From Tomatoes to Pineapples

Disenchanter

after serveral months of debating, my fiance and I, are considering moving our young family From New Jersey to Hawaii. My young family consists of me, my fiance, our son, and another on the way.

My questions to pose:
Anyone here from Hawaii, who can make any recommendations on where to live?
How do I get all our junk there (truck, car, furniture, electronics, etc)?
How does bringing a pet work ( I heard something about quarantine)?
What are the, if any, downsides to living in the area?

Thanks in advance.

EggyToast

The cost of living is quite high. Gas is more expensive, most everything is more expensive, due to the fact that it's a small island only accessible by plane or boat (which is also how you would transfer your large items -- cargo plane or boat). Of course, it's a tropical paradise, which is the only other downside (some people get sick of the weather being mostly the same every day).

planters

I know of a big downside(at least it would be for me), I was reading a computer magazine, I forget what it was, but Hawaii was the state with the slowest internet connection.

MotherFirefly

I had a boyfriend from Hawaii, and a friend that lives there. Expect essentially what Eggy said, high living costs and high gas prices, slow limited internet connection.

Any relatively cheap housing is going to be potentially borderline slummy. The bonus: Air Conditioning really isn't all THAT necessary. The problems would be finding a job, since most of the income is tourism based, it's either that or working Agriculture/Retail.

I think the perks of the location pretty much make up for the rest of it. The big island isn't bad at all and it has it's nice areas, the public beaches are really great, jsut to let you know though, if you're a man moving there you have to learn to surf. The guys who make the biggest bucks over there (besides hotel/ranch owners) are the guys who run their own surf shop.

Disenchanter

heh, I grew up around beaches, and have been surfing since I was little. One of the biggest downsides to where I live now, Jersey shore is crap for waves.

Mmmm... Cocks...

This might be boarderline "bad etiquette" in H/A but why exactly are you moving to Hawaii? If you don't want to get into it it's fine - but all the downsides people seem to have mentioned could possibly be avoided by moving to say, California. (higher living cost, jobs, housing, internet, but you still get the nice weather)

Personally I'd hate being stuck in Hawaii - unless of course you some how had your own personal plane or boat to get out to land whenever you need. And hell, I don't doubt it if you're moving to Hawaii in the first place you rich bastard. :P

Though I dunno how far California even is from Hawaii - just my mind wandering I guess.

Creepy

You might this about this book. There are other books like that one, too. Saw quite a few when I visited.

I went to Hawaii a few years ago and I would LOVE to live there. Seems it's hard to find a decent paying job and if you do find one you better cling to it for dear life. Lots of people move there & find out that if they can't get something in their chosen field of work then they're basically looking at tourism or service jobs as a 2nd choice. Which is great if you've always wanted to be a bellhop or waiter.

My dream is still to retire there but I don't think that's going to happen. If I was 20 years old with no house, etc I might give it a go but I don't even want to think about what 200k buys in Hawaii house-wise. I'm guessing a nice tent.

Good jobs are mainly on Oahu iirc. Honolulu is just like any other big city.

Pet Quarantine Info

Moving or shipping your goods

Where to live

Page of "Moving to Hawaii" links


Not that I have thought about this or anything....

Good luck and color me envious if you can pull it off, sir!