Moving to Oahu from UK

[StinkieMcCain]

Originally Posted by thejackalope

Why would you choose to move from Wales to Oahu?

Less socialism. Although in usa HI is rated high for socialism.

[urbandeco]

awesome experience. let us know how Hawaii is, please. What are your thoughts and opinions from an outside perspective. Cheers, and mahalo.

[amyeek]

Thanks urbandeco. Well it's been seven weeks, which isn't that long but shall give a little update. Thoughts are - still think the bus system is pretty good but we're keen to sort out a car. That's not happened yet due to boring paperwork issues. We've gone to more activities here - art showings, food festivals, etc - than we did in a year in Wales. Our lifestyle here of being able to wake up every day and have somewhere new to go or something new to do is more like what we had in Newcastle, England, and it suits me well. Enjoy the weather, miss the fall (autumn) but will not miss northern British winter. I've begun volunteer work and very much enjoy what I'm doing. We're spending about $100 a week on food - could do it cheaper but we're picky about HFCS etc - so that's about 66GBP. We used to spend 50-60 a week for us and two guinea pigs so it's a hike, but not too dreadful. Lots of people have thought I'm Australian...

We hate the banking systems and any paperwork is never simple.

The level of homelessness didn't surprise me but it is a very sorry situation. I volunteer near Chinatown and see a lot of sad sights, and know that elsewhere on the island there's far more.

Getting food out is far cheaper than the UK and now I understand why Americans eat out so often - it's cheap and ubiquitous.

One observation - not so many readers here. I always have a book to hand and British public transport, public parks, etc is/are packed with readers. I don't see so many here. Now all my books are filled with sand I guess I may understand why. Through my volunteer work however I also know that literacy is a real problem.

This is a controversial one and I am not being opinionated on it - and I guess it's a US wide rather than Hawaii specific thing - there's a lot of God stuff everywhere. Like a lot of Christian books in Walmart, Barnes and Noble. Or notebooks with psalms on, or art prints with things about Jesus on them. You wouldn't really get that in general stores in the UK, and it sort of surprised me.

Generally the beaches are very clean, which isn't always the case in Europe.

My wife's work is going well, her supervisor is very good at checking in weekly. And she was given mandatory lab safety training, which has never happened before - it's an excellent initiative, as in previous jobs new staff members have arrived and made some potentially dangerous errors, perhaps because they're stuck in their ways, or maybe because of different countries' regulations. Having everyone start with the same rules is excellent.

Do we want to stay forever? No but that was never the plan. Is it paradise? No but we didn't think it would be. Enjoying ourselves though and thus far it seems to have been a good choice career wise for my wife and a nice change of pace for us. Oh and we have a quick weekend break to Maui booked for January, so looking forward to that.

[Sherwoody]

Thanks for update. It's not often we get a thorough update from someone that has traveled across two ponds. Be sure to book a whale watch trip out of Lahaina or Maalaea while on Maui, the humpbacks are wonderful to see.

[Mikala43]

Loved the update. It's always interesting to hear other perceptions.

[qwerty007]

Amayeek, are you still there? Fellow Brit living on Maui would like some feedback on Oahu living. I was going to write (may still) my own post to try and get an expat's perspective, which would be more useful. We find Maui too quiet with few social outlets and cultural activities. You say there is a lot going on in Oahu? Do you think that may be because everything is fresh and new, or is a vibrant entertainments and social scene very evident? We stay there from time to time and like the small city vibe but have never scratched below the surface. We think a move from Maui to Oahu would only be worth it if there is a more-than-negligible improvement in those areas. Since you may not know Maui that would hard for you to judge, but what have you been getting up to that has impressed you and been fun.

[amyeek]

Hi qwerty007 - sorry, I didn't see this and just got an email about it.

I went to Maui in January and loved it because it was so peaceful comparatively! Re: a lot going on on Oahu, no it's not because everything is new, but it depends what you are comparing it to. If you're comparing it to Wales - my god, what a lot of street festivals/new bars opening etc there are. If you're comparing it to Newcastle/Glasgow then I think it's similar - but with less of a serious arts and literature scene (which I miss). If you're comparing to... London... well yeah don't. And of course the architecture is awful.

