely full, however economy only had 17 people, giving us a total headcount of 33 for our flight!
We weren’t proactively offered anything to drink, which I was expecting, so I went up to the purser and asked for two beers. We were both exhausted and stressed from that little ordeal and the only thing that could resolve it was a cold beer, which she happily provided.
The blankets were just the standard crap you get on any domestic first class flight. The only available food was the “tapas” snack box from coach, which they just handed out to everyone in first. Alcohol was fully available, however the wine was just the wine from coach, meaning they were in the single serve plastic bottles. There was no glassware, only plastic cups.
Overall the flight attendants were lovely and gave excellent service. It just sucks that United (and other airlines) have used COVID has a means to absolutely gut premium service.
Looking ahead
We’re in the second half of our mandatory 14 day quarantine, so at this point, we’re starting to look at what our life as Hawaiian residents will be like. I have some downtime from work in addition to a couple of weeks of PTO that I’m behind excited to use. As someone that’s incredibly active and a thrill-seeker, I’m beside myself on the opportunities that living on Maui will present. Whether it’s waking up to swim in the ocean, surfing, mountain biking, road biking, hiking, or learning how to kite surf, there’s really no end to the activities here (tons that are free). As avid scuba divers, we’re both stoked to be in a world-class diving spot.
I know we’re going to love it here for all the reasons above, as well as the people. Every time I’ve visited Hawaii, the people have been as hospitable as anywhere I’ve been (rivaling the “Southern hospitality” I grew up with in Alabama). We’ve been here a short time and already the people that have helped us through quarantine have been so gracious.
Lastly, I’m looking at this time as a moment to reflect. Living in a city like San Francisco can mean a constant feeling of go, go, go. I think I can speak for Leigh as well in saying that we’re both anxious to reset. Our landlord told us to be prepared to shift our way of thinking, to not expect things at a moment’s notice like we do on the mainland. Being content with where we are and the things we have around us will be a nice change of pace, one that I don’t know that we’ll be ready to abandon after six months. š
