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Hawaii definitely does not come up short on food, culture, and people that are easy to love. Experience Aloha.
I'll take Maui please.......
my pictures
I only spent time on Oahu but I remember during my time there I got a lot of stinginess from the locals (even non-Natives). They were probably fed up with all of the tourists at that point. I've heard this is common but I wouldn't know. I know a lot of people who went to Hawaii for college and they stated that a lot of the locals won't even befriend a newcomer unless they've been living there at least a year (I guess a lot of people are temporary movers). I wonder if the other islands are any different?
I try not to judge a place based on the people that live there, because there are good and bad people everywhere, but it's hard to like a place when almost everyone you see that isn't a tourist is giving you the cold shoulder and being upfront rude with you. Also not everyone has the same experiences or perception as me. Outside of these incidents I enjoyed Hawaii however.
Because of how the local people treated me and my family in Hawaii, as far as tropical locations go, I'd be more likely to pick one of the other territories even though I haven't been to them. So for me, Hawaii is great for a vacation, but never to live.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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I wonder what would be the best US territory in the southern and western Pacific to vacation and perhaps reside in. I tend to think of places like Guam as a military outpost. Not very familiar at all with those areas otherwise.
I'd rather live in most of these than a hella lot of states on the mainland.
For example, I'd rather live in Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, or the United States Virgin Islands than ever entertain the idea of living in anywhere in New England, all of the Midwest (save for Madison, Chicago, parts of Greater Detroit), all of the Southeastern states of MS, AL, TN, KY, GA, SC, WV, or NC (save for Asheville, NC), anywhere in the states of PA, DE, and parts of Northern and Western New York state.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by :-D
I only spent time on Oahu but I remember during my time there I got a lot of stinginess from the locals (even non-Natives). They were probably fed up with all of the tourists at that point. I've heard this is common but I wouldn't know. I know a lot of people who went to Hawaii for college and they stated that a lot of the locals won't even befriend a newcomer unless they've been living there at least a year (I guess a lot of people are temporary movers). I wonder if the other islands are any different?
I try not to judge a place based on the people that live there, because there are good and bad people everywhere, but it's hard to like a place when almost everyone you see that isn't a tourist is giving you the cold shoulder and being upfront rude with you. Also not everyone has the same experiences or perception as me. Outside of these incidents I enjoyed Hawaii however.
Because of how the local people treated me and my family in Hawaii, as far as tropical locations go, I'd be more likely to pick one of the other territories even though I haven't been to them. So for me, Hawaii is great for a vacation, but never to live.
Also amazing pictures by the way!
I can't really compare other islands to Oahu as I've never been. I've been to Maui and the Big Island. Honestly I never received the cold shoulder nor did my perceptions get colored by anything off putting on either of those islands. I'm pretty sure Oahu is a different animal than the other islands as it has a tremendously higher population, has very high density urban residential areas, and a very serious homeless problem (so I've heard) on a pretty small island.
Maui has a lot of resort development, and some remote and rural areas. I was there for only four days and I mainly stuck to the beaches and tourist areas so I couldn't tell you much about there people there. It also has a lot of the same retail one could expect to find on the mainland (even a Whole Foods!), pretty much enough to go around to not have to leave the island for any real necessities.
The Big Island I felt was a better place to experience authentic and local Hawaiian culture, and its a mostly rural island with amazing and diverse topography, and the island itself is about the same size as Connecticut so you have a bit more room to wonder with different places to explore. My encounters with the people there were great, even made a a few friends there that I follow on facebook.
To live in Hawaii is obviously a very different experience. Given the other options on the poll, I'd have to go with Hawaii anyway. I hate the cold, so Alaska is out, the outer Pacific territories are too small, isolated, and unfamiliar, and in the Caribbean (PR and USVI) I'd have concerns with crime, poverty, and language barriers in Puerto Rico.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 12-03-2015 at 10:42 AM..
I lived in Alaska for two years, (including two winters!), and really the weather wasn't the main thing for me. It was the darkness and isolation that got me.
With the long summer days and having to wake up at 7 AM, I found the kids playing at midnight were a major issue as I could not sleep, though I don't blame Alaska parents allowing this to happen for obvious reasons.
The short winter days were also weird...going to work in the dark, coming home in the dark, some could compare this to Seattle, but really multiply it by about 2-fold and you get the extremes. When you are thinking about lunch and the sun is just coming up, well, that can be an issue for some!
Isolation. Really very similar to Hawaii. Obviously you CAN drive from Alaska to the lower 48, but you really don't want to especially from October to May. Hawaii to the lower 48, driving is not advised. If you have wealth, you can always ship your transportation and things, but what a hassle!
I don't think I would choose either of our 49 or 50th States at this point. But I guess I could overlook some of the above with a nice 78 degree beach day, which happen in Anchorage...wait, it doesn't happen in Anchorage!
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