Macnarsandlove
Well-known member
It is a good chance I will be moving to HI (Oahu) and I know nothing about it except its expensive and tropical. If anybody is from there or has any tips that would be greatly appriceated. THANKS!
Moving To Hawaii...help!
- Thread starter Macnarsandlove
- Start date
Shimmer
Well-known member
It's not that expensive, but it is more expensive than the mainland. Entertaining yourself will be the most expensive. By your location, I'm guessing you're at Stewart, Gordon, or Benning? Most likely Stewart?
Anyway, the weather is amazing. Housing (decent housing) is expensive, but (again making the assumption) military covers a LOT of that, though not necessarily all of it.
There's a Navy beach right outside Ewa Beach that is really nice for military dependents, White Plains (I believe) is nice.
You're going to hate the traffic.
And by hate I mean loathe detest despise abhor and absolutely....yeah you're going to hate it. People on Oahu are terrible drivers.
If you're Marines and not Army (again, assuming your military) you'll have the beautiful side of the island. Kaneohe is amazing.
There's a Starbucks almost literally on every corner but kiss Target good bye.
The first week you're there prepare for visual overload. It's SO BUSY visually your mind is just like...overloaded.
Haliewa is really cool too. It's more touristy, and I'd recommend avoiding Waikiki like the plague, once you see it. After that, you can find much prettier beaches with a LOT less headache.
Hope this helps.
Anyway, the weather is amazing. Housing (decent housing) is expensive, but (again making the assumption) military covers a LOT of that, though not necessarily all of it.
There's a Navy beach right outside Ewa Beach that is really nice for military dependents, White Plains (I believe) is nice.
You're going to hate the traffic.
And by hate I mean loathe detest despise abhor and absolutely....yeah you're going to hate it. People on Oahu are terrible drivers.
If you're Marines and not Army (again, assuming your military) you'll have the beautiful side of the island. Kaneohe is amazing.
There's a Starbucks almost literally on every corner but kiss Target good bye.
The first week you're there prepare for visual overload. It's SO BUSY visually your mind is just like...overloaded.
Haliewa is really cool too. It's more touristy, and I'd recommend avoiding Waikiki like the plague, once you see it. After that, you can find much prettier beaches with a LOT less headache.
Hope this helps.
little teaser
Well-known member
shimmer pretty much sums it up. can i ask if your military and if so which branch that would give an idea of where your gonna be on oahu
Macnarsandlove
Well-known member
Im in the airforce and I'll be at hickam afb by august
Shimmer
Well-known member
then you'll be great.
Like I said, TRAFFIC is the worst part of living in Hawai'i. The prices aren't too bad, really. Things like milk, bread, etc. are a bit more expensive, but things like dining out, g oing to the movies, stuff like that are where it hits you.
And gas, but that's expected.
Like I said before, go to the tourist spots, see them, enjoy them, and then don't go back unless you're showing someone else. You can find so much more to do on the island without going where the tourists are.
And check out Lanikai beach when you can. I may have misspelled that.
Like I said, TRAFFIC is the worst part of living in Hawai'i. The prices aren't too bad, really. Things like milk, bread, etc. are a bit more expensive, but things like dining out, g oing to the movies, stuff like that are where it hits you.
And gas, but that's expected.
Like I said before, go to the tourist spots, see them, enjoy them, and then don't go back unless you're showing someone else. You can find so much more to do on the island without going where the tourists are.
And check out Lanikai beach when you can. I may have misspelled that.
little teaser
Well-known member
i only been to hickam a couple of times to check out there commisary the houseing looked ok.. houseing suck when i first got to the island but they were building new ones when we were there and they are really nice, we were station at pearl harbor which is right next to hickam. the navy just built a new nice commisary and you dont have to drive on base to get there either.. as far as the beaches i liked to go to hawaii kai but shimmer mention a couple great ones too i know since your new you def want to at least check out wakiki a couple times but i can tell you parking sux on that side of the island and you have to pay almost every where you go and dont shop at the grocery stores other than the commisary cause it way to much money.. but i think once you get settled and meet people you will like it.
little teaser
Well-known member
i forgot to mention, i dont know if you have kids or not and need daycare if so i can give you the 411 on that too
Macnarsandlove
Well-known member
Thank you guys so much! My main concern is housing. Apt size ad cost also safety and moving to a good neighnorhood. Im sure that I will be ok. I'm just nervous ad hell!. Thanks again!
thelove4tequila
Well-known member
Wow. I REALLY wanted to be stationed at Hawaii for the longest time. I still kinda do. I'm in Belgium right now, and let me tell you there are days that I really really really cannot wait until I'm back in Cali. (homestate) I think you will love it there. I have also been told by a friend who was stationed there that you might get a little bored though. Don't be nervous...have fun with it. It will be an amazing adventure! Good luck!
jenii
Well-known member
When I was little, we went to Honolulu, and I thought we were moving there, so I was all happy. Then we came back to the mainland, and I kept saying I wanted to go home to Honolulu.
