A lot of people don’t think about what it takes to live in paradise
Without a doubt in my mind, Hawaii is the prettiest of all of the states. There are so many different things about living in Hawaii versus living on the mainland that it kind of is its own separate place.
That being said, you get both the tropical paradise and beauty of an island as well as the luxuries of a first world country.
People underestimate how expensive it can be to live on the island. Unless you sold a business and are retiring here, chances are you’ll be working several jobs to make it work. Housing is expensive and that includes renting. There are parts on the islands that are less expensive, but those places will likely be less desirable for some reason: usually because they are harder to access places, less amenities or more prone to natural disasters (like lava).
And while it is part of the United States, it certainly has a feel of being its own tropical paradise
Okay, don’t know if my long-a comment posted or not, but just read more of the older comments, some I’m really glad people took to write because they added important things from a perspective everyone reading this should hear if they actually have considered moving, and some that blew my mind and made my head hurt and made me want to say PLEASE!! Write more about why people, no matter how they ‘left their heart in Hawai’i’ should seriously think twice about moving there because they just want to live there because it’s so paradise. Just because you have the means to, imo, doesn’t mean you should, unless you plan to bring multifaceted value *to the NATIVE locals* like creating more sustainable good jobs for people already living there not bringing in more and more people…or filling in a need that someone else is not able to fill currently. There are reactions and consequences to everything, just because that condo is there for you doesn’t mean it didn’t have another negative affect on someone else, you’re not just there as an individual, which is the American mentality that can be so inadvertantly destructive without you knowing what you’re doing.
Just because say you’re stationed there and you stay and are ‘nice’ to people and they’re chill with you doesn’t mean it’s your home, your island, or the thought that haole=nword [mind*blown] [although not really guess i’ve heard that a million times]
I’m not dissing any white people who have grown up there or stayed for a long time saying go away, what’s done is done, but the fact that so many white Americans in particular feel they can go anywhere in the world because they like it or want to experience something new (which is an awesome privilege to have the means for) is not okay when it’s done without truly considering the impact of their choices and even the impact of what is set into motion usually unintentionally. To grow up in a tourist economy where you must embrace tourism to have jobs and must be welcoming on a certain level to changes and accommodations and destruction and so many painful things-but then to have people come and like stake their claim (not with bad intention of course) the way Euro explorers always did, put the flag down and boom! it’s ours! Yes it’s the US but no you’re not contemplating moving to just another state that will easily let you change your address and official ID with a few clicks. Honestly I feel like people just wanting to move, work, retire in paradise need to consider, is it okay to move onto reservation lands and buy up land to develop or live or make money from that doesn’t actively, holistically support the actual local community in generative, integrative sustainable practical ways, or just to experience and enjoy and ‘learn Native ways’…I think many people here would agree that this sounds like a pretty heavy, complicated decision that would require a LOT of motive-searching and deep research and deeply tuned plans to make it with integrity, why there and not somewhere else off the rez. Maybe some will disagree, but I feel like the main difference is when it comes to Hawai’i you can do what you want b/c legally you’re under US law, no permission needed… just because you can doesn’t mean you should!!