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...

Aloha. Pretty much every year, I make a resolution to learn a new language. I've attempted to learn Icelandic, Irish/Celtic, French, Spanish, Zwahili and Farsi. I also try to brush up on my German every year. This year, my language choice was made for me because we moved to Hawaii. I was surprised at how many Hawaiian words are in normal day-to-day language. So, in case you've ever had the desire to learn a little Hawaiian, I'm posting a few words, their pronunciation and the meaning. For those who have visited Hawaii, you might be surprised to find you've been mispronouncing a few things. We were. Here's my very short list of the words I've learned in our two months here (hopefully, I'm learning the right way to say them - if not, I'm sure someone will tell me 😂): HAWAII - ha-vy-ee - the state OAHU - eww-ah-who - the island ALOHA  - ah-low-ha - hello MAHALO  - ma-ha-low - thank you OHANA - oh-han-a - family KEIKI - cay-key - child KAPUNA - koo-poo-nah ...

When I was a month old, we moved to Germany. We lived there until I was about five. One of my favorite childhood memories is running through the sheets on the clothesline as my Tante (aunt) Miele hung up the clothes. When she was done, we would walk into town to the Farmers Market.  It was a weekly routine for us. If I close my eyes now, I can still remember the smell of the clothes on the line and I can still see all the different colored veggies in their stands. To this day, I still love hanging my clothes outside and I absolutely love Farmers Markets. One of the first thing we did when we moved here is to find local Farmers Markets. Oahu has a few markets but our favorite is Pearlridge. It's small but they have packed it with a lot of diverse local offerings and inexpensive local veg/fruit. We tend to do a walk around the different stalls before we buy anything. We like to talk to the vendors and find out about their products. Not going lie, we usually buy from the vendors that ...

 The house is quiet on this Aloha Friday. Lo is at her new job and the Toddler is napping. I have a few moments, lovely moments, to myself. I have a foreign movie playing in the background. Thankfully, no subtitles so I can mindlessly watch it while I relax. I hate that these movies always have the same format: girl is single, usually works as a writer/editor, she travels to a foreign country and meets the man of her dreams. This storyline just pisses me off because I've traveled alot -- some by myself -- and this has never happened to me! And, I went to a matchmaking festival. In Ireland.  By myself.  So...if life really does mirror art, I should be happily married to someone I met in a foreign land! 😂 Speaking of foreign lands...see that nice segway?  When people found out we were moving to Hawaii, I can't tell you how many people felt like we were moving overseas. We usually just smiled and mumbled that Hawaii is part of the USA.  However, once we got here, ...

Today is Fukubukuro in Hawaii. Fukubukuro is a Japanese event that happens on January 1st at some of the malls here.  Stores offer grab bags with assorted items for 50% or more off the retail price of the goods. You pick a bag based on the price you want to spend, contents sight unseen. I think it's so vendors can clear out old merchandise.  All of the more desirable bags were out of our price range today but it was still fun to see what everyone else was buying. It's definitely something that we'll save up for next year or do instead of Christmas gifts. Some places offer dancing and events during the day but the one we went to first charged $6/hour for parking so we pulled in and immediately pulled out.  We ended up going to another location. All they had there was a place set up for selfies/pictures: If you love shopping, this is definitely a way to purchase some nice "surprises" but I think you need to be sure you are getting your monies worth - a f...

Mele Kalikimaka! The Toddler has been telling everyone Mickey Mickey Mocka,  which is fine because people here don't really say that to each other anyway. Kind of like in Ireland, no one but Americans say "top of the day to ya".  😀 Today was a quiet day in paradise. With the time difference, we felt a little disjointed connecting with family and friends.  Plus, things here don't feel overly Christmas-y - not a lot of decorations, cashiers don't say happy holidays or Merry Christmas when you check out.  I wasn't surprised to see an article on my newsfeed last week that Hawaii ranked 49th in Christmas spirit. I believe it! Of the 100 apartments in our building, about eight have a wreath on their door and only three have lights on their window. Last night, after Lo and the Toddler went to bed, I was sitting in the living room enjoying the night breeze. I realized that, with my windows open, I could see my 4th, 5th, 6th floor neighbors' windows (in a non-thre...

It's hard to believe that we've been here a month already. To be honest, this move has been a little tough for me. It's not like I'm a stranger to moving - in 14 years, I have moved locations (states or apartments) eleven times! I think this time has been a little harder because I don't have a firm idea of what the future holds for me/us.  Lo got a really good job offer before we left Florida, which we are thrilled about but it means that our roles are changing. When she starts her training in January, I will be taking care of the Toddler during the week. I've been looking for a part-time weekend job. I've applied for all kinds of jobs (stocker, customer service, cashier, Admin Assistant, greeter) and I've gotten a few responses but no job offer yet. It's frustrating.  With the setbacks I've had since I've been here (quarantine, car delivery delay, no furniture yet, swollen feet), not finding a job is just another thing making me question if ...

Happy Aloha Friday!! Back in the day, before casual Friday, businesses here allowed their workers to wear Aloha shirts on Friday, creating Aloha Fridays. Nowadays, it mostly means no work until Monday.  For us, since we're not working yet, everyday is Aloha Friday!! 😂😂 The weather was great today so we decided to take a road trip. Our first stop was to Pali Lookout on the windward side of the island. It was so windy (think hurricane strength wind) that Lo almost dropped her phone. I could feel the wind pushing me as I walked to the lookout. The view was beautiful. The lookout is part of Nu'uanu Pali State Wayside. There was a sign requesting a $7 parking fee from non-residents, which started an internal debate on whether we should pay the fee or not. We decided since we have an apartment, we are technically residents (plus, we took turns going to the lookout because it was too windy for the Toddler so we didn't really park - we just drove in circles). From there, we decid...

It's the Friday after Thanksgiving. I'm still waiting for my negative test results to post. I'm getting impatient - I'm tired of being stuck in the house. I've called CVS twice today already with no luck. At around 4pm, I call again. The person I talked to is polite but firm in insisting that I just have to wait for the results to show up. When I mentioned that it's been seven days since I took the test, she interjected that since they were closed for Thanksgiving, its technically only been six days and that it wouldn't be fair to everyone else also waiting for results for her to try to expedite mine. Instead of arguing logistics, I told her how frustrating it was to move to a new place and not be able to venture out, pick up our stuff or confirm our car pickup. At this point, she softened - she said "You're on day six, I'm sure you'll get your response soon".  I thanked her and hung up. 4am Saturday, I'm still on Florida time so I...