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I’m in charge of planning and packing for our family trips. I pride myself on making lists and being prepared. Well, last month I had a major mishap on our way to Hawaii. We had to turn our Uber around and go back home because I forgot to bring something required for our trip. It was quite the stressful morning!
The Important Thing I Forgot
I forgot our vaccine cards! Yes, I had uploaded them on the Hawaii Safe Travels site. But, I still needed to bring the physical cards. We had to show our vaccine cards at the check-in counter and upon landing in Hawaii. Plus, the event we were attending required vaccines, so we had to show them at least one more time. And no, a photo wouldn’t suffice.
Unfortunately, we were almost to the airport when I realized we didn’t have them. I panicked. We had to ask our Uber driver to turn around and take us back home. I looked at the clock and realized we didn’t have much time. I was stressing out big time.
Fortunately, we had initially left for the airport at an earlier time to give us a buffer. Also, I knew exactly where our vaccine cards were located at home. We called ahead and instructed our son to get them ready for a quick hand-off.
Luckily, traffic was light and we still made our flight. But, I don’t like to start a trip with that kind of panic.
The New Normal for Travel–Seek Out Health Requirements
Whether we like it or not, vaccine cards and/or Covid test requirements are the current new normal for travel and events. This post isn’t a debate about those rules. I didn’t make the rules. But, I want to continue traveling, and this is the reality right now.
My family’s next 3 trips this fall all require vaccines and/or pre-travel Covid testing. Disney Cruise Line has been great about communicating requirements. For our other trips, I had to research the requirements.
The tennis event my husband and son are attending in Boston requires vaccines or testing to attend. We never received an email about that. I looked on the Facebook page and discovered the guidelines.
The event my husband and other son are attending in Los Angeles also requires vaccines. We also never received communication on that. I had to look on the website.
Right now, some cities require vaccines to enter restaurants. We are not used to that in Texas, but those are the rules in places like New York, San Francisco and New Orleans.
The bottom line is that travelers must be proactive about the ever-changing health requirements these days or else risk being turned away. I’m used to remembering to bring passports, but this vaccine card is so new that I’m just not accustomed to thinking about it.
By the way, that Uber ride ended up being the most expensive Uber ride we’ve ever taken. Thankfully, the driver was super friendly and accommodating. I’ll never make that mistake again.
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Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
They need to come up with a better way to make the cards easier to carry. Like a Drivers License or Passport. We took ours to Miami because my husband insisted but FL has very loose guidelines so of course didn’t need them. I have them in our passports. We have yet to use ours.
This is when your happy you gave yourself extra time and not running late!
@Boonie I put ours in plastic covers, but they’re an odd size that won’t easily fit in a wallet. On my cruise I’ll be sure to paper clip it to my passport.
Wow, glad it worked out! An easy mistake to make, for sure. I would have been in big trouble as we live 1.5 hours from the nearest major airport.
@Leana Being farther away would definitely be a challenge! I’m thankful we made it on time.
I can’t even begin to imagine what that felt like. I got a pit in my stomach just reading this! I’m happy to see it all worked out in the end.
I was so mad at myself!