December 2021: We made it to Maui with the right precautions

A “Mask Required” warning sign in an elevator at Kahului Airport, by James Fujita via Flickr

After months of staying at home, it is possible to fly to Hawaii once again. You just have to take a few precautions, and obey some new rules and regulations.

Note: Before I begin, I should note that this post is based solely on my recent personal experience. The coronavirus pandemic situation may have changed by the time you read this. Always search for the most up-to-date, accurate and official information.

The most important piece of advice I can give if you are planning to travel to Hawaii is GET VACCINATED. I can’t emphasize this enough. Of course, you should get vaccinated even if you’re not traveling.

Because we had gotten our COVID-19 vaccine shots and had our vaccination record cards with us:

We could fly to Maui without getting COVID tests
We didn’t have to be quarantined while on Maui
We had the proof of vaccination we needed to eat inside Maui restaurants

Helpful tip: Take a smartphone photo of your vaccination card. Places will accept that as proof, and you’re less likely to lose your card.

Before we even left, we received a ton of useful information from United Airlines’ Travel-Ready Center. The airline has a lot of information about what you will need to fly in these pandemic times.

(If you’re not flying United, other airlines should hopefully also provide online information on their requirements.)

The State of Hawaii also has a Safe Travels website. This website has information about the state’s vaccination requirements, virus testing, and quarantine. If you’re vaccinated, you can skip a lot of testing and avoid the quarantine period. The website explains various ways to apply for an exemption.

Inside the United Club at Terminal 7 of LAX, by James Fujita via Flickr

(NOTE: We also saved time because United Airlines sent us free passes for United Club, the airline’s Mileage Plus frequent-flyer airport lounge at LAX. When we arrived at the lounge, friendly staff helped with our vaccination information and travel forms for the trip.)

One way or another, you will need to show that you are safe to travel. You will also have to fill out Hawaii’s travel health form.

Once we filled out all of the forms and made it through all of the airport security, they gave us wristbands which showed that we had cleared all of the health and safety checks.

The flight:

Passengers were spaced out with a lot of empty seats, by James Fujita via Flickr

Both our flight over to Maui and the flight back to LAX had a lot of empty seats. Passengers were generally spaced out and not bunched together. Partially this was because post-pandemic air travel is understandably down overall. But normally, winter should be a high season for Hawaii vacation travel. It would seem that they are apparently trying to keep passengers separated when possible.

Once we arrived in Kahului, this sign pointed us around the testing area:

Hawai’i pre-clear sign at Kahului (OGG) Airport, by James Fujita via Flickr

Mask and vaccination mandate signs were everywhere.

Mask, social distance, and vaccination signs, by James Fujita via Flickr

To make a long story short, GET VACCINATED if you plan to travel. And bring masks with you.

December 2021: Kahului Airport’s tram is both cute and useful

Photo: Kahului Airport tram “Kaho’olawe” by James Fujita, via Flickr

If you’re planning a trip to Maui, be sure to try Kahului Airport’s new tram. It was installed in 2019, and it still looked great when I visited in December 2021.

I am a fan of airport trams and people movers. Some transit fans may turn up their noses at them, or see them as “gadgetbahns.”

But, generally speaking, the lowly airport people mover system does fill a unique and useful niche in rail transit. They have to be able to:

Handle tired, confused and grouchy airline passengers who just want to get from the gate to the main terminal, or from the baggage claim area to the rental car facility without walking too much
Handle those same passengers’ big, heavy and wheeled suitcases and other luggage
Take heavy wear and tear from shuttling back and forth between point A to point B frequently and quickly

In many places, they are essentially sideways elevators. They will often have protective screen doors, which adds to that elevator feel.

But the Kahului Airport tram is the first one that I have encountered which is both cute and practical as a functional airport people mover train. Just look at this thing:

Photo: The tram arrives at the car rental facility, by James Fujita via Flickr

They painted it green with gold trim, gave it trolley-style lights, and named each train car. The holiday lights and the festive reef are obviously a December-only addition, but they also add to the old-fashioned island feel. The trolley look continues inside, which features wooden benches.

Photo: Inside the Kahului Airport tram, by James Fujita via Flickr

The tram has three stops: An arrivals station, a departures station, and the car rental facility. When our flight arrived, we grabbed our luggage at the baggage claim, and walked across the road to the arrivals tram station.

Photo: Arriving passengers head for the tram, by James Fujita via Flickr

When we took our return flight home, we repeated the process in reverse, except we got off the tram at the departure station. In our ever-vigilant pandemic world, arriving passengers don’t mingle with departing ones on the tram.

