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if possible, since you're just renting, try to live near where you work. if you work Waikiki, live Waikiki. work in downtown, live in or around downtown. Keep in mind that rentals in downtowna nd Waikiki don't always come with parking stalls, which makes it a headache if you own a car. Street parking is doable, but not something that I personally would like to rely on daily.
It might be a good idea to move to a more accessible area like Downtown first, especially if you don't have a car right away. The local bus transportation is easy to use and can take you to a lot of places on the island. Once you get a lay of the land then you could always decide if you'd rather be in the Hawaii Kai area instead. People do tend to do that.
If you are on tight budget and have not got a job offer yet, I recommend you to rent a room at YMCA which is quite affordable and it can be rented on daily or weekly basis. YMCA Nuuanu is within walking distance to downtown: https://www.ymcahonolulu.org/accommo...accommodations
If you do a Google Maps search for Hawaii Kai, and then ask for directions and times by car from there to Downtown Honolulu you get the following results:
If you do a Google Maps search for Hawaii Kai, and then ask for directions and times by car from there to Downtown Honolulu you get the following results:
Via HI 72 and H-1, usual traffic: 23 min
6:15 AM - 7:13 AM 58 min
4:46 AM - 5:38 AM 52 min
Hawaii Kai is a fairly large (land mass) community. It's about 15 mins from one end of Hawaii Kai to the other (Kawaihae to the back of Kalama Valley - with zero traffic. So a drive into downtown (we'll call that Bishop and Hotel) from Hawaii Kai can be as short as 15-20 minutes with no traffic (west Hawaii Kai) and 30-35 minutes from east Hawaii Kai.
Your rush hour numbers are way off. A 58 minute commute is unheard of from central Hawaii Kai to central downtown unless there is an accident/stalled car. Leaving at 4:46 a.m. will result in zero traffic. In fact, if you leave before 6:15 a.m. from Hawaii Kai, you will still likely not encounter any slowdowns going into downtown. If you leave after 6:45, that's when you start seeing traffic build up. Leaving Hawaii Kai at 7:30 will result in the longest commute time. Demographically speaking, Hawaii Kai has many more white collar workers than those residing in west Oahu. So they start work later thus leave for work later... ultimately pushing typical rush hours later than that experienced in other areas of the island.
While I agree the commute times posted above are inflated, UH in session/not in session have huge impacts on HK traffic.
When in session, 6:15 is about the latest you can leave central HK (I'll call that Hahaione) without hitting traffic. And while in session an hour isn't out out of question to downtown during peak times. My opinion is the peak is is closer to 7:00 with students/workers trying to get an 8am start.
With that said, if UH not in session, traffic on the entire East side of the island isn't bad. Therefore get ready for traffic soon.
While I agree the commute times posted above are inflated, UH in session/not in session have huge impacts on HK traffic.
When in session, 6:15 is about the latest you can leave central HK (I'll call that Hahaione) without hitting traffic. And while in session an hour isn't out out of question to downtown during peak times. My opinion is the peak is is closer to 7:00 with students/workers trying to get an 8am start.
With that said, if UH not in session, traffic on the entire East side of the island isn't bad. Therefore get ready for traffic soon.
In any case, 58 minutes from HK to downtown is far from the norm. Average (blend between peak and off-peak and school in session vs out of session and being in Hahaione) would be more like 35-40 mins... which is a huge difference from an hour. Anyone taking an hour to get to work from Hawaii Kai is almost guaranteed to be stuck in traffic resulting from a stalled vehicle or accident - regardless of the time of year.
Pick up a friend and you can use the contra-flow carpool lane on Kalani Hwy until 8:30am. Will take you right to the freeway, although there will be traffic on the freeway from University to Vineyard, at least you can skip all the traffic on Kalani. This is my commute every morning. Average time 30-35 mins to Vineyard exit downtown when UH is in, 20-25 mins when they're on break. Accidents and water main breaks not considered.
I live in Hawaii Kai and have worked downtown. It's frustrating when the traffic backs up all the way from my house. It definitely impacted my mental health.
Now I work near the university (UH), and although it's not much closer to home, it does make a huge difference commute-wise. Getting home is much easier than the AM; I'm door-to-door in 15-20 min. It takes about 30 in the morning, depending on whether or not there's an accident.
All of that said, if you're looking for social work (my field as well), you'll likely struggle to afford east Oahu. We're stretched pretty thin and my husband makes good money.
Most of the younger singles I work with live near Waikiki (there is a lot of condo living on the Ala Wai) or in Manoa or Kaimuki. I would check those out. You could look in the downtown Chinatown area as well. I know a few people who live there with reasonable rent. A couple other friends live in Salt Lake/Aiea, but I wouldn't personally.
Keep expectations reasonable when moving here with no job lined up. It's tough to get by financially without a cushion.
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Hawaii Kai to Downtown
