12 Reasons You May NOT Want to Move to Hawaii
We think that Hawaii is the greatest place on earth. But that’s our opinion. However, Hawaii is not for everyone. It seems like Hawaii brings out a love/hate response in people. For some, it’s heaven on earth and they can’t possibly imagine living anywhere else. For others, it’s hell on earth and they can’t wait to get out of here.
What’s really interesting: Chances are you won’t know what side you will come down on until you actually live here. So to help you out we compiled the most common reasons why for some people, Hawaii is hell on earth. If you think many of the below reasons will turn you off, you can thank us for saving you untold headaches because there’s a really good chance that Hawaii is not right for you.
Shorebreak by Brian Burger is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Image may have been resized or cropped from original.
Reason #1 you should not move to Hawaii: There’s a good chance you’ll be living at what feels like poverty
Joyful by 23786473@N02 is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Image may have been resized or cropped from original.
The “middle class” in Hawaii lives at what their mainland counterparts would consider poverty levels. Many family work several jobs, live paycheck to paycheck, have substandard (by mainland comparison) housing conditions, very little expendable income and at any moment are living on the financial edge.
Put it simply, in Hawaii as of 2023 you need to be earning at least $150k a year to have what on the mainland can be had for $75k/yr. And if you have a larger family, you’ll need more and possibly a lot more income.
If you’re going to live in Hawaii, you need to be prepared to live a lifestyle of comparative poverty. If you can stay here for the long term you can work your way up, but on day one be prepared to live a vastly downgraded lifestyle. Unless you’re already a multi-millionaire.
Reason #2 you should not move to Hawaii: One of the worst places to start a business
On various rankings, Hawaii nearly always comes at the bottom of the list in terms of starting a business. If you’ve dreamed owning a business, Hawaii is going to make it many, many times harder for you to succeed. It’s not impossible though as Hawaii has thousands of successful small family businesses.
It’s just that you will have a much, much harder time starting and running a business here than almost anywhere else. If the business is in a regulated industry, you’ll have to deal with very long streams of red tape. And once you get past that, you’ll need to build trust and respect in the community to get customers and that becomes a big catch-22: You need customers to build that trust and respect but you need trust and respect to get customers.
Reason #3 you should not move to Hawaii: Near the bottom in public education
Hawaii has one of the largest capacity (per-capita) of private schools in the nation and that’s because parents try to avoid Hawaii’s public schools if they can. Hawaii’s public school system usually sits near the bottom of various national rankings. In 2023 WalletHub ranked Hawaii #41 overall and #41 for “Quality”.
The problem with private schools is that due to high demand, it’s expensive. In 2023 you can expect to pay around $20k/year per student. If you have two children, you’re talking $40k/yr and that’s after taxes so about $50k-$60k/yr of your gross income will go to paying for private school.
So combine this with the $150k income to start and you’re up to $200k/yr in gross income. And we haven’t even talked about buying a house yet.
Reason #4 you should not move to Hawaii: Pay is below national averages despite much higher cost of living.
Because everyone wants to live here and is willing to work for less (admittedly this is just our guess and not a data research-backed conclusion), the result is that jobs here pay much less than their mainland counterparts. Expect a 20% cut in pay or more from what you’re making on the mainland.
So you really end up taking a double-hit: first you get hurt due to a much higher cost of living than nearly any other city and then you get whacked with a pay cut.
Many people from big mainland cities say that Honolulu’s cost of living is similar to where they live which is true, but when those people compare what they will be paid to do the same job in Honolulu they are understandably shocked by the pay cut.
Hawaii has the high costs of big mainland cities with pay scales of small isolated towns and that’s a double whammy that’s hard to swallow.
Reason #5 you should not move to Hawaii: First time home ownership nearly impossible
This was the view I was greeted by in the morning as I came out the door to head to work in Paia, Maui from our home in Honokowai (Kahana). Image Copyright CyberCom, Inc.
In 2023 the median price of a single family home on Oahu is $986,000 and for a condo it was $631,000. Do the math. Unless you can put down approx $200k and carry an $800k mortgage for a home (and that’s a “median” home) or come up with $130k and carry a $500k mortgage for a condo, fuggetaboutit.