I always get a little jealous when someone moves to Hawaii, because even though it's 21 years later, I STILL WANNA GO HOME!
You're gonna love it, I bet. Hawaii's awesome. You'll be able to get all the shaved ice you can handle~
I always get a little jealous when someone moves to Hawaii, because even though it's 21 years later, I STILL WANNA GO HOME!
You're gonna love it, I bet. Hawaii's awesome. You'll be able to get all the shaved ice you can handle~
iiifugaziii
Well-known member
alright, I know this hasn't been posted on in a WHILE...but I want to move to honolulu area after i'm done with school (mid 2011). oh- and i'm not military
i'm visiting for a couple weeks for the 3rd time in a couple of months, but I would like to know more local information about good places to live and the areas I need to avoid.
can any of you locals help me out? thanks!
i'm visiting for a couple weeks for the 3rd time in a couple of months, but I would like to know more local information about good places to live and the areas I need to avoid.
can any of you locals help me out? thanks!
Kuuipo
Well-known member
I am from Oahu and its rediculous expensive! Especially if you are not working for Uncle Sugar. We grow nothing here because all the good land is taken up by military bases or hotels so everything has to come in on ships. Jobs are very competitive. Many require you to know two languages. Oahu is very dierty and as you walkk down the sttreets-I walk 3 miles home from my job in the am and I counted 146 homeless and I am sure I missed quite a few!!!
It's not paradise. It's like a petri dish under bacteria grow lights. Its way different here than when I was young.
Look on Craig's list for an apt. Good luck trying to find a one bedroom for less than 1500, not including tax and utilities.
It's not paradise. It's like a petri dish under bacteria grow lights. Its way different here than when I was young.
Look on Craig's list for an apt. Good luck trying to find a one bedroom for less than 1500, not including tax and utilities.
Kuuipo
Well-known member
Waikiki is a horrible place to live. Its all ABC stores, hotels and hookers in clear heels and tourists. Also, the homeless live on the beach and in the parks at night and shower in the foot washing areas. Millilani, Waipahu, Kapolei, Wahiawa, Makaha, Kaneohe, Salt Lake and Pearl City are more suitable for civilized living and have good shopping. And less people living outdoors. Its not just the "bums" and ice heads who are homeless,its entire families and half the homeless have jobs. Lots of working people are a paycheck away from living on the street, myself included. I spent a year living in bushes in an underpass, my girl friend spent 15 years living in and out of a truck. She had a pretty good job-she worked for a medical insurance company. Our electric costs as much as NY and Boston's electric combined per kilowatt, its the highest in the nation. Everything costs almost double but you will make less money. The glow of "paradise fades fast if you are not born here. Also, people are incredibley racist if you are not a multi racial person. We were told in a hospital orientation its ok to refer to white people as haoles but not stinking haoles or F%$#@ng haoles. Its not what it looks like in pictures. Its not even as nice as it looks on Dog Bounty Hunter.
Visit first before you lose your life savings and don't do it as a tourist. They keep the tourists down in Waikiki (there are like no hotels elsewhere) because its a controlled environment-its not all meth labs and tent cities and shanty town.
Visit first before you lose your life savings and don't do it as a tourist. They keep the tourists down in Waikiki (there are like no hotels elsewhere) because its a controlled environment-its not all meth labs and tent cities and shanty town.
xxManBeaterxx
Well-known member
^^
I agree. Even if this thread is 2 years old lol.. The homeless people here are getting OUT OF CONTROL. Im tired of seeing bums looking in the trash can finding soda cans dragging their foodland carts around. And places espeically in waikiki and china town smell like piss and feces. The pricing of housing is ridiculous, the average 4 family home cost $600,000 USED, i wouldnt call that cheap espeically during the economic crunch. A brand new home in the better neighborhoods around town can run you in the million dollar range. A 1 bedroom condo in town can easily cost $400,00 for a shitty 50 year old building. Mufi Hanneman really ruined the city IMO, its become very dirty as hell, the city is way over built hence sitting in traffic all day and there are areas where i cant see the sky anymore, and what is this air train they are about to build?? Idk about you but i dont want to see a monorail outside my window! P.S. stop sending the freaking homeless here from the mainland MUFI!! It really is a mini NYC. Also finding a job is redicoulously competitive!!
