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I choose Hampton Roads easily because although there are lots of nice things about Honolulu, the fact it's on an island in the middle of the Pacific rules out any chance of me living there. It's too isolated from the rest of the country, which makes it hard to travel and raises the cost of living because everything has to be shipped in. Also there seems to be a lot of tension between the native Hawaiians and "Haoles" which I just wouldn't wanna deal with. Honolulu and Hawaii are great vacation destinations, but I couldn't see myself spending more than a week there at a time. Overall this is less about Hampton Roads being a good place for me (it's alright but I wouldn't wanna spend my life there) and more about Honolulu being the worst metro for me in the country.
I choose Hampton Roads easily because although there are lots of nice things about Honolulu, the fact it's on an island in the middle of the Pacific rules out any chance of me living there. It's too isolated from the rest of the country, which makes it hard to travel and raises the cost of living because everything has to be shipped in. Also there seems to be a lot of tension between the native Hawaiians and "Haoles" which I just wouldn't wanna deal with. Honolulu and Hawaii are great vacation destinations, but I couldn't see myself spending more than a week there at a time. Overall this is less about Hampton Roads being a good place for me (it's alright but I wouldn't wanna spend my life there) and more about Honolulu being the worst metro for me in the country.
Honolulu is nice, but yeah like you I wouldn't want to deal with how isolated Honolulu is from the rest of the country. Which causes issues, especially inflated prices in stores for milk and other regular goods. I don't deny Honolulu isn't a bad metro to live in, either. Though holy crap, if you read up about the construction of that city's future light rail/subway system, they really have screwed up the construction of that project sadly. And as I remember, I think Norfolk already has some sort of operational light rail system.
I picked Hampton Roads, but I love Honolulu. Honolulu is a bit too isolated (I’m sure some see it as an advantage, though) for my current situation. Maybe, after I retire??
I lived in Honolulu for 3.5 years and still own property there. I'm also familiar with Hampton Roads; my sister went to Hampton University and we spent quite a bit of time in the area. While there are pluses and minuses about both locations, I ultimately choose Honolulu for overall quality of life. I feel so much more at peace in Honolulu than I do in Hampton Roads and many other places on the mainland. In many ways, Honolulu feels like you're in a different country. True, things are considerably more expensive in Honolulu, but--all other things equal--I'll take Honolulu.
Note, the distance from loved ones on the mainland can and does get to many. Heck, I had a bad case of island fever once and would always find myself dreaming of things that I missed on the mainland (e.g. road trips, etc.). But I asked myself how often I actually ever went on road trips or traveled extensively within the US otherwise (the answer will be different depending on the person) and it wasn't too frequently, so I really wasn't missing much on that front. To me, it seems that many who move to the islands get caught up thinking that Hawaii will be a permanent vacation setting and not enough time adopting the islands as a home.
If Hawaii weren't quite so isolated I'd gladly take Honolulu. Maybe even if it were like a 2-hour flight from the mainland with fairly affordable flights.
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