So either you have to make a really high income with very little expenses or you have to already have a home that you can sell that has sufficient equity.
As a result of these sky-high prices, most middle class folks in Hawaii must rent and those rents go up every year due to ever-climbing real estate prices.
Reason #6 you should not move to Hawaii: Traffic is really bad
Yes, even our Sunday morning drives are packed in!
Sunday morning traffic by kimubert is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Image may have been resized or cropped from original
Various national reports show Hawaii’s traffic as some of the nation’s worst. We know of friends that moved to LA from Honolulu and they think Honolulu is worse. The freeways look like parking lots during rush hours that can stretch a normally 30 minute commute into a two hour crawl. Every workday. On some parts of Oahu people have to get up at 5am to get to work by 8am. No lie.
What’s really bad about the traffic is that it’s extremely peaky. If your travel time can flex from 30 minutes to 2 hours, what time do you leave the house to get into town by 10am? Who knows? This forces you to leave early and then you might arrive really early, on-time, or late. This wastes a lot of time and makes one want to avoid driving whenever possible.
But wait, there’s more. Here’s the real kicker: because our mostly mountainous islands have few highways, most locations on the island are only accessible from a single highway. When we get the occasional big highway accident, the entire island chokes on traffic. There have been some horror stories of people taking 8 hours to get home. It doesn’t happen often but it does happen.
If you don’t like sitting in traffic, you’ll either need to live really close to where you work which typically means much higher housing costs or work near where you live which typically means much lower paying jobs.
Reason #7 you should not move to Hawaii: Fewer choices, less competition, poorer service, higher prices
Because of Hawaii’s disincentives, there is less competition for anything in our small, closed market. Less competition is almost always bad for consumers and here it applies to much more than just high prices. Companies just don’t have to try as hard to win your business, creating for many a “take it or leave it” approach. This lack of competition also permeates our politics: Hawaii is a single party state, featuring the lowest voter turnout in the nation.
This all contributes to an attitude of apathy for many. For a while there was a popular bumper sticker “Ainokea!” (pronounced eye-no-kay-ah) which is local slang for “I no care”.
You would think our conditions would be ripe for change and consumer revolt, but in Hawaii our Aloha Spirit culture creates a shrug-and-bear-it type of attitude.
Reason #8 you should not move to Hawaii: You may not recover from the culture shock
If you’re caucasian (locally called “Haole” [How-lay]) and raised with traditional American / Western values you are almost guaranteed to be in for a huge culture shock. While Hawaii is one of the United States of America, it’s about as far away from the USA culturally as is it geographically. Consider this: Hawaii’s Statehood holiday (i.e. “celebrating” the day Hawaii became a state) is never celebrated (or even recognized!) by elected officials at any level and is almost always met with protests by those who believe Hawaii was illegally overthrown and illegally annexed by the United States.
Once you get over the passive/aggressive anti-American attitude, you’ll then have to acclimate to a social culture which is founded on a beautiful Hawaiian value system of Aloha, acceptance, and ‘ohana (family) that combines with a strong Asian influence that brings with it an interesting mix of duty, honor, and extremely cliquey social circles.
Once you get past that, you’ll have to be forever comfortable that you’re the “low man on the totem pole” in terms of racial minorities. All in Hawaii are minorities but there is a pecking order. Hawaiians are on the top of the heap, followed by other Polynesians, then Asians, and finally the Haoles.
In summary, if you can handle an anti-American closed society embracing pan-Pacific cultural values where haoles are the on the bottom of the social pecking order, you’ll do fine. Most mainland haoles never get past this. Those that do have have learned to embrace its benefits (the Aloha Spirit, the non-materialistic values, the beauty of racial diversity, and the Japanese “Samurai” code of honor) while not letting the downside bother them.
Reason #9 you should not move to Hawaii: You’ll always be an outsider
It doesn’t matter how well you’ve integrated with Hawaii’s culture; you’ll always be the “mainlander” and if you’re haole, even more so. It won’t matter if you married “local”, have been Hanai’d (“ha-nigh”) by a local family (to Hanai is to adopt one into a family), had mixed-race children, have done countless good works for Hawaii and have lived here for most of your life. Too bad so sad you’re still a mainland haole.