In theory, there are other ways to and from OGG — a taxi, the Maui Bus, various hotel shuttles, have a friend pick you up. You can also walk — with your heavy, awkward luggage in the outdoor Hawaiian tropical humidity — an estimated “three minutes” to the rental center.

But then you would miss the tram, and that would be a shame.

Photo: The tram at the new car rental facility, by James Fujita via Flickr

Can you avoid LineCon at Anime Expo?

DSCN0755 — The West Lobby entrance line wasn’t that bad on Sunday. (All photos by James Fujita.)

Another Anime Expo has concluded, and once again, everyone seems to be talking about LineCon.

(Should it be LineCon or Line Con? I need the AP Stylebook to make a ruling.)

Now, to be honest, I avoided most of LineCon this year by attending on Sunday. The fact that Anime Expo started mailing out badges ahead of time really helped as well. Overall, I felt like it was a really good convention this year.

So, I can’t really comment very much on LineCon for this year. But, LineCon did manage to sneak up on me once – when it was time to leave.

DSCN0946 — Riding back from Anime Expo on the Metro Silver Line. Yes, there is a Hidan cosplayer in the background.

When I arrived, I took the Metro Silver Line. It is a quick and easy ride from the South Bay to the convention center. Before I returned home, I knew I wanted to visit Little Tokyo for dinner.

Typically, my trip from the convention center to Little Tokyo would involve the Metro Blue Line and the Red Line (if I want to walk from Civic Center Sta. to Little Tokyo) or Blue, Red and Gold lines (if I want to take a little extra time to get to Little Tokyo/ Arts District Sta.).

However, the Metro Blue Line has been undergoing improvements this summer – and so Pico Sta. near the convention center was closed.

Also, I wanted to try the Anime Expo shuttles. Anime Expo provides free hotel shuttles for attendees, and I knew that the #3 shuttle went to Little Tokyo. (Metro offered a Little Tokyo shuttle during most of the convention, but not on Sunday.)

DSCN0895 — Waiting for Anime Expo shuttle #3.

Getting to the shuttle stop was easy. The route was marked off and a sign pointed the way.

The actual shuttle stop was a bit… chaotic? Disorganized? Confusing? All of the above?

Once I figured out where the line for shuttle #3 ended, it took almost an hour before I was able to get on a shuttle bus.

Luckily, I was ready for a little rest after walking around all day. But it had to be frustrating for the cosplayers and other random convention attendees (many carrying heavy-looking bags) who watched #1, #2 and #4 shuttles arrive before the #3 shuttle came.

(To be fair, the waiting area was full of people who had rushed for the exits when the exhibit hall closed. But somebody should have anticipated that.)

The Metro Blue Line should be back soon. And in a couple of years, there will be a subway line from the convention center to Little Tokyo.

But in the meantime, Anime Expo needs more shuttle buses to meet the demand – and perhaps some more volunteers to keep things organized.

HawaiiCon 2018: The best con I ever attended without registering for

Hale Hoaloha at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel hosted the dealers room at HawaiiCon 2018. Photo by James Fujita/ Flickr

HawaiiCon 2018 was a great comic book convention. And I’m not just saying that because I didn’t have to pay for it.

I hadn’t actually made plans to go to HawaiiCon in the first place. I had already gone to two anime conventions this year — Anime Expo (big, famous, crowded and exciting) and AniFest in Torrance (small, personal and local). Both were excellent in their own ways.

This trip wasn’t planned as a convention trip at all. We knew that we wanted to take a vacation to the Big Island during my mother’s birthday in September. Our plan was to take it easy, relax and enjoy some good island cuisine. We had been to the Big Island before, so we knew our way around. We had little interest in the touristy stuff.

With this goal in mind, we made our hotel, car rental and airline reservations in spring.

It wasn’t until just before the trip that we found out that there would be a convention at our hotel. This was mostly our own fault — we hadn’t bothered to check for special events before we made our reservation.

(In fact, there were TWO conventions during our vacation — HawaiiCon and an unrelated steel guitar festival. But the steel guitar event was surprisingly small and quiet.)

HawaiiCon was a small convention. It was a fundraiser for local education programs, so there were quite a few educational panels and workshops. But the convention also had a cosplay contest, dealers room, special guests and all the other stuff you would expect a typical comic con to have.

EDIT: This has been marked private for a couple of years (from 2018 to 2021!), so I’ll mark it public. I don’t think I had much more else to say about the convention.