Closing in on Two Years in Hawaii

[slip]

July will mark two years living in Hawaii. I have been working from home since my wife broke her ankle and I hope to get back to the office next week when she gets the cast removed.

Some memories have been coming up in my pictures and on Facebook so I started to think about the move and some of the questions and concerns about making the move.

One of the main things we thought about was moving away from friends and family. With video chat and Facebook this really hasn’t been an issue. My daughter is still coming to see us at least once a year and we actually see her more since she doesn’t have to visit with of ther friends while she is here compared to Wisconsin. Our son has visited once and we were surprised he came once. He just doesn’t travel as much as my daughter but we communicate with him more often through messages or calls. This has ended out the same as we thought so far.

We haven’t been back to the mainland yet and when we first got here we tentatively decided to go back for a visit in 2022. That is still the plan. We have no island fever and we were never really worried about that.

Living on Oahu was a concern. We concentrated on the positives. Living in Waikiki we are close to everything and everything else is a relatively a short drive away. I haven’t lived in a big city since I left Chicago when I was 17 and my wife has never lived in a big city. Her biggest complaint is the noise. Waikiki is loud at night with all the sirens and loud cars and motorcycles. I got used to it again and my wife got used to it too and we still joke about it, especially when we get back to Molokai.

When I lived in Chicago, we lived on a Bus route so it was loud and busy but we lived in a brick house in a residential area, no really tall buildings so it wasn’t too bad. Here we don’t have a/c so the windows are open year round and it is a lot noisier.

The variety of food reminds me of Chicago and we really enjoy that. We have been to a lot of different places and there are still many more to get to. Awesome food here and really convenient. Anything can be delivered now. Definitely a big plus.

The aloha spirit of the people. This has really come through. Everyone at work and in our building has been great and very welcoming. Many people at work are born and raised here and I love hearing their stories about growing up here. The revolving door here is also true. I know many people who came after me and have moved back already. So that is tough on businesses. It seems that most of the people I talk to weighed all the issues with moving here but somethings were more than they thought and that was enough for them to move back.

This kind of goes hand in hand with thinking living here would ruin the Hawaii experience and the sense of escape when you only come for a week or two. This hasn’t happened to us. We are in the Lucky to Live Hawaii group. We still can’t believe this is our home now.

Expense, yes it is expensive here but really the only thing we pay more for is groceries and sometimes eating out. We can always eat out cheaper and only a little more expensive than back in Wisconsin. Gas is more expensive but I don’t drive near as much so we don’t spend any more on gas. Car registration is much more but it’s only once a year. Car insurance is a little more but not drastic. We don’t have to pay to heat or cool our apartment so even with the much high electricity rate that bill is lower.

All in all we are about even. My wife retired but my raise more than made up for her not working and we are just saving the extra.

The weather, Hawaii isn’t for everyone. Many people love the change of seasons and I likes fall back in Wisconsin. For us no snow out weighs it all. It’s been two years and I have yet to wear a jacket. Watching the snow back in Wisconsin has been great. I never really thought about not liking the snow until it snowed and I had to deal with it. Now I only think about it when I see my friends post about it.

My job has been great. I have been able to get to the other islands and I go to Guam next month. I also head back to Maui next month too. In August and September, I’ll be heading back to Kauai and the Big Island. Even though there was more work that needed to be done that I was lead to believe, I am really happy with all I accomplished and so is my company.

My timeshares. I rent out most of my weeks and a couple years ago I was thinking about downsizing on my ownerships. I’m glad I held on to what I have. I know we will be island hopping when we are both retired and it will be great to use more of these weeks for ourselves. I almost got rid of my Maui weeks a few years ago and I am glad I kept them and may even add another week there. Maui is a really short flight from Molokai and we will be able to shop there and bring things back home. I may also add an Oahu week but I’m not sure we would head back annually.

So two years in, everything is pretty much what we hoped the move would be and if anything, Oahu has been a little better than we thought. Next year will start another adventure with me retiring and moving to our condo on Molokai but we are really looking forward to that. We are still aware that things change so who knows what the future holds but we love where we are at right now.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Sounds like you're having fun and that Hawaii agrees with you!

Thanks for posting.



.

 

[er57]

glad to hear it is going well. living in Hawaii isnt for everyone.

Molokai will be another big change from Waikiki.

let us know how that goes too.

 

[linsj]

Thanks for the report. I've talked with enough locals to know most mainlanders who move to Hawaii don't stay long-term, so it's good to know how the move worked for you.

 

[DaveNV]

Good to know my "I told you so" is working out. I remember how excited but nervous you were, and it's been a great pleasure to watch as you settled into Island Time, and an islander life. Obviously, you were meant to be there. It's great that your wife has also adapted into it. Once you're on Molokai full time, you'll really settle down. I'm extremely pleased for you both, and look forward to living vicariously through your posts.

Your comments about those who came after you but have moved away are well taken. Hawaii can do that to people. They fall in love with the vacation lifestyle, think they'd love being there full time, and live to regret it. I've talked for decades about moving back to the Islands to live, but I never pulled the trigger on that commitment. I love Hawaii more than anywhere I've ever been, but I realize I'd rather see it as a vacationer, where every day is a day off, and I have no long commitment to being there. For as laid back as Hawaii life can be, it's not easy, if you plan to do it right.