Unlike the US mainland where you’re either a New Yorker, Chicagoan, Californian, Georgian or whatevers, in Hawaii you will never be more than a Hawaii resident. The only people that will call you “Hawaiian” are those that are absolutely clueless.
What does this mean, really? It means you will have to completely let go of your Western self and completely embrace your new Hawaiian islander self. You must be like Lt. John Dunbar who comes in as an American soldier to a remote output and “turns injun”, becoming “Dances with Wolves” in an Native American Indian tribe and long longer speaks English or identifies by his American name. If you can be Dances with Wolves, you’ll do fine. If you insist on remaining Lt. John Dunbar, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll need to leave.
Reason #10 you should not move to Hawaii: Everything is really expensive
If it costs money, it will cost a lot more than you’re used to paying. Nothing here is cheap. Even locally produced goods cost a ton more. One interview with a local cattle rancher revealed that it’s cheaper to ship calves from Hawaii to the mainland, raise them there, then ship them back for the slaughterhouse than it is to raise them on Hawaiian lands.
If you can’t buy it in the stores, you’ll have to ship it. Amazon’s free shipping has been a godsend for Hawaii (and you’ll love that Amazon Prime membership!) but not everything is on Amazon (at least yet) so for any special order items you’ll have to wait a long time and pay a whole lot of shipping costs. And even on Amazon, there are many items that only ship to the “Continental United States” which means Hawaii is out of luck.
Why are things so expensive here? It’s not just because everything has to be shipped in, which it does, but rather a cocktail that consists of:
- High real estate prices (which affects warehouse and retail costs)
- High government overhead (taxes, regulations, etc)
- Low competition
- Higher than normal shipping costs due to the Jones Act which requires that all shipping from the US mainland arrives on US flagged ships.
Hawaiian islanders get used to it until they go to the mainland for a trip and only then realize the “Paradise Tax” that we have to pay. Visitors to Hawaii need only take one trip to the grocery store or any restaurant to experience extreme sticker shock that us islanders have just come to accept.
Reason #11 you should not move to Hawaii: Everything is really crowded
Ugh! Honolulu traffic. by 44728494@N06 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Image may have been resized or cropped from original.
Anything in Hawaii that becomes even somewhat popular immediately becomes overcrowded. This perhaps may be more acute on Oahu than the other islands but the underlying fundamentals are similar. Find a good restaurant? You’ll have to wait for an hour. New product announcement? Lines around the block. Big concert in town? Sold out in an hour. Big shopping sale at the mall? You’ll never find parking. Big event anywhere? Traffic backed up for miles. Big surf event? You can’t get near the place.
This phenomenon is probably the result of a combination of these factors:
- High population density
- Little variety results in high demand for new things
- Bored with status quo of things to do
- Cultural acceptance of waiting in very long lines
If you don’t like long lines or crowds, this is obviously not going to work for you. The way we islanders deal with this is either embrace it by making the long camped out lines part of the fun of the event itself (if you can believe that), or if possible, wait until the craze subsides and then participate, though this latter approach doesn’t work well for short-term events like concerts. One visitor summed up their experience: “It’s hot, crowded, and expensive”.
Reason #12 you should not move to Hawaii: No road trips
No road tripping here on the island! credits Kaique Rocha https://www.pexels.com/photo/asphalt-countryside-empty-grass-105234/ used under Pixels license with permission.
One of many things mainland Americans take for granted is the amazingly awesome fun of a road trip. We’re not going to go into great detail here about how much fun that is because you either know or you don’t.
The best thing you can do in Hawaii is an “around the island” trip and we put that in quotes because you really can’t go around any of the islands due to terrain. So in reality what you end up doing is driving across the island and then back.
It’s fun, gorgeous, varied, and scenic. But it’s the same road and the same scenery each time. It’s still beautiful but you can only do it so many times.
For those that enjoy road trips, you are really going to miss this if you move to Hawaii.
Still reading? You get a bonus 2 more reasons why you should not move to Hawaii
Reason #13 you should not move to Hawaii: Visiting family on the mainland is really expensive
You’ll probably be going to the airport to pickup family than to travel yourself. You’ll probably be going to the airport to pickup family than to travel yourself.
Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 by Haklion is licensed under CC BY 3.0. Image may have been resized or cropped from original.
In 2023 it’s about $600 round trip to San Francisco and $900 to Chicago or New York. So for a family of 4, you’re looking at $2,000 to $3,200 just to get off the island. Add in $200/night for hotel, $75/day for car and a 2 week vacation starts adding up to around $10,000. And we’re not talking about any trips abroad.
Visiting family will probably cost you a lot less as you’ll end up staying at someone’s house but you’ll still have to pop for airfare, probably car, and definitely eating out.
Either way, mainland trips are something you really have to think about long and hard because it’s going to cost you. What ends up happening over time is you go there less and less, growing ever more distant from mainland family. For some, that’s a great benefit. For others, it’s heartbreaking. Over time for many, it’s a dealbreaker.
Reason #14 you should not move to Hawaii: Less food variety
Before Costco came to Hawaii this was a lot worse but we still don’t get anywhere near the food variety that you see in similarly-sized mainland cities. Surprisingly, our fresh fruit selection is not very good. While we have good local supply of pineapples, bananas and papayas, fruit that has to be shipped in is rarely ripe and either overripe or underripe. Peaches are the best example: we only get really sweet and juicy peaches for perhaps 2-3 weeks out of the year with substandard selection after that.
Restaurants are a problem too. Hawaii has a large selection of Asian-centric restaurants but after that it falls off the cliff. Italian, Greek, Mexican, Pizza and the like are sorely lacking. And don’t even try asking for locally popular foods like Philly Cheesesteaks and Chicago Italian Beef sandwiches.
If you love Asian cuisine and seafood (especially sashimi), you’ll be in heaven. But great [anything else] restaurants? You’ll be lucky if you find a tiny handful of the rest and how many times can you go to the same Italian restaurant?
Should you move not move to Hawaii? Despite all that, we’re still here!
Share this page with anyone you know that lives in Hawaii and they will have little to disagree with. But, guess what? They are still here and so are we! Why?
Easy! We love the positives and the negatives don’t matter that much to us. This of course is an individual choice and only you can weigh out your own internal equation.
So now that you’ve read the bad, it’s time to read about the good.
I read these comments and I just laugh . Which Hawaii and Hawaiian are you people talking about ? There are no Hawaiians here. These islands are mainly dominated by Ilocano/Ifilipino and Okinawan Japanese, and a few Chinese and Koreans, plus Thais, Vietnamese, Laotians, and soon to be Hindus lol. I have known Hawaii since the 80’s and it was much better in the 90’s and even after 2000.
The first Asians to land here were Chinese sailors and they used Hawaii to get to the mainland US. The first Chinese sailors, almost all men, married Hawaiian women and assimilated into Hawaiian culture.
Filipinos, like other Southeast Asian immigrants, came to Hawaii to work on sugar plantations.
There is no such thing as the Japanese because the Japanese are ethnic Koreans and that is merely their nationality.
There are many stories of Japanese coming to Hawaii, but in reality they were Koreans from Osaka and Yokohama who came from Japan and landed around Aloha Tower and were not allowed to enter the country.
Okinawa was under U.S. invasion until 1972, during which time the Japanese in Okinawa moved to Hawaii, so Hawaii was an easy place for the Japanese to settle.
So basically, after the Japanese, the Filipinos fought to gain control of the islands, and when Ben Cayetano became governor, he filled the islands with a Filipino ghetto, Ilocanos.
The previous governor, Yutaka Iga, did the same thing, placed Japanese and even changed the name of Honolulu International Airport to a Korean Japanese named Inoue, they called it Inoue… (lol)
In other words, Asians mixed with the natives of Hawaii and created a strange race and called them Hawaiians.
Where are the real Hawaiians? They are not Micronesian homeless people driving around Waikiki screaming day and night.
Real Hawaiians don’t do that.
Come, I will show you.
I’ve never heard of many of the things you say here. Can you share your sources so I can independently verify?
