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That's a really good idea, Dreaming. Thank you! I will definitely do that on our next visit. Thank you for all of the good info! You've given me a few new things to chew on.
To respond to the OP, I'm a Mainland haole who has been fascinated by Hawaii since I was 11 years old. As a young teen, I read every book I could find on the Islands, watched Hawaii Five-O religiously, and bought Don Ho albums (not many Atlanta pre-teens did that, I can assure you). None of my family or friends had been to Hawaii, so I don't know where my obsession came from. It's safe to say that I had an unrealistic, romanticized view of the Islands, and my interests shifted to other places when I reached adulthood. When I finally had an opportunity to visit for the first time at age 36 (Kaua'i), it turned out to be everything my younger self had imagined, and more, and my interest returned. A few years later, after moving to the Pacific Northwest, I met and woman from the Big Island who had moved to the Mainland for better economic opportunities. That was a dozen years ago, and I've since been immersed in Hawaiian culture, and have visited several times and have gotten to know the "real" Hawaii, as opposed to the tourist version. My wife is an Island girl at heart and misses Hawaii terribly, but she also has come to love the Pacific Northwest. I'm well aware of the good and the bad aspects of Hawaii, but I've learned to love the people, culture, and lifestyle, and I know I'd be very happy living there. My wife's friends and relatives tell me that my soul must have been born in Hawaii.
So why don't we move to Hawaii? For all the practical reasons people talk about on this forum. Two times over the past dozen years, we tried to convince ourselves that we could do it. Unfortunately, the numbers wouldn't add up financially, no matter how hard we tried to spin them. We had (and have) well-paying jobs that would allow us to live comfortably on the BI. Unfortunately, my wife's job isn't portable. Mine is now, but it wasn't then. We wouldn't be able to find jobs in Hawaii that pay anywhere near what we earn on the Mainland. Neither of us is willing to work two or three jobs and barely scrape by, just for the privilege of living in Hawaii. We're empty-nesters now. My wife will be able to retire in a few years, and I'll be able to retire a few years after that. Our dream is to move to Hawaii when she retires (assuming I can still work remotely for my current employer), but only if the numbers add up. We're lucky to live in a place we love, and if it makes more sense to stay where we are, we know we can still visit Hawaii any time we want to.
HonuMan, thanks for the interesting posting. I should be thought-provoking to many folks who have the "dream" of moving here, and are doing some realistic research first.
You offer valid insight, "we tried to convince ourselves that we could do it". If someone has to convince themselves to make a move, then it is most likely that the move is not right for them. Someday, if and when the timing and circumstances are lined up for you, you won't need any convincing!
HonuMan, thanks for the interesting posting. I should be thought-provoking to many folks who have the "dream" of moving here, and are doing some realistic research first.
You offer valid insight, "we tried to convince ourselves that we could do it". If someone has to convince themselves to make a move, then it is most likely that the move is not right for them. Someday, if and when the timing and circumstances are lined up for you, you won't need any convincing!
Exactly. My wife and I don't live an ostentatious lifestyle. We live in a small, comfortable house in a safe, quiet, modest neighborhood. We usually cook our own meals, but we enjoy being able to go out to eat or go to wine tastings and such when we want to. We do have a weakness for tech toys (okay, I have a weakness for tech toys, but my wife sure enjoys using them when I buy them). We take advantage of the same kinds of outdoor and free activities that we would in Hawaii. We enjoy our lifestyle, and we have no incentive to downscale to asceticism.
A breakthrough came when we were looking at houses and neighborhoods we could potentially afford in Hawaii when we were thinking of moving there. After some unenthusiastic exclamations of, "Yeah... we probably could make this work," I finally asked, "Would we even consider this house or neighborhood if it were in Oregon?" My wife sighed and said, "No way." Going by Sartre's adage that every place is the same after six months, we realized that if we'd hate something in Oregon, eventually we'd hate it in Hawaii, too.
Of course, we'd probably feel differently if we lived in, say, Detroit, or had high-paying but stressful jobs and lived in a 4,000 square-foot house with tons of stuff we didn't need. Then we'd have a motivation to move or to downscale. But we love the PNW as much as we love Hawaii. We miss things about Hawaii, but if we moved there, we'd miss things about the PNW.
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