Hawaii looks like a beautiful place. And I long to visit one day.
It looks like perfection, like life there is a constant state of paradise and beauty.
But I do know people who have lived there and it seems that paradise is more like every other place in the world, with it secrets and mundane routines.
There is definitely a downside to the "perfect place."
But hey... I'm still going.
Redditor Higglesworth98 wanted to hear truth from those that spend their days in paradise by asking:
"People who live in Hawaii, what are some misconceptions and/or things people don't realize about island life?"
Same old, same old....
Life can often be very routine. There's less space to build new stuff so new developments are generally a much longer timeframe. If you're not comfortable going to the same two beaches, the same three restaurants and the same coffee shop on a regular basis, life can be very difficult here.
lilo and stitch water GIFGiphyIsland Staples
A major employer and source of residency is the US military.
Those of Japanese ancestry make up the second largest ethnicity.
Staples like groceries and gasoline cost a fortune to account for shipping costs.
Alea....
Lived in Aiea for 3 years.
It's not all about Zippys, Hilo Hattie, and Abc stores.... Apart from the tourist stuff everyone is living and working normal jobs.
Dating is rough if your if your looking for a LTR. Dating pool is small, but tourist and military people we pretty cool for small stints in my case.
Also very few mexican food places. :(.
Things of Nightmares....
Damn giant centipedes. Found one a good 10" long on our pillow before going to sleep one night. Also had one get stuck half way in a sticky trap, and I woke up to the sound of it dragging that box all over the kitchen tile trying to escape. Nightmare fuel.
It's a beautiful place to live and has a lot of advantages, but f**k centipedes.
On TV
This isn't a thing anymore, but in the 1960s and 1970s EVERY TV show would have their characters greeted by Hawaiian dancers and get a lei necklace as soon as they stepped off the plane in Honolulu. For awhile I think a lot of people believed this is what happens all the time.
Loveless in Paradise....
Dating is hard in Hawaii. The population is small, and there is a joke that "people are waiting for someone to break up." I could see it being lonely there long term if you didn't find someone quickly or move there with someone.
Bench Press Hulk GIF by Love IslandGiphyBefore Cali....
Born and raised on the Big Island, live in California now.
I can only speak to my own experience in the town I grew up in, on the island I grew up on, but it's a pretty damned normal life, just happens to be in a very beautiful and unique place.
Like any other tourist destination, the vast majority of visitors only see what's on the path of the "guided tour" so to speak. When you peel back that curtain, you just see people living their lives like anywhere else.
Peek a Boo
It's not very easy to hide from police on a small island... so "don't do crime kids and stay in school" is a very important message here.
scooby doo halloween GIF by Boomerang OfficialGiphyCrazy Expensive....
I was born and grew up on the mainland. My wife and I have lived in Hawaii (Maui) for almost a decade now. It is definitely a lot more expensive to live here. 2 bags of groceries is generally in the $100 range. Rent is crazy. Gas is stupid expensive. The other end of that is that pay can be higher too, depending on the job. If you get a good job serving somewhere fancy, it's not uncommon to leave with $300-$500 for a shift.
We depend completely on tourism here to survive. So as much as tourists can be annoying, intrusive, rude, and entitled, we need them. Distance is weird. If I'm gonna drive 30 minutes somewhere, we better be having a whole day planned. Eating out somewhere casual is at least $30 for two people. It's really like living anywhere else tho honestly.
I have fast internet, Wal-Mart and Target aren't far away. My family is on the east coast, so seeing them is hard during normal times. Forget about it right now. So that sucks. Also, I miss hoodies, good sammiches, and the woods. But Maui is stunning and magical and living and breathing.
Influence of the West....
Pre Western contact Hawaii had a long and awesome oral tradition, but the islands did not have a written language or written numbers until the 1820s. The Hawaiian Islands did not have a Western system of land surveying/map making/ recording the sale of land until late into the 19th century. Some of the earliest surveys are dated in the 1870s. To this day the state of Hawaii it has two different systems of land registration.
dancer hawaii GIF by ali macGiphyTitle searches in Hawaii can be complicated and difficult because many of the original documents were originally written in Hawaiian (which is one of the official languages of the state). Even today there are many clouded titles on land and disputes as to actual ownership dating back to the days of the Hawaiian monarchy, and some of those claims are still in litigation more than a 100 years later.
Climate Needs
I am kind of surprised no one has said that the homeless population is outrageous in Hawaii.
A big part of that is the fact that homeless people come from the mainland to be homeless here because it's a more livable climate.
I've met soo many homeless people who came from like Washington or Colorado.
And then also, when all the mental health hospitals were closed, there still hasn't been any programs or ways to help people who needed those services and therefore, homeless.
And then now Covid.
Molokai'i it's just what it is...
Depending on which island you're on, you legit can be out of food and have to wait on the barge to come by for basic crap.
Relaxed Island Life GIF by SentosaGiphyIt's like living in the mainland when you have shortages from storms and such. The grocery store just has what it has and if it doesn't wait a few days for the next barge.
