Hawaii - eight months in

Aloha! As of today, we have officially lived in Hawaii for eight months. To say it's been a hard eight months would be an understatement. In hind sight, moving to a place we've never been during a pandemic might not have been the wisest decision. We did have a few short months where life seemed to fall into place: We bought a futon sofa and chair, Lo was working full-tme, I was watching the toddler during the day and working Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays. But, life has a way of changing.  My inflatable bed popped so we had to move the futon to my room and bring the camp chairs back out.  My work days extended through the week so my nights were no longer free. And, our kitchen faucet sprung a leak. Honestly, we've been in survival mode for the past few months. We are working to turn our situation around but Lo and I both agree that if the you tube videos we watched before moving here had been a little more honest, we might not have moved. So, since a few people have reached out and asked what it's really like here, I'm going to honestly put it out there. Here we go...

Oahu has:

• Beautiful beaches with lots of free parking.
• Awesome foliage and trees (i have become oddly obsessed with the different trees here).
• Spam, lots of spam. You can get spam at 7-11 and McDonald's here. I grew up with spam so I don't mind it. 
• Lots of homeless. There are homeless encampments randomly on the side of most main roads. Some of the homeless are very aggressive so you have to be careful (Lo had an encounter where one homeless man reached/leaned inside of her open passenger window at a stop light. We've heard from others that they've had similar encounters). You also can't leave leftovers or groceries in your car because they might be stolen. 
• We have Walmart, Target, Costco, Sam's, Whole Foods and TJ Maxx/Ross/Marshall's but prices here are probably higher.  Shipped items from Walmart are almost double due to shipping costs. There is no fresh meat counter, bakery or deli at our Walmart. Gas at Sam's is about 40 cents per gallon cheaper than local stations so it's worth getting a membership.
• Franchise restaurants (McDonald's, Burger King, Popeyes, Ruby Tuesday, Taco Bell, Wendy's and Jack in Box); however, some of those don't honor their reward/coupon programs here (Burger King - I'm looking at you). Most of those restaurants do offer local menu items (kailua pork at Taco Bell, spam and portugese sausage at McDonald's and Jack in Box, Teri burger at both Burger King and McDonald's). The apple pie at McDonald's is still fried and a bargain at $1.15/$1.25. I should also note here that prices vary depending on location. We have three McDonald's near us and all three have different prices for some of the menu items. Prices are higher than Mainland too (i.e., $1 burritos are $1.69 or $1.89 here).
• Inexpensive local restaurants. You can get a plate lunch or bento (meat choice, rice, mac salad or corn) for about $10. There is an abundance of Japanese, Hawaii and Korean restaurants here. Oddly, though, the Thai and Chinese restaurants here don't give you rice with your entree. You have to purchase it separately.
• High grocery prices - prices here are about a third higher than the mainland. One large head of cauliflower at a local grocery store was $11. Prices for produce at Sam's Club are more reasonable. Another problem is that produce doesn't last long here (most likely due to shipping times).
• Lack of product availability. I've checked five stores for a hard bristle toothbrush without success. Things sell out really fast here so you have to buy things when you see them.
• Daiso from Japan - this is Oahu's dollar store option. Prices range from 1.50 to about $10. You can pick up some really cool items.
• People who like to back into parking spots. Most of the spots here are small and cars are big.
• Lots of rainbows. We haven't had a lot of storms but we frequently have small bursts of rain while the sun is still shining, which generates lots of rainbows.
• Weekend farmers markets with local produce at reduced rates.
• High cost of living/rent. Someone on You Tube did a comparison of costs in Oahu versus costs in Orlando - they estimated that they are spending about $1,000 more per month here than they paid in Florida.. We had about 1456 square foot in Orlando compared with the 709 square foot we have here.
• High cost for car plates. Plates here are based on car weight. Plates for my mid-size Ford were around $460, plus $26 for the inspection and another $90 to get the front plate installed. Lo's plate were slightly less because she has a compact car.
  
• Bag tax - brown bags are 15 cents each at grocery stores, more at restaurants. Most stores offer inexpensive reusable bags for sale.
• Aloha spirit - living life compassionately, with kindness. Basically, treating others the way you want to be treated.
• Nice locals. Most of the locals that we've met have been lovely and adhere to Aloha spirit.

Oahu doesn't have:

• Billboards - the sky here is free from clutter making those spectacular views so much easier to see.
• Honking - Hawaiians feel that honking is rude so you rarely hear anyone honking. If you do hear an occasional honk, it's usually a tourist or a new resident.
• Plastic bags or straws. 
• Cheaper grocery stores like Aldi or Trader Joe's. There are some local Asian markets with decent prices. 
• Fresh veggies as part of entree at most restaurants. Your best bet for veggies at lower cost restaurants is the Korean restaurants.
• Dollar stores!! Daiso comes close but it's not like a Dollar Tree.
• European food options -- I haven't been able to find any German food products here yet (other than packaged Bratwurst).
• Affordable craft stores and/or options. There is one very overpriced craft store option in town - they have limited products. To order online, shipping costs are high. If you opt for Amazon Prime, shipping time with Prime is often three to five days or more. 

I'm sure there's things I've missed but these are the ones that come to mind.

Things here are just starting to open up to a new normalcy and lots more tourists are arriving. One of my customers the other day said they had just arrived/checked into their hotel, went to the hotel restaurant for lunch, saw the prices on the menu and headed to the grocery store instead. Based on the crowds at the downtown grocery stores, I think a lot of tourists do the same. For us, we were prepared for the high costs but we didn't anticipate the lack of availability for basic things. We miss having several options to choose from instead of just one option (we've experienced this with toilet paper, hair gel, tooth brushes, cleaning solutions and file folders). It has been an adjustment.

Well, that's it for now. Maholo!