Advice on moving to hawaii?

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boomer gal

There are a couple of things that you need to really consider.

The first thing is finding a job. Our economy is almost completely based on tourism. In the current economy, tourism is not doing well. Occupancy rates are low at the hotels & there are lay offs in many industries. Unless you have a specific trade or profession that will make you marketable, it will be pretty tough. If you are coming here with the idea of working in retail or hospitality or anything non skilled that will bring you minimum wage or slightly more, it is not going to go well. Minimmum wage is not a living wage in Hawaii.

The next thing is cost of living. Milk isn't $10/gallon, more like $6. But is is still extremely expensive to live here. I know the cost of living is high in San Francisco, so maybe it isn't all that much worse here. I would suggest going to one of the on line cost of living comparison sites & letting that do the math for you.

http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costofliving/costofliving.html

If you do decide to take a chance on it, be realistic. Make sure you have enough savings to get you home again if it doesn't work out, or The Bank of Mom & Dad is willing to wire you a return trip. It is very sad to see formerly middle class people become homeless here. Don't kid yourself, it does happen.

tony10873

If you have family in the states you should consider they flying time to visit. That's something people don't think about much and when we visited, it's not as glamorous as the movies make it look.

Andrea J

Hawaii is a beautiful state, but from what I understand, the cost of living there is very high. I went to Maui once and it was just stunning. I would imagine that the tourist business drives the job market, but Honolulu is a major metropolis and would probably have the biggest job market.

Claire Q

It is extremely expensive to live there. My boyfriend used to live there, we live in California now, and he says it's twice as much. Things like a gallon of milk costs like ten bucks. He lived in Maui and loved it, though. Nice place to live if you have the money.

Thats far ! Why not like New York or Florida ? :]

BANB

its obvious that Sarah has no idea about Hawaii.....we lived there the last 10 years, my wife took over 9 months to find any kind of work in her field(Customs brokers) they wont pay her 23.00 an hour like she was making in CA. it really is a great place to visit for a week, but a big struggle for anyone to try to live there. try getting away from it all in your mind, not an actual move, you will really hurt here initally, unless you are willing to wrok 2-3 jobs to make it. is that really getting away from it all?

stormibays

I think Hawaii is good for a getaway but coming from a big city to Hawaii is probably ot a good idea. There is a difference between getting away and living there. I moved from a larget city to Hawaii and liked it for the most part but really got tired of it - too closed in for me.

oh no you di'int

better think hard before you get on the plane, it can hurt really really fast if theres no work for you. good luck!

Chris F

try either kihea, or lanai on maui or honolulu for cheap places where there are lots of jobs and more things to do at night when you get off of work. If your looking for a more laid back country style of living try the rest of hawaii

sugarBear

Try these 2 islands, O'ahu & Maui, these 2 islands have most of the jobs in Hawaii, after living in the Bay Area myself most of my life, I moved to Hawaii for 3 years after getting married, it was cool for awhile, then I missed the Bay Area again.

Jielun

Seeing you come from SF, I would suggest you move to town (Honolulu) or anywhere close to town since that might be the thing for you.. then again, if you want to get away from it, you might as well move anywhere else.

Personally I like Oahu the best, mostly because you got almost everything here.. whenever I am on one of the other islands, I tend to get bored in about a day. However, you might like the quiet surroundings :)

Seeing you have a job and can work anywhere in the world (sounds familiar lol), you wont have a problem finding work and that is a good thing.

The cost of living is indeed higher than on the mainland but if you are paying 3k for a place on the mainland, you shouldn't have much problems finding a rental below that price. Most rentals in town are about $1500 to $2500, for that price you will be able to get a decent apartment. The cost of living as for food and such, that will be higher though and you might want to do some research on that, everything has to be imported and that makes it a LOT more expensive than on the mainland.

I think you should be able to make it with the 3k you currently pay for your place.. however, before you decide to make an actual move here, why not go for a holiday for a few weeks and see if there is any area that you might like :)

ladydreamer254

I HIGHLY suggest you at least visit before you make a big decision. Why move to a place you've never set foot in right?

It doesn't make sense what you're doing.

saraimay75

This is my standard answer that I give.

Hawaii is expensive. Ninety percent of EVERYTHING is shipped in this is the main reason it cost more. Gas prices are coming down it is under three dollars.

Hawaii is just as safe as anywhere else maybe safer. We have everything the mainland has except for a few restaurants and stores. The water that surrounds us does not make much of a difference.

No Daylight Savings Time we never move out clock forward or back,

We have an excellent bus system on Oahu. If you are willing to take the time then it will cut down on gas costs. You can have car but you might want to take the bus most of the time and use a car only when really needed.

Hawaii is one of most culturally diverse place in America. We have several cultures here. Hawaiians being the most obvious. We also have a diverse Asian population; Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Thai, Vietnamese (sp?). All these culture differ. And it is best if you learn the differences.

If you love food Hawaii is one of the best places to be. Due to our many cultures we have many different kinds of food. Try them all.

Due to Hawaii's history there is some racism against Whites. Some can't take this.

Not everybody who lives in Hawaii is Hawaiian. To be Hawaiian to must have Hawaiian blood. Or Hawaiian ancestry. If you are like me and have lived in Hawaii all their life but have no Hawaiian blood you are considered a Local.

We also have a dialect of Pidgin Creole English. Or it is called Pidgin for short. This language was created during the plantation days. We had workers from all over Asia and the Pacific they all spoke different languages and the needed a way to communicate. So a new language grew and was created.There a some who hear Pidgin an the equate it with lack of intelligence. Do not do this.

Then there is what can be called "Rock Fever" some people tend to feel trapped because they can't drive anywhere else but Hawaii. There is no way you can drive into another state.

If you need to fly home to the Mainland then 1) take more time because you have to fly over an ocean first. 2) Will cost more because you have to fly

shakaBRAH

if you ask, you cant afford do the biggest research and see if you can find job first, otherwise not worth moving here

Sitinpretty

I don't live in Hawaii but I have visited maui, kauai and Waikiki? I loved kauai because it's so quiet and peaceful there but it's a small town and I have no idea what living there would really be like. It seemed like a quiet, small, serene town - a great place to get away from it all. Everything was expensive but that could have been because we were tourists

Sarah S

I hear it is very expensive moving to Hawaii. Probably very expensive because it's going to be like a move-in ready house since you can't lug your furniture there. Also taxes are probably high and the best place, if any to move is Honolulu because it's civilized. As long as you move to Honolulu, you can get almost any job as you could anywhere else in the U.S. Good luck! ; )

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