I personally am Caucasian. Haole isn’t a word I identify with because my heart is full of aloha spirit and I fully embrace the Hawaiian ways and culture. a kahuna friend of mine told me haole is about the inside not the outside. Haole means without breath and it’
means soulless essentially. yes it has its roots from the way whites shake hands as well but that’s all the superficial meaning.When I first got to Hawaii I literally wept from tears of joy stimulated by the mana of the āina and I’ve never been considered haole by anyone I know of except for some jealous white guy who was mad that Hawaii has embraced me so beautifully. I will say that being white does come with a certain racial stigma sometimes but its only bad if u act from a place of white privilege (which doesn’t exist here lol). I am grateful for and humbled by the experience of having white skin in Hawaii as it has taught me what it feels like to be considered the minority. Of course as a mahu I already know that feeling but now I know it even deeper and am willing to say that yes some whites who I refer to as haoles get chewed up and spit out by the islands . These islands are alive. ola ka aina . And it doesn’t matter what ur skin color is , it’s about the vibes u give off and whether u are meant to be here or not. There are some racist people but they no botha . I don’t persoanlly run into racism. Hawaii is a tropical paradise u could say but the true paradise is found inside ur own heart. Hawaii has a way of teaching u that if u are open to receiving it. My point is that if Hawaii is a terrible place to live for u then ur not meant to be here. Yes we all struggle but if Hawaii is truly ur home the islands will always provide support on some level I have noticed. I was homeless unfortunately for a while but I didn’t go a day without food and the islands always took care of me and unlike many other homeless whites who left back to mainland I was supported all along the way . My point is that u will know if u r meant to be here in Hawaii. I’ve seen friends who weren’t meant to be here get misfortunes one after another until they got the message and left back to the mainland. When life was getting tough I tried leaving but the islands wouldn’t let me lol now I’m legally not allowed to leave the islands. At least for now. Anyways some may disagree with my perspectives but my experience of Hawaii is that aloha is numba 1 most important value and if ur meant to be here ull end up here. Having lots of money doesn’t mean ur meant to be here. If u want to be here for the luxurious paradise feel but don’t care about what it means to truly live in Hawaii u will run into people who will make u regret living here.
Well said Donovan!
In my observation, those from the mainland who want to live like they’re still in Mainland Suburbia, don’t achieve the happiness from living here. Cost of living will be sky-high for them, they’ll gripe, but it’s self-induced. If you allow it you will discover that your view of accumulating “stuff” will change. We don’t want more stuff and have successfully simplified our lives. We want more “outside” and less “inside”. We want to notice things others might find mundane but for us they are magical. Aloha Peter!
Well-said, Joy! I agree completely.
Love ❤️ your reasons, Peter, and agree wholeheartedly! Also love your videos and always enjoy the gorgeous scenery. Wish I had the resources for a home on O’ahu. Alas, it’s not meant to be. I will forever dream of returning to my island home someday. Mahalo nui loa! Take care and be well.
Don’t give up on the dream Yvonne!
There are so many inaccuracies in this article that I do not even know where to start.
Unfortunately, it has been written by someone who has embraced a fixed Colonist Mindset and have made up false narratives regarding the history and present culture of Hawai’i for which there is no evidence.
Education is necessary regarding accurate historical accounts of these islands and on the myriad of issues facing the indigenous people of Hawai’i.
Hereʻs how I explain it to third grade students. I am a teacher in Hawai’i.
About 2,000 years ago Polynesians, likely from the Marquesas Islands, traveled in there wa’a kaulua (double hulled voyaging canoe), using the stars to guide them along their journeys. They made several journeys and they settled here in the Hawaiian Islands. They brought many things with them for the journey- pigs, dogs, chickens, bananas, coconut, breadfruit. They brought a couple of stowaways- the Polynesian Rat and geckos. We call the plants they brought, “Canoe Plants” or “Polynesian Introductions.”
–
Archeological evidence shows that they first settled on the Windward side of O’ahu. These people *became* the native Hawaiians. Let me repeat that for you. These people became the indigenous people of these islands. Over the hundreds of years that they lived here (before Western contact), there were many generations.
Blood quantum classification is a a forced colonial system. It’s just a tool used to erase native people.
You must read Kahaulani’s “Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity.” As part of the 1921 Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, the US Government defined native Hawaiians as having particular blood quantum of “individuals inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands before 1778.” This ideaology shaped laws. US Congress should never have decided who was native and who was not. The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, is based on this blood quantum idea that undermines ancestry. It focuses only on race. This was and continues to be detrimental to Kānaka. The US Government restricted Hawaiians access to their own lands through this Act.
