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I didn't read everyone's comments, but just wanted to chime in (this is all just based on reading your first post)
1000000% - DO IT!!! I'm 26 and currently live in Syracuse NY, moved here from Hawaii in 09, moved to Hawaii from Florida after college in 07. College was great, but my one regret is that I didn't travel while I had the chance - young, no set job, no attachments to anything. I moved to Hawaii for a job and loved it for awhile, but decided to move back to the mainland, for many reasons. Now I'm trying to play catch up and travel to as many places as possible. I'm not married and have no kids, but I have a steady job, apartment, student loans, car loans, you get the idea. Needless to say, it's hard for me to go on world adventures...even though I make good money, my student loan payments are more than my apartment rent! How terrible is that???
But I've got the serious travel bug right now and am trying to do what I can when I can. I took a random trip to the Bahamas for my birthday for a few months ago (turned in some airline miles and stayed for free since I couch surfed). I'm making it a goal to go to one new place every year - whether by myself or with others. The Bahamas trip was the first time I ever travelled by myself and I LOVED IT!!!
Also, if you're not familiar already - CouchSurfing - Participate in Creating a Better World, One Couch At A Time. Couch Surfing is the best thing I could've ever gotten into - if you like WWOOFing, then you will LOVE couch surfing! It's along the same lines, except you're not required to work - just travelers helping out fellow travelers with places to stay, etc.
Well that's my two cents... enjoy your adventures!
Becca, that's awesome! I've had the travel bug for a while now and I don't see myself settling down anytime soon. Staying debt free is very important to me so that I can continue traveling and maintain some sense of freedom. I am aware of CouchSurfing but I've yet to try it. I'll be going back to Hawaii alone as opposed to the first time when I went with my ex-girlfriend. I think traveling alone is much better for really getting things done. I didn't get to explore Waipio the way I intended to because my girlfriend was feeling like crap that day and we were with another WWOOFer who didn't appreciate anything we were doing. I ended up walking off on my own for a bit and met a girl who was headed to the beach. She asked me if I would go with her but I had to meet up with my fellow WWOOFer's... bummer. She was a cute girl too. HAHA!
As far as starting my own business... it's crossed my mind but I'm still a ways away from figuring out what business that would be.
I've had the travel bug for a while now and I don't see myself settling down anytime soon.
Connecting this to Hawaii, I'd imagine living in Hawaii and having the Travel Bug, would be a very very expensive endeavour. Cities like NYC, Miami, LA are much better, and you can get some 'economies of scale' for cheaper flights to more international destinations.
I think I was born infested with Travel Bugs, and spent the last couple decades slowly purging them out one by one through travel.
I'm hoping that if Honolulu/Hawaii is in my cards someday, that the Travel Bug won't be something I'm dealing with. In short, it seems better to get that out of your system before Hawaii.
I read DavidAMIs' (the OP's) blog, and he has left Hawaii again. To sum it up: he spent 4 days sleeping on the beach on Kaua'i, got one WWOOF offer that sounded sketchy, so he took one on the Big Island instead. After two weeks on the Big Island, he quit, visited a few places again and hopped a plane for Portland. It seems like he needed more to bury his relationship issues from his first trip than really attempt to establish himself.
I don't want to be harsh on him, but I do think it is this sort of behavior that sours the regular posters, the local residents, and especially the potential employers. He seemed more to be searching for himself, and he does write eloquently at times about that, so it was an interesting blog. He also has some good observations about the WWOOFing scene. Plus, he is young, we can't really hold it against him for not know what he wants or why he travels, but sometimes it seems like he wasted people's help here on the forums. I suppose it is the discussion and ideas that are more important, in the end, than the OP or his actual experience.
I appreciate your words on my blog. It seems what you've gathered from it is, for the most part, exactly what I tried to convey and you didn't misunderstand. Admittedly, in the context of how I explained the trip to those I was seeking support from, it did turn out to be a bust. Originally, when I first started telling people about this trip, I was telling people exactly what I planned on doing; I wanted to camp out on beaches and just walk around the islands getting in touch with the land. Of course, this wasn't met with rave support and so I began to flip the story a bit to ease peoples minds about the trip (and so they'd get off my back about it with all the worrying). So instead, I told them that I planned on getting myself settled out there and that I knew people who could help. The more I told people this new plan, the more I started to believe that I might actually be able to make it a reality, completely neglecting the true nature of what I hoped to accomplish out there. That's when I came to these forums to try and see if it was completely possible. I got a lot of great advice from people here on City-Data and I now know that if I had actually wanted to settle out there that I could have made it happen. As you've said, it's not necessarily my experience, but the discussion that is of most value here. Now that it's on these forums anyone can read it and learn from it. I'm also someone who has to experience things for himself. I very much consider all advice given, but I don't just blindly follow it.
