Curtis said:
I make it a habit of living simply, so I could live in a camper in the mountains if that is a viable thing down there.
I don't think you could do that there. Most all the land is accounted for, not a lot of hiding places in the mountains for a camper. What you are describing is basically the homeless or working homeless there. There are already a lot of people doing that.
A very small apartment or some sort of share / sub rental would likely be more realistic.
There are people doing a similar thing on the big island, but they are quite literally living in a lava rock field! It's pretty crazy.
Houses are pretty affordable 
... no water, no sewer, no trash... oh, and should we talk about the vog?
Had a cousin on the wife's side move there with her husband.
They were young and both quit their decently paying jobs and they really enjoyed themselves once they figured out how to live much more simply.
Basically they sold, gave away or stored their stuff. Packed their SUV full of stuff and shipped it off to Oahu. They went from a multi-room house to a tiny studio in a high rise near Waikiki. She worked at a jewelry/cafe and he worked as a valet among other odd jobs. They spent their free time hiking/surfing/swimming or drinking cheap beer by the pool.
Many people who live on the island will go to the West Coast to buy cars and ship them home, cars don't last long on the island, the salt air and costs for maintenance kills them fairly quickly unless you're wealthy enough to afford the repairs and parts. Rental agencies aren't allowed to sell their cars there, they ship them back to the states for sale/disposal.
The locals are quite laid back and really try to take care of each other, but they are also very proud and hard working. If you treat everyone with respect and don't hesitate to "muck in" and don't care about people being "late" then you'll be a long way towards making it work.
There's some good threads on Reddit about moving to Hawaii:
https://www.reddit.com/r/hawaii/wiki/moving
https://www.reddit.com/r/Oahu/comments/bhbx4z/moving_to_oahu/
https://www.reddit.com/r/gaybros/comments/blea47/moving_to_oahu/
Most people that move there, move back within a few years. Mostly for the reasons posted above.
Cost
Island fever
Always an outsider
and of course, you are working so much, you do not get to enjoy what it has to offer. I grew up in a beach town, never went to the beach.
I was stationed there from 2006-2009. It's incredibly beautiful and the weather is nice, but all the posts about price are correct. A gallon of milk or a dozen eggs will run you $6-$7 because everything has to be shipped in - and then the locals just charge the same prices for their stuff. There used to be a race track on Oahu years ago but they shut it down, so now there's a lot of street racing. There isn't really any actual "car stuff" to do. Expect to pay $500K+ for a decent house. Probably closer to 6-700K now. There's a few locations to be cautious of if you're a mainlander, Waianae comes to mind, but overall if you're chill most locals are chill. Which is good, because Samoans are absolutely gigantic and having one of them mad at you is pretty scary. If possible, I would visit for a week first and spend some time driving during rush hour towards where you would work, and check out house prices. Also if you decide to move there, make sure your salary would be enough to fly off the island and visit other places. Island fever is real, sometimes you just want to go for a road trip and the furthest you can go is about 30 miles. I learned how to surf down there though, so that was neat.
One of my former roommates took a job there and relocated with his fiancee (2007ish). The company paid his moving costs and shipping for one car. I think they paid roughly $2k to ship a second car. The company also agreed to pay for him to move back if he stayed with the company for at least 3-4 years...worth thinking about when negotiating. I went to visit them once and stayed for ~2 weeks.
They met lots of people through outdoor sports (ultimate frisbee, etc). Join a rowing/paddling team...most people they knew were on an outrigger canoe team and participated in big meets/races every Saturday morning. Big community building events. There were plenty of transplants, and being mid-20s at the time, they had no problems making friends with both locals and transplants.
Localism is a thing everywhere, but probably it's noticable in HI. Mainlander vs. Islander mentality. You'll feel like an outsider in some situations.
Some day-to-day items seemed more expensive...but aside from Gasonline it felt similiar to NY or San Fran. Once you have a Hawaiian driver's license you'll get better prices on just about every touristy activity with the kama'aina discount.
Flights between Islands are (really were) pretty cheap even when booked last-minute. Big Island is amazing and worth exploring for several days. I haven't seen the other Islands.
Just try to avoid Honolulu the best you can. It didn't have a friendly vibe late at night.
The0retical said:
- The major cities have some pretty bad spots.
To be fair, that can be said about major cities in other states as well.
stuart in mn said:
The0retical said:
- The major cities have some pretty bad spots.