All though.. the beaches are one of the best in the world.. xD And living here.. you run out of things to do fast..
I was born and raised in hawaii.. but in the next decade or so i think we are going to move to another state..
And racism is horrendous here.. all though there isnt much violence, there is a lot of derogatory verbal racism
I agree. Even if this thread is 2 years old lol.. The homeless people here are getting OUT OF CONTROL. Im tired of seeing bums looking in the trash can finding soda cans dragging their foodland carts around. And places espeically in waikiki and china town smell like piss and feces. The pricing of housing is ridiculous, the average 4 family home cost $600,000 USED, i wouldnt call that cheap espeically during the economic crunch. A brand new home in the better neighborhoods around town can run you in the million dollar range. A 1 bedroom condo in town can easily cost $400,00 for a shitty 50 year old building. Mufi Hanneman really ruined the city IMO, its become very dirty as hell, the city is way over built hence sitting in traffic all day and there are areas where i cant see the sky anymore, and what is this air train they are about to build?? Idk about you but i dont want to see a monorail outside my window! P.S. stop sending the freaking homeless here from the mainland MUFI!! It really is a mini NYC. Also finding a job is redicoulously competitive!!
All though.. the beaches are one of the best in the world.. xD And living here.. you run out of things to do fast..
I was born and raised in hawaii.. but in the next decade or so i think we are going to move to another state..
And racism is horrendous here.. all though there isnt much violence, there is a lot of derogatory verbal racism
Kuuipo
Well-known member
The other night down on S King Street in the Punahou area I saw 14 shopping carts with a tarp over it outside the Gros Bonnet Culinary School. 10 guys were under the tarp. There were some guys living in the alley, one was playing guitar. The bus stop at the intersection houses a lady who irrigates her legs with peroxide, a man I always see peeing on the wall, and another man sleeping next to the bench. Three men live in the doorway behind the bus stop . I was on bus 13 and a man took a dump on the seat and the bus driver put schedules over it and wrote"don't sit here" 10 min later we were relocated on a new bus. Chinatown, forget it-all prostitutes and urine and drugs. And Duke Aiona was mad about the Rock's parody on SNL .....it wasn't a parody, its real. ,,,the Hawaii people see in movies is not real.
I have been trying to get a job and relocate to the mainland.
I have been trying to get a job and relocate to the mainland.
xxManBeaterxx
Well-known member
HOlY SHIT!! Do you know where the medical school building is? By the beach near ward. Yeah if you ever drive by there there is an old homeless cat woman who takes up the whole block and she has like 50 cats in those cages and all the rats and birds like to follow her. And she has like 20 foodland and star market carts filled with garbge.. I have to pass by that shit near the med building everyday its so unsanitary, idk why the cops dont do anything.
And once in china town at the cutural plaza we were eating dim sum, i saw this male cross dresser wearing a skirt just open his legs and piss on the sidewalk where the A express bus stops. I was with my daughter and she had the WDF just happened face... yeah me and you both hunny..
Ya know people are like well there are bums and homeless people around everywhere, what makes hawaii so special? You cant even go 2 blocks with out seeing a bum, every corner i go to theres a bum, every 5 bus stops you see a bum sleeping on the bench. Have you ever seen kapiolani park? I saw like 100 tents set up, its become a trafficing site for homeless people buying/selling drugs, at freaking kapiolani park where its a tourist gold mine!!
Are you serious about the poop thing on the bus?? God that is so disgusting...
Oh Rock did a parody on SNL about hawaii? *searches on youtube*
Well maui, kauai, and the big island arent like this. Maui is VERY beautiful.. So maybe.. What we see in movies isnt Oahu?
And once in china town at the cutural plaza we were eating dim sum, i saw this male cross dresser wearing a skirt just open his legs and piss on the sidewalk where the A express bus stops. I was with my daughter and she had the WDF just happened face... yeah me and you both hunny..
Ya know people are like well there are bums and homeless people around everywhere, what makes hawaii so special? You cant even go 2 blocks with out seeing a bum, every corner i go to theres a bum, every 5 bus stops you see a bum sleeping on the bench. Have you ever seen kapiolani park? I saw like 100 tents set up, its become a trafficing site for homeless people buying/selling drugs, at freaking kapiolani park where its a tourist gold mine!!
Are you serious about the poop thing on the bus?? God that is so disgusting...