I suggest the authors and anyone interested in moving to Hawai’i go visit Native Books (a local book shop) and get some books because there ARE indigenous people to Hawaiʻi and they have a rich history, culture, land, mele, hula, ʻōlelo, that was, for the most part, desicrated, destroyed, and eradicated harshly via settler colonialism, colonial politics, and racizalization.
HAWAIʻI IS STILL A SOVEREIGN NATION AND IS ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED BY THE U.S.
Haunani Kay-Trask, Aunty Frenchy DeSoto, and countless other Kānaka activists did not WORK HARD for the public to STILL not understand that the Hawaiian Islands were illegally annexed. It is not a “belief” as this article states, but rather the truth.
There are many issues facing the indigenous people of Hawai’i. Articles such as this should focus on this topic and provide facts rather than accounts based on anecdotal evidence.
Statehood Day is a holiday here. Schools are closed. State offices closed. It is typically not a celebration as the land (and the culture) was taken from the Hawaiian people via the illegal overthrow.
Below are links to learn about the illegal overthrow that occurred in 1893. This is only one way the Hawaiian culture was impacted. Via laws, native Hawaiians would be unable to speak their language, dance hula, and participate in other cultural practices. It was not until the 70s when there was a “Hawaiian Renaissance” that Kānaka and allies were able to do the work to help bring back cultural practices that had been kept in the shadows for decades.
https://weareili.org/timeline/illegal-overthrow-of-the-hawaiian-kingdom/
https://archive.nytimes.com/learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/jan-17-1893-hawaiian-monarchy-overthrown-by-america-backed-businessmen/
Aloha Kate and thanks for taking the time to exhaustively comment. What you’ve stated is mostly (though not completely) correct. The glaring exception I’ll challenge you on is your accusation of “so many inaccuracies” in this article. You don’t point out a single one, and then go on to give us all a history lesson. To maintain your own credibility, I’ll give you the chance to reply with your claimed inaccuracies here.
My comment was directed to the article as a whole as it is written from one perspective and primarily focuses on O’ahu and should be noted as such. The author/s should share this is their perspective(anecdotal for the most part), not fact, unless a fact that can be cited is presented. It also should be shared that the article pertains to the island of O’ahu for the most part.
My long comment felt obligatory after reading # 8:
“… by elected officials at any level and is almost always met with protests by those who believe Hawaii was illegally overthrown and illegally annexed by the United States.”
This is not a belief, but a fact.
Anyone living in the continental US or in Hawai’i should learn about this, especially anyone considering visiting or moving here.
I’m certainly not saying people should move here, but this article could use some clarification and adjustment.
# 1, 4, 5, and 10 all hit similar points. It IS expensive to live here and wages are low. I do not think you need to be a “multi-millionaire” by any means, unless you wish to buy a mansion or large home close to town (Honolulu on O’ahu). One should not move here unless they are prepared for the cost of living. That’s certainly a must. Related to # 3 and 5, we have some great schools and teachers, but we need teachers and face a teacher shortage. Many of the school ratings are based strictly on standardized testing and research has proved this is not an accurate representation of a school’s overall merit, especially for the teachers and school environment. For the title “Reason 3: Near the bottom in public education,” more information should be share here. *One* WalletHub ranking is shared, but the findings are ambiguous. Citing the rating is based on “quality.” The reader is left wondering what that means. More information and links to information would be helpful.
Regarding buying a home, there are some great incentives and programs for teachers who want to buy property. I have been a teacher for several years and can definitely say this is true and is a wonderful way to purchase an affordable home. You may be looking at w condo or small home, but it is possible and the program is legitimate. With that said, salaries are low for teachers and likely will not go up soon. $50k with a Masters.
This section of # 6 is confusing: “If you don’t like sitting in traffic, you’ll either need to live really close to where you work which typically means much higher housing costs or work near where you live which typically means much lower paying jobs.” It is, again, ambiguous for the reader and misleading. There are countless scenarios where these situations are not typical. I think the traffic (mostly O’ahu and Maui) section should be more specific and clear for the reader. For example, if you live on the Leeward side of O’ahu and work in town/Honolulu, it could, realistically take 3 hours to arrive at an 8am job in Honolulu.