Depends if you're happy to put up with traffic, tourists, and the sad sight of extreme levels of homelessness.

I'd look up the Frolic Hawaii site to get an idea of what's happening. This week we went to a talk at PowWow festival by Hueman, for example. You wouldn't get that in Swansea...!

[amyeek]

Thought I would give some more updates for anyone interested.

So, my wife has a monthly stipend of $5000. She is taxed on that and pays student loans repayments to the UK.

We rent a room in a 3 bed home in the Diamond Head area. Downstairs are two small apartments used for holiday rentals. We pay more than I wanted (I was aiming for $1500) - $1750. But, it's a big house, very quiet neighbourhood, with a garden and close to the bus/beach. The university housing system is bloody corrupt, and we know someone who sublets from a prof who's on hundreds of thousands of dollars, and has had that apartment for SEVEN YEARS.

We sold our car in the UK (well, my in-laws did) and got 2000GBP for it. We used that to buy a PT Cruiser (jealous much? hah) for $3000. That was perhaps the higher end of the PTs costs, but it was in really good nick. Car insurance was the same as the UK and both of us are on the insurance, though I don't have my license. I can't remember the amount but I remember being impressed.

We manage to save $300-400 a month. A very small amount, but considering there are two of us living on this salary, I think we do well. We have 5000GBP in savings that we came with, and will sell our car and get our deposit back when we leave. I was hoping to hit 7000GBP by the time we leave, and with the car, deposit, and personal savings, we'll hit that and hopefully be able to take a trip to NYC as planned on the way home to see a friend of mine who lives there.

Had a weekend break to Maui (3 days) and spent WAY too much money. Worth it however to go on a great whale watching trip (whales swam under the boat!) and see Kelly Slater at Mama's fish house. Loved Maui for being so peaceful.

Still spending about $100 a week on food. We split it between Times and Whole Foods, depending on what kind of meat we can get in Times.

I'm still volunteering and your lovely gov't has taken my money for my right to work papers, but not actually given me the right to work yet. They're over a month late. Ho hum.

We've made a few friends - two in particular are people I think I would genuinely befriend back home, which is nice, because I think it's easy to befriend people for the sake of it.

I miss a lot of things, even after only five months. My issue of course is that I lived away from my home area of the north of England for a year before moving here, so really it's been a year and a half away from these things. Which are - my friends. I miss calling up a friend on my way home from work and having them meet me for a drink / going to their house on the spur of the moment. My grandmother - she loves me and my wife and I am very worried that I may not get to see her again. British media. NHS. The toon (Newcastle) and its arts/literature scene, architecture (I'd only lived in Victorian houses bar one before moving here... yeah...), and plain talking British people. Too much kombucha/aura nonsense happening and not enough actual action from those people e.g. volunteer work, charitable events. Those things do happen but I keep finding these people who espouse spirituality in the Whole Foods parking lot roll off in their SUVs and give other drivers the finger. You know?

I've visited the doctor once - I had tonsillitis. My insurance covered it and though I botched up the paperwork almost as badly as I did in Wales (it was all in Welsh first and I managed to fill in everything in the wrong place) everything went smoothly. The costs were good, I think I paid $11 in the end for an appointment, a throat culture, and some throat numbing medication. Doesn't cover pre-existing health conditions however so I'm pleased quarter of my suitcase was inhalers and eczema medication.

Things I love - poke, swimming (timidly) in the sea, the food trucks, drive ins, restaurants, turtles, whales, botanical gardens, hikes where you don't lose your shoes to the mud, poke again...

Random grocery observations - Your yoghurts are excellent. Your bread is not. I don't understand why people have drip coffee machines - I was given a $50 Target voucher for my volunteer work and invested wisely in an espresso machine.

If anyone has any specific questions I'd be happy to answer! My wife's work is progressing haltingly so unsure whether she will be asked to stay come July.

[Mikala43]

Thanks for the update, and welcome!!