Oh Rock did a parody on SNL about hawaii? *searches on youtube*
Well maui, kauai, and the big island arent like this. Maui is VERY beautiful.. So maybe.. What we see in movies isnt Oahu?
xxManBeaterxx
Well-known member
^^
rofl. They built the trump tower here in waikiki. I remember my husband saying a 800 square feet studio cost around 1 million dollars. Imagine.. going home to your new posh condo and driving up to the parking lot and seeing a bum piss in the water fountain LOL. I can totally imagine that.
rofl. They built the trump tower here in waikiki. I remember my husband saying a 800 square feet studio cost around 1 million dollars. Imagine.. going home to your new posh condo and driving up to the parking lot and seeing a bum piss in the water fountain LOL. I can totally imagine that.
candicenoelle
Well-known member
Wow. I moved to Honolulu (Red Hill/Aliamanu area) August last year (military move) and it definitely was a difference from how I lived in San Diego (I lived in Upper-Middle Class Poway).
It's definitely not the paradise I expected it to be.
I've been unemployed since I've moved out here and can't get a job for the life of me (even with 10 years experience in my line of work). And when I do find a job I'll end up with a paycut cos employers don't pay as much here.
I'm scared of going into neighborhoods I don't know because I'm not sure what I might run into.
I hate the traffic here (55 on the highway? seriously?! I'm used to doing 75 in CA!) People drive like idiots out here too (I thought CA drivers were bad. HI drivers are worse.)
Streets run funny here (to me at least) Off-ramps and On-ramps are never on the same street - so you can get some place one way, but you can't take the same way back! Frustrating!
Restaurants don't have Food Safety Grade Ratings like in California so you don't know how clean that kitchen really is. Eew.
It's ridiculously expensive to buy just about anything here. Markups are incredible! They are seriously trying to rob us! And if you have anything shipped here expect to pay more on shipping too!
Rent and utilities is expensive! A two-bedroom apartment is like $1600-$1800! Studios are like $1300! WTF?! I pay about $200 in electricity & water - nearly twice as much as I paid in CA.
On the west side of the island (along Farrington Hwy)- the beaches are full of tents of homeless people. It's like an entire community of homeless people.
There are bugs ... everywhere! The roaches are the most disgusting - they're huge and they fly and they get into every little crevice and no matter how often you try to exterminate them - they keep coming back!
I had such high hopes moving here. I thought life would be beautiful out here. Yes, I've seen a lot of beautiful things (all the touristy sights) but you have to see all the bad things in order to see the beautiful. :[
To ifugazi - If you're really considering moving here, check out everything about this island. It's not all beautiful like the view from your hotel room. I wish I had known that before we chose Pearl Harbor for our duty station.
(Sorry if I turned this into a rant - I'm obviously not satisfied with my living in Honolulu)
It's definitely not the paradise I expected it to be.
I've been unemployed since I've moved out here and can't get a job for the life of me (even with 10 years experience in my line of work). And when I do find a job I'll end up with a paycut cos employers don't pay as much here.
I'm scared of going into neighborhoods I don't know because I'm not sure what I might run into.
I hate the traffic here (55 on the highway? seriously?! I'm used to doing 75 in CA!) People drive like idiots out here too (I thought CA drivers were bad. HI drivers are worse.)
Streets run funny here (to me at least) Off-ramps and On-ramps are never on the same street - so you can get some place one way, but you can't take the same way back! Frustrating!
Restaurants don't have Food Safety Grade Ratings like in California so you don't know how clean that kitchen really is. Eew.
It's ridiculously expensive to buy just about anything here. Markups are incredible! They are seriously trying to rob us! And if you have anything shipped here expect to pay more on shipping too!
Rent and utilities is expensive! A two-bedroom apartment is like $1600-$1800! Studios are like $1300! WTF?! I pay about $200 in electricity & water - nearly twice as much as I paid in CA.
On the west side of the island (along Farrington Hwy)- the beaches are full of tents of homeless people. It's like an entire community of homeless people.
There are bugs ... everywhere! The roaches are the most disgusting - they're huge and they fly and they get into every little crevice and no matter how often you try to exterminate them - they keep coming back!
I had such high hopes moving here. I thought life would be beautiful out here. Yes, I've seen a lot of beautiful things (all the touristy sights) but you have to see all the bad things in order to see the beautiful. :[
To ifugazi - If you're really considering moving here, check out everything about this island. It's not all beautiful like the view from your hotel room. I wish I had known that before we chose Pearl Harbor for our duty station.
(Sorry if I turned this into a rant - I'm obviously not satisfied with my living in Honolulu)