I’ll have to hop back on to check out some other points.
Mahalo nui!
Thanks Kate for replying. You critiques are appreciated and are perhaps applicable if one was writing an academic paper. However, you have not pointed out a single inaccuracy as you initially claimed.
Specifically about the “belief” claim – a belief can be false and it can also be true, so you can’t really point to that as an inaccuracy. It is certainly true that those protesting the overthrow believe it is illegal. I did not comment on the truth or falsity of their beliefs.
Much appreciated.
@Kate Leary I 100% agree with everything you said. As a mixed race mainlander, whose half white and Native American (enrolled in a federally recognized tribe) your comment was exactly what I thought reading this article. In fact the article proved exactly why we do plan to move to Oahu. Yes we know the main cons is cost of living, but otherwise the rest is why we want off the mainland. We’re very tired of the “western mindset” here and want to live a simple outdoorsy lifestyle once our kids have flown the coop. Honestly wish our Native peoples here were able to have such strong cultural sway like the Hawaiians do! With our language everywhere, the welcoming respectful attitudes and most importantly the mindset of caring for all living creatures and the land is of high importance. I appeciate the facts Kate, and your mentality is exactly why we know we will love it there. We are not rich but have grown up with so many life skills that will help us obtain our goal. Building our own home, etc. And BTW @Peter your piece about Dances with wolves “Injun” was extremely offensive and a unnecessary derogatory term. Which made clear your real feelings and lack thereof. There’s a million other ways you could of gotten your point across without such offensives.
What, exactly, is offense about that story in the movie? Is it the fact that the lieutenant completely embraced their native ways of life and became one of them himself? Are you offended that the same terms that were used in the movie were also used to refer to the story? I like to hear more about what specifically is offensive.
I think you have pretty much said it all but as you said we are still here.
I live on a 48,000-dollar military pension and Social Security Pension and pay no taxes. I also have a military card that lets me shop on Military Bases.
Check out the content on the homepage of this website. There’s one video in particular about “can you afford it and is it worth it”. Watch that one.
Been here 15 years and never had a problem. I’m a white, fully american, southern pirate. Could be my long beard, various tattoos, or awesome eye patch that keeps people out of my business, or it could be that I mostly stay on my pirate ship in the harbor. All I know is no one messes with this Waikiki Wrangler!
I’m glad you shared your secret :-)
Gross exaggeration of all things you listed as cons. Been here for 15 years and have moved into 2 homes.
I can leave my home 25 miles from ‘town’ (honolulu) at 8:30 and cruise there in 35-45 minutes on ‘interstate’ H-1, If you lv before 3pm the same goes.
And no we don’t live in poverty or a small shack @ $80k/yr with a $450k mortgage!
Yes 80% of our goods are either flown in or floated in. So things are a little more spendy as you would expect. If your not one of the majority population here finding any kind of technical/professional job is very difficult if your coming from the mainland , no matter your experience or education or except if your occupation is in high demand (medical, nursing etc). But despite high cost of living here don’t even expect mainland wages!
But you can’t beat the Aloha spirit!!
MJ
Thank you for commenting. Can you point out something specific in this piece that you consider a gross exaggeration?
No matter the 12-14 reasons why I shouldn’t move to Hawaii…. I’m still praying to my GOD for a miracle to move from Lake City, South Carolina to Honolulu, Hawaii. I’m praying and manifesting for a job opportunity to present itself to me as I google help and assistance to make my dream and goal a reality…to come into fruition. It’s no problem nor situation to hard for my GOD to figure or work out. Thank you for your information… but I’m trusting in my GOD to make it work. Even if I have to sleep in a shelter there. I’m CHOSEN…of 144,000 to be a healer, teacher, light worker under GOD’S guidance. I’m never going to give up. Thank you so much for the details all the same. GOD BLESS YOU…MAY HEAVEN SMILE UPON YOU.
God Bless!
If you really want your prayers answered, then do not pray to the mainland god. Submit to the will of the Tikis of the island so your prayers will get answered.
I’d love to do that – Im not on the island yet SO is there a way to connect online??
Ty