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Oh, man! I get lost all the time! You exit the highway and get dumped off into a neighborhood and then can't get back to the highway. You can see it, but can't get to it. Aahh! And there's plenty of side-streets to get lost on. Growing up here probably helped you to get a better feel for things, but getting plopped here makes for some interesting "where the hell am I??" moments.
On another matter (which I know you didn't say)- I totally hate it when people tell me, "It's an island! You can't get lost! Just drive and you'll eventually hit water!" Yeah, that's great if I'm trying to get to the beach, but that really doesn't help me find my friend's house or the job interview I'm already 10 minutes late for. I can still get lost and be late for appointments. Just because you eventually hit water doesn't mean you can't get lost. Errrg! That's like saying you can't get lost on the mainland because if you drive long enough you'll hit water or Canada or Mexico. Thanks for THAT helpful advice!
Hawaii is worth the money = ) I grew up in Hawaii but I got married and I moved to the Eastcoast. The beaches on the eastcoast are nothing like the crystal blue beaches I grew up on. Oahu is very easy to get around. There are only 3 major Hwys -H1 H2 H3(unless they built anymore since I last was there). If you can get yourself on one of those highways then you will never get lost. lol.
Ha Ha yeah right!! I remember one time when I was fairly new to the island, coming home on the H1 at a late hour only to be confronted with a closure for some kind of work then having to turn onto the H3. Once on H3 there is no getting off and no turning around (at least to my knowledge). So I drove and drove hoping for an exit or turn around only to arrive in Kaneohe. I was totally lost in Kaneohe in the wee hours in the morning. Hours and many extra miles later I finally arrived home.
Oahu's highway system gets a *C+* in my book. On and off ramp locations could definitely be improved. After the H1 west on ramp on Piikoi st the next one is all the way down off of King by Humane society or up to the University offramp. This is about a two mile stretch with no westward onramp. Turn a rounds could be implemented. Don't even get me started on the lack of city planning and poor zoning laws.
I'm able to live in a house owned by my mother who rents it to me and a roomate. In the front section is my brother and his family. I drive a 1990 ford ranger, purchased for $2000 which I repaired myself several times with the help of automechanic friends. My rent is very low and my mom barely pays the morgage/taxes with the house's rent. She purchased it in '91 just prior to Hurricane iniki. The parking lot is always crammed with our four vehicles. I live frugally, working for a non-profit environmental organization, gardening, and hunting my own meat. I just finished paying off a new computer and have my sights set on a new hunting rifle. Life is good.
My husband and I were looking into HI as a place to live, and housing costs (not to mention grocery costs) are outrageous. How does anyone (besides the extremely wealthy) afford to live here? Do people in the middle class all live in tiny condos? What if you have several kids and pets? Thanks!
Military live in Hawaii ok due to generous BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) and COLA (cost of living adjustments)...
For everyone else, a variety of reasons. Purchasing a home prior to the late 80s bubble wasn't too bad, after, well, not as easy. A lot, and I mean A LOT of people get by b/c they live with family. Culturally, Hawaii is very open to multi family and multi generational living; three, four, or five incomes go a long way to helping make the $2500 rent or $3500 mortgage payments...plus too, you'd be surprised by how many homes don't have A/C units to drive up utilities, and obviously 99.9% of houses don't even have a source of heat. Oh, and in general people live in smaller homes than most of the country..
What makes Hawaii particularly hard is that compensation in a lot of various professions are lower than in cities that have similar costs of living. For instance, in general an attorney will make significantly more in LA than in Honolulu. So, even professionals with professional incomes will be making sacrifices to live there.
But, on the flip side, there are a lot of other things that people spend a lot of money on everywhere else that is unnecessary in Hawaii. All those professional clothes, don't need them. The fancy car with the $700 lease payment, don't really need that. The $300 Rock n Republic jeans and $250 Etro shirt to go out, nobody cares. The $400 bottle service at the club, what is that? Get my drift? Ok, ok, maybe I'm just comparing LA to Honolulu, but still, no winter clothes, no suits, no dry cleaning, there's a lot of things that you'll save on. But obviously that doesn't make up for the whole difference, just trying to show possibilities.
Rock n Republic jeans? Etro? Bottle service? What club? What planet are you from? You have a very different database! Never even heard about half of that stuff.
I haven't a clue what brand names are written on my clothes. They all come from garage sales anyway so they are very inexpensive. Now, my slippers, those are name brand. I always wear Scott slippers and have for the past several decades. Gotta have happy feet!
Car? Uh, yeah, there's two of them in the driveway. Ones small and white the other one is large and beige. They are both beaters and we pay more in a year's insurance than we paid for them but my DH is a very good mechanic so we get injured vehicles to start with. It would be nice to have a pickup truck, though, but those are expensive. The little white car is a 4WD and the big one can carry a lot of stuff, we just can't carry a lot of stuff over rough ground.
There is no dry cleaner within thirty miles of here so we don't have anything dry cleaned.
With any of the islands other than Oahu - and even Oahu to some extent, our state is mostly about what ISN'T available as opposed to what is.
Now to be fair, we do have an outlet mall on Oahu, so you can dress in labels if you want to...as long as you don't mind wearing two year old fashions. But everyone else is too, so who cares? And you DO need some winter clothing. Some pants and a few long-sleeved shirts are good to have. Also, if you work in an office, you're going to have to dress in business casual, so that means button down shirts and khaki pants, which (at least for me) adds a whole 'nother dimention to my wardrobe.
But yeah...you really do need a car. Unless you're living downtown and working within walking distance, you need a car same as any other city. I mean, there's not even a bus stop within 5 miles of my house. Without a car, I'd be pretty screwed.
Rock n Republic jeans? Etro? Bottle service? What club? What planet are you from? You have a very different database! Never even heard about half of that stuff.
With any of the islands other than Oahu - and even Oahu to some extent, our state is mostly about what ISN'T available as opposed to what is.
I was referring to expenses that I associate with the mainland and not Hawaii. A lot of people spend quite a bit of money on clothes and entertainment that wouldn't be very necessary in Hawaii. This could definitely help to offset the higher overall cost of living for some people, it would definitely help me if I moved home.
I asked the below questions in another thread and didn't get a response. Can anyone here shed some light? Much appreciated!
I'm moving to Oahu in the Spring, I have a job in downtown Honolulu.
Where is a good place to live if I want to surf on the North shore as often as possible?
I understand the commute from the NS to Honolulu is really bad/impossible, true? Is the west side a possibility? Or, is it best to live in or near Honolulu?
Thanks!
Alex
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