carelle

This has been an interesting thread. I would like to hear from more of the mainlanders who moved there and found it didn't work out for whatever reason. I'd also like to hear from the retirees or others who have made the successful transition.

C

I also would like to hear from transplants who are Asian descents. How are they treated by the Hawaiian compared to "haole"?

Thanks in advance,
C

maui lover

WOW!!! I'm suprised at all the negative responses rec'd on this topic. Considering we were just in Maui a few weeks ago and talked with lots of people who made the same choice we are considering. Lots of people said they preferred living in Maui than the mainland. Never mentioned about being harassed and beaten up due to race or culture. They were encouraging us to come on and move to Maui, said there's no place like it!Job market may be a bit tight, but other than that no mention of being discrimated against. Actually we were quite suprised how many mainlanders live in Maui. Harldy any native hawaiians.
This is quite interesting???

maggi

You are young with no children. Plenty of time to experiment with where you and possibly your offspring may spend the rest of your lives. My parents moved to the Detroit area and we have all planted our roots here. We have a good life, but I really wish we lived somewhere warmer. My children are grown and we will someday have grandchildren so I will not move away. This doesn't mean people should be flaky and jump from place to place or job to job. The advice you have gotten about making sure you can contribute to the economy of the area is sound. I wouldn't listen to the scare tactics about racism. If you indeed find that's the case you can always factor that into a decision to stay or to leave.

sheryl

I don't know if you have any pets but one thing to consider is that there is a long quarantine (I think its over a month) for dogs. Certain exotic pets are prohibited. During the quarantine period, you can visit the animal(s) but can't take them out and you will be charged for their food and board. I'm not sure about cats.

Maui lover

No pets... We are free as can be... No desire for children either.
I think this is the place we want to be.

Hawaiian lady

Go for it.. Don't let these people scare you. We are the most friendliest people around. Peace & Happiness surrounds you in Hawaii. Lots of mainlanders are making the move!

Sarah

Living on Oahu was one of the best experiences of my life but you are kidding yourself if you expect to be treated with the same privledge as the locals. What is frustrating is that there are only about 10,000 full blooded native hawaiians left so more often than not you have transplants from somewhere else giving you a hard time. ...Or their families wondered in 100 years ago, I consider this new to the land.

Hawaiians do still have Aloha, we must all familarize ourselves with the history to understand why they are hostile towards us. I think the yohips doing the violence are wacky for other reasons but history does give us insights into the bias. Great quick book is the "Consice version of Hawaiian History" 85 pages. Longer and a bit verbose in places is "Shoal of Time: History of the Hawaiian Islands". Quite simply we are who the English were to Ireland if we are white and coming from the mainland.

There are wonderful people living on Hawaii like the person posted above me. Just remember that others watch us come over and make it while their families are struggling to hang on. Did you know that there are more Hawaiians living in California than there are in Hawaii? There is a town in Washington state that has somany Hawaiians that they renamed it Aloha Washington. How do you think this mass migration makes Hawaiians feel? It is not taking place because they had a fair shot at making things work in Hawaii. It happen because over generations they lost the their past culture. Plantation owners reorganized water rights keeping Hawaiians from being self sufficient forcing them to work on Plantations and well beyond this. We insisted they speak English and on and on. When you look at the history you see how we have devastated this culture. We colonialized Hawaii but before that we brought a near genocide through the spread of measels. Many wore black arm bands the day it became a state. We locked up the queen, literally occcupied the land, many stories they fail to tell us when we are learning about Abe Lincoln and all things promising about American History. We (whites) rarely blended in but were the middle class living on Oahu while, chinese, japanese and other Asian and Pacific Island groups came in blended and worked right alongside of the Hawaiians in the fields.

Ok that is just some info. Not very fair to list all the problems of discrimination without listing some of the roots. So sorry for grammar and spelling, Hawaii still is a wonderful, just tread lightly. Food for thought.

freewoman

We felt the same way after our first trip to Maui. We thought it was paradise and if we could have found a way to make a living we would not have even returned home to get our stuff!! But we did come home and have been to some wonderful places since then.

Everyone wants to have a wonderful place to go on vacation and if you lived in Maui where could you go on vacation that would be better?? I think I'll save it for vacations.

impartial observer

yep, two weeks later, you're still nuts.

Kathy

freewomen while I believe Las Vegas is the number 1 destination spot of residents on Hawaii a number of people also travel to French Polynesia, Japan and the like soooo there still are many wonderful places to see. ...But I see your thinking.

Cissy

Young? No kids? Why not??? You'll never know until you try, and you may regret not trying! Go with a plan, money to fall back on for a while and give it shot! Life's too short. If it doesn't work out, you can always move back and start again. Good luck!

xxx

Absolutely heaven in Maui. I would love to move there. Such a warm and wonderful place. It's heaven on earth!

Linda

Why Maui? Have you been to the Big Island? We have lived in Kailua-Kona for 5 1/2 years. We are transplants from MN. We decided we would rather make the move and give it a try living in paradise then grow old and wish we would have. We can always go back, as could you. The suggestion to have some money put away for such an event is a good one. You can find work, just maybe not at the wage you'd prefer. Sure, some things cost more. But our property taxes are a fraction of what they were in MN. Electricity is expensive but our bill is about the same because we use much less. No AC needed because we live up the mountain. Clothes are dried on a line. Trips back home are a bit of a chore and can be expensive but the savings on just the property taxes will pay for a ticket. Some food items are expensive. So buy a bread machine, that solves one problem. Join Costco for gas at less then town prices. (BI Costco) If you read the Wal-Mart and K-mart flyers you will see that most items are priced the same as on the mainland. Large, heavy items may be a bit more. Real Estate prices can be a shocker but that depends on where you're coming from.

We are retired so have not had to deal with schools. I agree that many people send their children to private schools because of the poor performance of public schools.

The tax system is very favorable for retirees. To the person asking about it, if you'd like to drop me a line, I'll share our experiences.

A lot of people can't live here as it is too far from home, shopping is limited, etc. But if you want to give it a go--why not? You'll have a great story to tell you friends.

ANdy

Did you ever see the episode of the Andy Griffith show where Howard (whatta dweeb) quits his job and goes to live on a tropical island. He gets bored and island-crazy after a few days.

Several other TV shows have developed this as a plot.

Places are always neat to visit.....but they rapidly become boring when they are home.

Sarah

Linda inspiring reading your post. I have already lived on Oahu but crave a jump to Italy or back to Kauai. Nice to hear things have worked out for you.

roman

Definitely nuts!!! Kauai is way better!! Anyways, they are too tiny and in the middle of nowhere. You will get island fever. Remember, it is only Paradise when you visit.

Maui Gal

Absoultely give it a shot. You won't know till a try! I love Maui (Hawaii) It's like no other. Being bored not an issue. It's all about the way you live and look at life. Who wants the fast life. That even gets old! I may move to Chicago and not like that. I'm from the mainland and ask me if I miss it? NOT!

P

See the book "So you want to live on Hawaii", but if you can do it, why not give it a try ? As others have said, it seems that most transplants only last a couple of years but your mileage may vary !

http://www.bookshawaii.com/

Good Luck

impartial observer

o.k., i've had a change of heart. you're not nuts. you only live once, right? too many of us would secretly like to do the same thing but can't because of job dependence or debt. go for it! you can always come back if it doesn't work out. if nothing else you'll get a few good stories out of it.