On Maui and Oahu and the big island you don't really see this, but out on Molokai'i it's just what it is.
Oahu
Born and raised on Oahu. Every local I know doesn't wear shoes or slippers in the house. And most dislike going to tourist spots (like Waikiki). Also a half hour drive is considered a long drive.
Bad Times
My dad moved to Oahu and stayed out there for many years. I would go visit when I could.
The biggest thing I noticed was the drugs and outright poverty that seems to go over looked. With that came violence. My dad got mugged and put in the hospital coming out of a bar. I was beat up walking out of a hotel once.
The Theme Park
We went to Kauai a couple years ago and while there we attended the agricultural fair. A local told us he dropped $500 on he family at the fair. He said that was it as far as amusement parks so every year the fair was the thing. It hit us then that for us we could go a couple hours to say Busch Gardens or a day to Disney World. If they were to go to anything like that other than the fair it would be a major haul to the mainland.
Big Island
You don't honk (much) and NEVER flip off someone in traffic.
look at this turn around GIF by ShinestyGiphyA quick shaka will do, since you may know them or see them at the store soon anyway.
We lived on O`ahu for a decade, and have family born and raised on there and the Big Island, but will never be "local".
Don't try to talk pidgin. I know the lingo and tonal inflection, but still, just no.
I'll be there for you...
Lived on Oahu for about 4 years from 2012-2016. How expensive everything is is definitely at the top of the list. The one that most people don't expect is that I had a hard time making friends. I'm guessing this could be hard in any tourism based place but I'd go to the restaurant or bar and meet tons of people. They were all there for the week. It seems that even residents my age were all only there for a short timeframe as well. I just had a constantly rotating group of friends and it got old.
That's part of the reason I moved back to the mainland. Also everyone was always stealing stuff. Mopeds and other goods get stolen all day every day if it's not locked, it's gone. It was frustrating the amount of stuff that would just go missing or get broken into.
All that being said, I would live there again. I do miss it every once in awhile.
flying out...
Was stationed at Oahu. When I first got there I thought the place was beautiful and had a great time. But after 3 years I kinda got sick of all the disrespectful tourists and the fact that it is a small island and the only way for me to leave was flying.
Haole
Being called a haole can be derogatory or neutral depending on how it's used. I'm a white woman married to a brown man. Once, we were having dinner out while I was pregnant and our server told us we were going to have the cutest hapa-haole baby. She was pretty nice and I'm pretty sure she said it completely innocuously.
Another time I was visiting the Big Island (I lived on Oahu) and was checking out an off-the-beaten-road beach that belonged exclusively to the locals. It was crystal clear that I wasn't welcome, and though they never called me it to my face, I heard them call me a haole amongst themselves and it definitely wasn't neutral.
When I first moved to Oahu, my husband's employer hosted us for a dinner party with some of his new co-workers.
Another white dude who had lived there for about 20 years pulled me aside and told me point-blank that I should expect to be called a haole and not to let it bother me. That I was a white person from the mainland in their space - it was my trade off. Broadly speaking, it wasn't really an issue while I lived there. Most people were really nice as long as you weren't acting like a self-entitled fool.
The Florida of Paradise...
Lived in Honolulu for four years. People tend to think of Hawaii as a peaceful, laid back place but really it's a freaking madhouse.
bob ross painting GIFGiphyI also lived in Florida for five years and I always tell people that Hawaii really is what people only think Florida is. I've shared many stories on Reddit over the years of the endless string of lunatics and crazies I dealt with on nearly a daily basis out there. There's something about being on a remote island in the middle of nowhere that really brings out the loony in people.
Guy Can't Afford A Real Trip To Hawaii, So He Creates A Hilarious Green Screen Video Instead
When a creative YouTuber longed for a tropical getaway he couldn't afford, he manifested one in a hilarious video.
Now, he's going places after the video became a viral sensation with over 652K likes on Twitter.
Anthony Bustamante, a.k.a. @aanthonyy07 on Twitter, filmed himself in front of a green screen which he later filled with images of his "journey" and destinations never reached.
The background frantically switched from a bustling airport to the empty airplane cabin he had all to himself and various locales all around Hawaii.
What really sells his mock-trip chronicle is his infectious charisma and epic personality that is too big for the screen.
He posted the video on Twitter instead of YouTube and wrote:
"I can't afford a trip to Hawaii so I created one."
There is no end to his boundless imagination and over-the-top whimsy.
Watch the video below and see how long you can go without cracking a smile.
I canβt afford a trip to Hawaii so I created one πΊ https://t.co/nsSvlTT2G4β ant-honey (@ant-honey) 1563506288.0
Highlights include him filling in as a voguing stewardess, knocking one back by an exotic pool and recoiling from touching lava cascading down rocky terrain.
But perhaps the most memorable scene is him invoking his short-lived sensual side on the beach only to have the waves crash over him and simultaneously crushing his dreams of becoming a supermodel.
