Whether you’ve got a travel bug, wanted to celebrate finishing Year 12 or just needed a holiday this year, we’ve all had our potential travel plans halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. So, please excuse us as we shed a little happy tear at the fact we might finally be able to go overseas again—and, like, real soon.
Just, uh, don’t expect it to be through the European countryside quite yet.
According to News.com.au, the Hawaiin and Australian governments are in talks to develop a Hawaii-Australia travel bubble. So, basically, we might soon be able to fly on over and enjoy the warm tropical beach paradise of Hawaii’s resort islands, gorgeous natural views and volcano backdrops, partying it up safely with our cute new matching bikini and face mask.
The news was first revealed on the 18th of August, during a press conference with the Governor of Hawaii, David Ige. The plan would potentially open up Hawaii to Australia and Japan—which, fingers crossed, could open us up to a potential Australia-Japan bubble down the line.
“I have been working with mayors of all the counties to identify ways we can bring travellers back more quickly,” he said. “We are looking at exploring all options to safely bring trans-Pacific travellers to the island.”
One of those options involves “geo-fencing” at resorts, basically giving hotels full responsibility for quarantining arriving guests for 14-days—on the plus side room service and fancy resort baths for two weeks straight? Yes pls.
Governor Ige also proposed that any tourist who arrived in Hawaii with a negative COVID-19 test taken in the last 74 hours could freely travel through the country… although, that idea doesn’t sound quite legit given it doesn’t take into account any potential infection that could occur between the test being taken and arriving in the country, including the flight and through airport customs.
Either way, the plan for a Hawaii-Australia travel bubble could come as soon as the 1st of October, so ready your swimsuits and summer kit and start saving. In the meantime, we always have Byron Bay, now home to Girlfriend fave Zac Efron.
Australia had previously negotiated a potential trans-Tasman bubble with New Zealand but plans for that were indefinitely delayed following Victoria’s second wave of COVID-19 cases. As of right now, Hawaii has only reported roughly 6,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, despite still opening travel borders to the rest of the U.S..
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