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Expensive.

Everything is double. The cost of living is extremely high. Thankfully the military offsets the cost. But still, it hurts.

Homeless:

With that being said, the homeless population here is overwhelming. There are so many homeless people here! There are makeshift houses made with tarps and recycled material, it’s pretty common to see. It’s incredibly heartbreaking because they can’t even travel to another state here. You’re basically just stuck on this island. It’s gut wrenching to think about it.

Chill.

You guys, Hawaii life is so chill! In fact, it’s so chill and relaxed that stores don’t care if you bring your pets! I’ve joked with family and friends that anytime I go to Target I see at least one dog. ALL THE TIME.

And these aren’t “guide” dogs, these are just regular doggies strutting around. The other day I counted 4 dogs at Target. I’ve seen dogs in pretty much every store and even a restaurant. Hawaiians don’t play about leaving their dogs at home.

Can’t become a millionaire in Hawaii:

I just found out not too long ago, there are 6 states that do NOT participate in a state funded lottery, and Hawaii is one of them, insert sad face here. Welp, there goes my chances of becoming a millionaire. Better ask my mom to start playing my numbers.

No lottery tickets and no casinos here.

NO shipping:

Nothing ships here. Well, stuff does ship here, but I’m just pouty and bitter about this one. Jerry and I are big online shoppers so this one bothers me.
When we moved to Hawaii we needed a new dinning room table since we got rid of ours in Florida. We figured hey, we will get a new dinning room table when we get to Hawaii. Big mistake! After searching lots of stores and coming up empty for a quality dining table I resigned and went online to Joss and Maine, IKEA, target, and even Walmart. See, I was getting desperate at this point. None of my go to stores would ship a dinning room table set, a headboard, or even one measly bar stool… that meant only getting furniture that was either in stores or finding it used through Facebook market place…. ughhh.

 Free shipping DENIED.

You ain’t gonna get free shipping here, Nope.

I’m a huge Target fanatic and because I’m also a Redcard holder, I am supposed to be entitled to get free shipping always! Nope. Read the fine print. Excludes Hawaii and Alaska. And this goes for almost every store.
I use to avidly shop at Joanns.com, but not anymore! can’t use that coupon code for free shipping because the fine print excludes Hawaii and Alaska. Moving to Hawaii means forfeiting your right to free shipping on pretty much anything, even amazon prime is limited to what will ship out here.

Education madness:

Trying to apply to be a teacher here is harder than it was in Georgia or in Florida. Oh, so many hoops to jump. So many more hoops than I am use too.

Did you know that here in Hawaii kids get a half day on Wednesdays. Yes, this is a real thing. One early day every week! Parents all over Hawaii are pulling their hairs out.

#PartyLifeForTheKiddies

No craft stores:

This leads me into more bitterness. No craft stores here. No hobby Lobby, Joann fabrics, Michaels. Heck I would even take AC Moore at this point. There is nothing… well they do have this store called, “Ben Franklins” but it is not the same nor do they sell fabric (which is the ONLY thing I buy). 

Big city living:

The traffic here is terrifying. There are only 3 highways here on Oahu. H1, H2, and H3… but there is close to one million people (953,207 according to my reliable source Wikipedia, ha.) living here. One million people and ONLY 3 highways, y’all!!! It is insanity driving anywhere.

Congestion:

So, now you know there is close to a million people on this island, do you know how big Oahu is? 44 miles long and 30 miles across, that’s it. Almost one million people live within these perimeters. I knew Hawaii was going to be really crowded. but my oh my. Living here really puts it into perspective.

The food:

You get a taste of some real ramen, udon and all the other Polynesian delicacies. I always thought ramen was the .25 cent packages that you boil and eat when you’re a poor college student. Nope, this stuff is real! And it’s good.

Strong culture: 

There is such a strong welcoming Polynesian culture here. It’s beautiful, it’s different, and it’s exciting to really experience a new culture and way of life.

Wordage.

Totally not cool to refer to visiting the contiguous 48 states as going back to the United States. Natives call it the mainland. Respect it, yo.

Military:

Military is everywhere, so many bases. If you are not native to Hawaii than most likely the military sent you here.

Time difference:

Did you know that Hawaii does not participate in daylight savings time? I didn’t know that until we moved here. That means there is no “springing forward” or “falling backwards” here. Time is always the same. Which makes it a bit trickier when people contact me. For example, most of my family and friends live in the Eastern time zone meaning, we are between 5 or 6 hours behind y’all. In the fall it’s only a 5 hour difference, but once spring hits it will be a 6 hour difference. So if you’re on the east side reading this blog post at 12 noon, then it is 7am here in Hawaii.

Geographically challenged:

Disclaimer, I’m gonna let the following paragraph slide, and chuck it up to our poor education system. Kidding. But, I’ have learned there are people who think that Hawaii is not part of the United States. That’s ok my friends, I’ll let this one slide because I constantly feel like I live in a different country here. But that’s just because the way of life here is so vastly different from anything I’ve experienced on the mainland.

You’d be surprised how many geography lessons I have to explain, but understandably so!

Temperature differences: 

Living in the mountains the temperature is so vastly different from living in other parts of Oahu. I dress warm when I leave my home in the mountains only to strip most of by the time I get to Honolulu.

Environmentally friendly:

Hawaii is very big on keeping their island clean and environmentally friendly. Most places don’t offer a grocery bag and if they do they may charge you .05 cents a bag. Always bring your own bag.

Scenery:

The scenery is unlike any  I have ever seen- its beautiful, its breath-taking. And I get to wake up to it every day.

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