@aanthonyy07 Oscar worthy https://t.co/VllO1B7PtEβ alexβοΈ (@alexβοΈ) 1563544786.0
In another vignette, he superimposes himself into a scene from Lilo and Stitch, which is appropriate given the song choice of "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride" from said movie accompanying the clip.
@aanthonyy07 ππ https://t.co/PT6QdKH5weβ πΉ uzma (@πΉ uzma) 1563531346.0
@uzmaaumairah_ @aanthonyy07 He met lilo and stich.. I wanna go to Hawaii πβ Wayfarer (@Wayfarer) 1563582378.0
Those with ambitious vacation plans that are on a tight budget gravitated towards the fake trip video and shared their favorite observations.
@aanthonyy07 I love youuuuuuuuu omgggggg πππππ I really needed this laugh. Live it up, I love it!β XsariXβπ¬π (@XsariXβπ¬π) 1563510730.0
@aanthonyy07 WHEN he started THROWING THEM HIPS BACK I LOST IT SKDKSKDKKWK @alyssadutt https://t.co/TTbCRr0Svdβ Rach (@Rach) 1563514086.0
Lmfaoooo the fact that there ainβt nothing in that suit case is killing me https://t.co/71Xoz52atWβ catmommy (@catmommy) 1563525245.0
I died when touch the lava π https://t.co/ahRnciVA3Wβ EL OH EL (@EL OH EL) 1563546706.0
Someone book this guy a trip so he can make a real vacation video.
@aanthonyy07 @HawaiianAir hook this guy up with a trip π π€£ππΌπΊβοΈβοΈβ Maritza (@Maritza) 1563517893.0
@aanthonyy07 We love it! Here's hoping you get to the islands for real sometime soon! πΊ π΄ πβ HAWAI'I Magazine (@HAWAI'I Magazine) 1563914061.0
Apparently, travel fare aggregator, Kayak, was paying attention and this happened.
@aanthonyy07 *searches flights from LA to Hawaii* $513 round trip? Yeah, we can cover that for you.β KAYAK (@KAYAK) 1563556533.0
@KAYAK Wait what!?!?π€π€β ant-honey (@ant-honey) 1563556674.0
@aanthonyy07 You read that right. DM us and we'll sort out the details.β KAYAK (@KAYAK) 1563556708.0
People were not envious at all.
In fact, they rejoiced on his good fortune and demanded updates.
@KAYAK @aanthonyy07 OMG! Now we all want to see the real trip version video ππΌππΌππΌβ Π±Π°Π²Ρ (@Π±Π°Π²Ρ) 1563557002.0
@clarkewrkorange @ArnelSumalabe @amaryxx16 @biebs_selina @blessedandcrazy @KAYAK @aanthonyy07 Kayak just won 2019 with this answer ππ»β Brian (@Brian) 1563579997.0
Sometimes when you're broke, it pays to be a dork.
How far will you go to reach paradise?
Budget travel is achievable, even without a benefactor. To learn how to get your dream trip at a price you can afford, the book Travel the World Without Worries: An Inspirational Guide to Budget and Adventure Travel is available here.
Hawaii Just Proposed Legislation That Would Raise The Legal Age Limit To Buy Cigarettes To The Extreme
Representative Richard Creagan of Hawaii has proposed new state legislation that will make the state's smoking laws stricter than they already are.
On December 29, 2015, Governor David Y. Ige announced that Hawaii would be the first-ever state to change the minimum tobacco-buying age.
Beginning January 1, 2016, the lowest legal tobacco purchasing age became 21 years of age.
At the time, Hawaii's Director of Health Virginia Pressler stated:
"We are proud to once again be at the forefront of the nation in tobacco prevention and control."
Recently, Hawaii representative Richard Creagan wants to, again, be at the "forefront" of "tobacco prevention and control."
Creagan proposed that his state increase the minimum age to buy tobacco to a shocking 100 years old.
His proposal does not include the sales of e-cigarettes, cigars or chewing tobacco.
Creagan spoke about his seemingly dramatic proposal.
"Basically, we essentially have a group who are heavily addicted - in my view enslaved by a ridiculously bad industry, which has enslaved them by designing a cigarette that is highly addictive, knowing that it highly lethal. And, it is."
He continued.
"This is more lethal, more dangerous than any prescription drug, and it is more addicting. In my view, you are taking people who are enslaved from a horrific addiction, and freeing people from horrific enslavement."
Creagan concluded by explaining why it was his job as an official to make such drastic changes.
"We, as legislators, have a duty to do things to save people's lives. If we don't ban cigarettes, we are killing people."
According to Fox 5 DC, the bill would annually increase the minimum age in increments of approximately 10 years until jumping up to 100 years of age in 2024.
People are loving the creative way of indirectly stopping people from smoking.
Others wonder what sorts of repercussions the law might have.
Personally, I'm all about lowering the negative impact humans have on our planet in any way we can.