My Aloha Adventures (life on the 9th Island)

Several people have asked us to share our  experience of moving to Hawaii. Please note that, if you are planning a move here, your experience could be entirely different given all the different variables but here is what we have found (excuse the long post): TRAVEL When we flew in November, flights were around $232/one way. Lo and I had to purchase a rapid covid test at $139 each. Lo's results arrived before we landed but mine did not, resulting in me having to quarantine for 5 1/2 days. Travel here is opening up now but there are still some restrictions in place. SHIPPED BOXES/CHECKED BAGS We contacted a local mailbox place to see if they would store our boxes until we arrived so I could use my work's discounted shipping FedEx service. We had to pay for three month rental at the Shipping place. I spent roughly $357 to ship 12 boxes at the discounted rate. To ship one additional box (medium size) at UPS, it cost $189.00. We had planned on checking two bags each (around $240 for...

Things have been a little quiet on this end. To be honest with you, in months two and three, we were have a little "buyer's remorse". Moving to an island in the middle of a pandemic turned out to be a little more problematic than we anticipated. The lack of air conditioning (and heat on those rare cold, rainy days) was getting to us, coupled with the fact that so many things here were closed due to Covid. And, trying to connect with family and friends in various time zones only added to our frustration. Then there was the matter of jobs. While Lo secured a job before we got here and she started working in January, it took me a while (and 53 applications) to find something that would allow me to work weekends and nights so I could watch the Toddler during the day. I managed to find a seasonal job that's pretty much way different from what I've done for the past 30+ years but I'm happy to have it. In fact, my job was confirmed the day before my 61st birthday and...