With all that said, plans ended up changing. I became frustrated at my job and management was starting to see it. So I bought my ticket MONTHS earlier than I had originally intended without telling anyone for a few days; I left with less money than I had hoped to as well. The plan again shifted back to it's main focus of just camping out on beaches and from there just going in whatever direction felt right. As you read on my blog, I discovered that Hawaii wasn't the place for me. There are still things that I'd like to see and do and Hawaii is too inconvenient of a jump off point. So I flew back to Portland and I have to say that being on the mainland again was the best part of my trip.
I apologize if I seem to be sullying up the community here. But I really hope that you can tell that I'm not just another irresponsible, and immature "hippie" who wants to run off to Puna to be high 24/7. I met a lot of these folks out there who thought I'd be into the idea as well, and that was a little disconcerting for me. It honestly boggles my mind how someone could feel right about living off food stamps like they're owed something when they have a choice. I had an escape plan; I left. I'm not homeless and I've been working as a house-sitter in the NYC area until I head off to school next month in NC. I'll be honest and say that I don't necessarily want anything and I travel because it's a great feeling to be out on the road meeting different people, seeing new places, and discovering the world we live in. It's as simple as that. Come what may.
Also, let me just correct you and say that I did not QUIT the farm as much as I was not wanted. This is part of the reality of WWOOFing. Some hosts are just passive-aggressive about the whole thing and will subtly let you know that you're not welcome.
- David
Last edited by DavidAMIs; 12-14-2011 at 11:40 PM..
David, I read your blog and found it very interesting. Thanks for posting it! At one point you said that you were going to cut off your dreds when you got home. I am curious if you did or did you decided to keep them?
When I first decided to naturally dread my hair it was partially a curious endeavor. When I realized that my life was becoming more "spiritual" I decided to keep them. After Kauai I thought that maybe it was time to get rid of them because I was growing impatient with the process and also I felt as though my experience on Kauai had come full circle and my "spiritual journey" of sorts felt as though it was coming to an end.
It wasn't until I got to Portland that everything felt novel and fresh and my decision to keep them arose. It'll be a year next month and they've come a long way but they still have so much more to mature. Not sure how long I'll have them for at this point, but I do appreciate having them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiger Beer
Connecting this to Hawaii, I'd imagine living in Hawaii and having the Travel Bug, would be a very very expensive endeavour. Cities like NYC, Miami, LA are much better, and you can get some 'economies of scale' for cheaper flights to more international destinations.
I think I was born infested with Travel Bugs, and spent the last couple decades slowly purging them out one by one through travel.
I'm hoping that if Honolulu/Hawaii is in my cards someday, that the Travel Bug won't be something I'm dealing with. In short, it seems better to get that out of your system before Hawaii.
I must have missed this post, but you're absolutely right and I explained that in the second paragraph of my response to KauaiHiker. I'm not really sure where I want to go next. I may just do a lot of hiking in the US or I may go overland to South America. I'm also gonna study abroad when I get to school so we'll see where that takes me. I met a few people out there on the islands who felt that Hawaii was a transition for them and it's exactly how I felt.
Last edited by DavidAMIs; 12-15-2011 at 01:08 AM..
I must have missed this post, but you're absolutely right and I explained that in the second paragraph of my response to KauaiHiker. I'm not really sure where I want to go next. I may just do a lot of hiking in the US or I may go overland to South America. I'm also gonna study abroad when I get to school so we'll see where that takes me. I met a few people out there on the islands who felt that Hawaii was a transition for them and it's exactly how I felt.
Completely makes sense to me.
South America is great...I spent a year down there, mostly Brazil among another six countries. I once thought of emigrating there. An amazing continent.
It's all good, but you have to realize that nobody is going to recommend or approve of illegal camping in their area (Hawaii or mainland). Seems like you should've been more focused on the travelling, as in saying you were going to spend 2 weeks visiting each island, camping legally, and making contacts in case you found any work. The legal campgrounds in Hawaii are cheap $3-$10/night ($20 for Kalalau, but worth every penny), most are at the beach, and fairly easy to get permits. You could always go wild a few nights without mentioning it here, but I still won't recommend it to people when the alternative (campground permit) is so easily available.
The problem with discovering that Hawaii is not the place for you is that it's a total 180 from what you presented here. Also, if you had planned a regular camping and hiking trip, you could've seen much more of the islands for the same price. I feel that if you had been a bit more honest with yourself about what you were after, people on the forum could've helped you achieve that.
Sorry I got that wrong about having to leave your job, but you were rather vague about it. As for hippies, you need to realize that even if you don't do the drugs or take the foodstamps, you often talk like them and look like them, so you're going to get associated with them more than you like. Don't take that as in insult, when I had long hair lots of people asked me to sell them pot--no big deal. But hippies are seen as non-productive people on the margin of society. Sooner or later, I hope you find a community that you want to contribute to.
I don't get the dreadlock thing. Your hair doesn't make you spiritual or not spiritual. The reason Rastafarians have dreadlocks is that they don't believe in cutting their hair (like Samson) and they're black, so their hair naturally forms dreads when they don't groom it and keep it clean. The whole phenomenon of white people making their hair dirty with mayonnaise (and who knows what else) to force it to form dreadlocks is just bizarre.
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