Top 10: Best of Hawaii (Honolulu: environment, transplants, health insurance)

[SouperStar34]

(My sister, from Chicagoland, moved out to Honolulu and has been living there for almost a year. She wrote this list.)




The Top 10 Best Things about Living in Hawaii

1. Weather - The weather is so wonderful here! Don't get me wrong, I do miss having 4 seasons, but right now, I love how I never have to worry about what the weather will be like, it's always so nice!!! It's usually in the mid to upper 70's in the morning, and 80's in the afternoon, and then back down to mid to upper 70's at night. It doesn't rain very much at all, except during the winter. It's sunny most of the year. Did you know it even snows on the Big Island, up in the mountains? I've seen pics of people snowboarding there.

2. Scenery - There is so much variety here when it comes to scenery. On the west side of the island, it appears almost desert like. There are cactus, the weather is very dry most of the year, so there's not a lot of green over there. The mountains look brown from lack of rain. On the east side, it is very lush and green, it rains everyday, the mountains are all green over there. We have rainforests too, which are so fun to hike through. There are rainbows everywhere, you could probably see one everyday. And the sunsets are amazing.

3. Insurance - For any part time or full time job here, the employer has to offer you health insurance. I think that's great, since back home, not very many part time jobs offered insurance.

4. Jobs - Did you know we have the lowest unemployment rate in the country? For some reason, there are a lot of jobs here.

5. Entertainment - On a typical weekend, it's very likely that we won't spend a single dime. There is so much to do, whether it be going hiking, going to the beach, snorkeling, and so on. If you have a state id, you can get into a lot of touristy thing for free or nearly free.

6. Friendly People - People are very friendly here. However, I think people back in Grand Rapids are just as friendly, so I don't notice a huge difference. A lot of times you'll hear people who want to sit around and "talk story". Even if they don't know you, they just like to talk and be friendly. They call it the "aloha spirit".

7. So Many Holidays! - I can't remember how many holidays we had back home, but here they have 14 holidays that you get off of work for. I think one is Kuhio Day, one is King Kamehameha Day, and I can't remember the others, but I think that's great!

8. Culture Everywhere - The main ethnicities in Hawaii are: Hawaiians, Caucasians, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Okinawans, Koreans, Filipinos and Samoans. This state is truly the melting pot of the world! I have never been around so many different ethnicities at once. I think when we first got here it was culture shock, but now I love it, and I love learning about the histories of each of them, and when and how they got to this state.

9. Environmentally Friendly - The people here truly care about their land and what happens to it. There are a lot of houses that run off of solar power, and recycling is huge here!!! They take great care to maintain the reefs, and it's amazing when seals come up on the sand to shed their skin, volunteers show up to watch and protect the seals round the clock.

10. Fresh fruits and veggies - I love going to the farmers market here. I loved doing that back home to, but there are so many different fruits and veggies that I'm not used to seeing. The pineapple is amazing. And, I was never big into papaya back home, but it's become one of my favorites here!

[cynmkolohe]

Bumping this to keep it close to the other list...

There are a few other top 5 or top 10 lists in older threads...worth searching out if you are looking for other opinions.

[Shnikee]

this is great... i can't wait to get there!

[HankDfrmSD]

Originally Posted by SouperStar34

(My sister, from Chicagoland, moved out to Honolulu and has been living there for almost a year. She wrote this list.)

The Top 10 Best Things about Living in Hawaii

3. Insurance - For any part time or full time job here, the employer has to offer you health insurance. I think that's great, since back home, not very many part time jobs offered insurance.

I find it interesting that the state with the closest thing to socialized medicine has a big shortage of doctors right now:

Lawmakers seek to lure doctors to underserved areas | HonoluluAdvertiser.com | The Honolulu Advertiser

Hank

[newUHprof]

Actually, Massachusetts has the closest thing to socialized medicine. Hawaii is still work-dependent. In Mass, it's the law that everyone must have insurance. And they have many of the top hospitals and medical schools in the country. I haven't heard of any great exodus...

[faddey1]

Hello,

Just like many others my wife, son, and I would like to move to the big island. I keep reading that the big island has low unemployment and was wondering what type of jobs there are that pay enough to support our family?
I have a business and a teaching degree and my wife is a speech therapist. Do you have any advice?

Thanks

fredo

[kkkkk]

Hi,
I'm curious about #3 on your best list:
>>3. Insurance - For any part time or full time job here, the employer has to offer you health insurance. I think that's great, since back home, not very many part time jobs offered insurance.

Does this mean, it's a Hawaii state law that every position will get healthcare coverage for the individual and his/her family? So if I were to work at a local library, my family and I can get coverage?

Thank you for any help in advance.

[whynot?]

It's my understanding that all private employers in Hawaii must provide health insurance to employees who work 20 hours per week or more. There is a reasonably good explanation at HealthInsuranceInfoNet's site: How Am I Protected? | Hawaii

I am not sure whether they must extend the offer to your entire family, but it would be unusual to limit such an expansive law to single-payer policies. I'm sure others here have more information.

[kkkkk]

Thank you whynot for the speedy response. Anyone else with any feedback will be much appreciated.

[hotzcatz]

Most part time employers are very careful to not let the employees work more than 18 hours a week so they don't have to provide insurance. The insurance is only for the working person, the whole family can be added to the policy but it is at a much increased rate which is usually taken out of the working person's paycheck.

As far as finding employment that will support a family, try looking at the classifieds online for the area you are interested in and consider the cost of rentals versus the job opportunities. Also consider that local folks get preference over transplants when applying for employment and most of the good jobs never get advertised since they go to a friend or family member. There are also preferences for certain types of folks when hiring occurs. Look at the folks hired at the place you want to apply for work and if all you see are Filipino workers or Japanese workers or Samoan workers, then unless you happen to fit those ethnic groups applying for a job there may be less than productive. There are exceptions but the odds are better for someone who would fit into the existing group.

I think Hawaii has a low unemployment number because a large percentage of folks who lose their job go to the mainland to look for work and sign up for unemployment there. We also have a lot of folks working multiple jobs to make ends meet so when they lose one they don't necessarily go file for unemployment. They might be underemployed at the time but aren't necessarily unemployed.

KKKK all the local libraries are State Libraries. We don't have anything except State libraries here except for the few privately owned ones like at the U of H.