To be fair, that can be said about major cities in other states as well.
True, and I also lived in East L.A. and New Orleans. As a white guy, those can both be simultaneously safe (because white) and also dangerous (because white). I have found that (at least in the places I've lived) it's more about the way you act and how you interact.
I recall a story when I walked into a McDonalds on Crenshaw Blvd in south central L.A. I rolled in with my typical jeans, white t-shirt, and a red bandana. That is straight-up Disciple territory. It was as if the whole store went silent, looked up at me with Blood colors, and then chuckled as they realized... pasty white guy.
Not true about zero car stuff. There is a rallycross group that runs in one of the valleys where the original jurrassic park was filmed. I have a friend who moved from DC to HI about 4 years ago. He's actually back in town until 7/1 if you'd like to meet up to pick his brain some.
I have a customer that was from around here and still owns a Summer cottage here in town. He works in the nautical part of loading and unloading petroleum. A few of years ago he signed a contract to work on the big island. When they were in the process of moving, the wife was telling me that they could not believe how much he was going to get paid. This was to be his big score to help pay for his daughter's college. Wrong. Three years later, they are making more money than ever. They have less money than ever because that place is so expensive. Kid gets zero financial aid because they are making so much money. Cottage is now rented out year round so that it can pay for itself. Tenants break things. I have more work there. Good for me. Bad for them. They can't wait for 5 year contract to end so they can get out of there.
If I had planned to move to Hawaii, I would probably get that 35 foot sailboat I always wanted and just live on that.
Sounds too much like what I'm trying to leave behind, a small island with a horrendous cost of living that makes a mockery of the local incomes, swampass weather, hurricanes, and a generally boring lifestyle unless you live for #saltlife. There are some differences, on one hand the economy is healthier, less dependent on tourism, and perhaps more egalitarian in Hawaii; on the other hand it also has bigger social problems for immigrants by the sound of it, and volcanoes...
In reply to GameboyRMH :
The main difference being a bit easier to move back to the mainland since its a US state if things just get too unmanageable, especially if you travel light and have no qualms about firesaling your stuff off to the locals.
Considering Curtis has already adjusted his lifestyle to one of near minimalism, being more outdoors and a relatively chill person, I'd say he could do just fine there.
pheller
UltimaDork
6/21/19 11:31 a.m.
My wife, who loves loves loves water and mountains combined, especially when good snorkeling is available, has openly admitted that she'd have a hard time moving to Oahu. She had visited when she was younger, and even back then she remembers it being just absolutely packed with people. The water is packed with people. The mountains. The rain forest. The good snorkeling spots. All packed with people.
She summed it up "if I want to feel like a tourist every day, I'll just be a tourist."
That being said, she'd be open to living on the less touristy island. We were surpised at how quiet and not tourist-packed the Big Island was, but that's not in Curtis's question.
T.J.
MegaDork
6/21/19 11:39 a.m.
I've been to Oahu three times, but not any of the other islands. These were all Navy related trips and not full blown vacations. My take on Oahu is that is paradise ruined. It made me a bit sad. I would've loved to see that place 200 years ago, but now it is just a nice place to visit and not a place I would ever want to live. If I go back to HI, I want to go to one of the other islands to check them out. I've seen a few through a periscope, but not been. Mrs T.J. went to the big Island for a few days and loved it.
docwyte
UltraDork
6/21/19 12:34 p.m.
I grew up in San Diego. I've been to Oahu a few times and was almost stationed there. Oahu reminds me of San Diego but more expensive and more PITA for everything. I'd rather live in San Diego.
I do regret not getting stationed there but that had a distinct beginning/end point, they were moving me and my car for free and would move me and my car out of there for free. Back in '04 a decent little house that was 45 minutes away without traffic was pushing $500k. It's not cheaper now!
I think I could do it if I were stationed there, so I knew in 2-3 years I was leaving and I didn't have to pay to do so. Otherwise I have little desire to live on a small island in the middle of nowhere when I can get almost the exact same experience in San Diego.
I know some guys that went over for construction work, they did a tunnel I believe?
Anyway it was 15 years ago by now, 13k a month for 3 months.
They came back with about $500 and bitched about the prices. Everything was very very expensive including alcohol which to be fair was probably a thing they bought a lot of.
They said the weather was nice, the natives were shiny happy people, the tourists were shiny happy people and they were always broke. The couldn't wait to get out