If you're thinking of buying an Oahu timeshare week, take a close look at The Imperial. You've stayed there, so know what it is is, and isn't. But it trades like crazy. Just a tip.

Mahalo for the good spirit, my friend. Calabash Ohana no ka oi.

Dave

 

[geist1223]

Gosh 2 years. It seems like only yesterday you were talking about buying a condo on Molokai. Glad it has worked out so well for the two of you.

 

[slip]

glad to hear it is going well. living in Hawaii isnt for everyone.

let us know how that goes too.

I definitely will. We are looking forward to the quiet compared to Oahu.Molokai will be another big change from Waikiki.

I know my wife is looking forward to getting the condo ready for us staying full time. We have been renting it to vacationers so we can’t keep it totally the way it will be when we live there.

 

[slip]

Thanks for the report. I've talked with enough locals to know most mainlanders who move to Hawaii don't stay long-term, so it's good to know how the move worked for you.

Yep, it is for real. I was thinking it was an Oahu thing but because I work on all the islands, I see it in each one. Numbers are probably more on Oahu but just because there are more people here.

 

[slip]

Good to know my "I told you so" is working out. I remember how excited but nervous you were, and it's been a great pleasure to watch as you settled into Island Time, and an islander life. Obviously, you were meant to be there. It's great that your wife has also adapted into it. Once you're on Molokai full time, you'll really settle down. I'm extremely pleased for you both, and look forward to living vicariously through your posts.

Your comments about those who came after you but have moved away are well taken. Hawaii can do that to people. They fall in love with the vacation lifestyle, think they'd love being there full time, and live to regret it. I've talked for decades about moving back to the Islands to live, but I never pulled the trigger on that commitment. I love Hawaii more than anywhere I've ever been, but I realize I'd rather see it as a vacationer, where every day is a day off, and I have no long commitment to being there. For as laid back as Hawaii life can be, it's not easy, if you plan to do it right.

If you're thinking of buying an Oahu timeshare week, take a close look at The Imperial. You've stayed there, so know what it is is, and isn't. But it trades like crazy. Just a tip.

Mahalo for the good spirit, my friend. Calabash Ohana no ka oi.

Dave

I’ll definitely give you some credit Dave.

Wvwn with our vacations here, we know that Hawaii isn’t for everyone and it’s even more so when you talk about living here.

I wil definitely consider the Imperial. We loved our stay and we had a week there and your right, it does trade great. We will wait until we are on Molokai for a while before we decide but I can see that happening.

 

[slip]

Gosh 2 years. It seems like only yesterday you were talking about buying a condo on Molokai. Glad it has worked out so well for the two of you.

It’s amazing how time flies. We have owned the condo for 3 years already, Unreal.

 

[lynne]

Aloha Jeff,

So glad the move is working - we are now here 15 years and the time goes by very quickly. Like you, do not miss the snow even though it is a fraction of what you experienced. If we want to see snow up close, we drive to the top of Mauna Kea.

Your continuned reports are wonderful and welcome. Coming from NY, we never even thoguth about Ohau and Maui was also a bit too congested for us. Making our move to Hawai'i Island was our sweet spot.

Your full time life on Molokai will fly by. We chreish the friends that we have made over the years living here and New York life is a distant memory.

 

[PcflEZFlng]

Really enjoyed your summary. Thank you for sharing it with us. As an ex-Minnesotan, I also don't miss the snow!

 

[slip]

Aloha Jeff,

So glad the move is working - we are now here 15 years and the time goes by very quickly. Like you, do not miss the snow even though it is a fraction of what you experienced. If we want to see snow up close, we drive to the top of Mauna Kea.

Your continuned reports are wonderful and welcome. Coming from NY, we never even thoguth about Ohau and Maui was also a bit too congested for us. Making our move to Hawai'i Island was our sweet spot.

Your full time life on Molokai will fly by. We chreish the friends that we have made over the years living here and New York life is a distant memory.

Mahalo!!

One of these times when I get to the Big Island and have some time we should try to get together for some Kona Coffee or something.

 

[csodjd]

Thanks for that info. Great comments and thoughts.

As you know, we're lagging behind you a bit. Our Condo remodel/construction is almost complete. We'll be spending our first night in "our own place" in Waikiki on July 2 (mattress on the floor since our bed frame won't be there yet, and a temporary sofa). But rather than the full jump you made we'll be doing the "hybrid" thing, living in both California and Hawaii, back and forth. What I'm curious about will be how effectively I'll be able to work from my home in Hawaii. As an attorney I've worked from my home office in LA for 20 years, but I could easily get in the car and meet with a client or go to a deposition or court. COVID has shown one can go an entire year without doing any of that in person, so it'll really be about my ability to focus and get things done while "living" in my favorite vacation spot.

 

[slip]

Thanks for that info. Great comments and thoughts.

As you know, we're lagging behind you a bit. Our Condo remodel/construction is almost complete. We'll be spending our first night in "our own place" in Waikiki on July 2 (mattress on the floor since our bed frame won't be there yet, and a temporary sofa). But rather than the full jump you made we'll be doing the "hybrid" thing, living in both California and Hawaii, back and forth. What I'm curious about will be how effectively I'll be able to work from my home in Hawaii. As an attorney I've worked from my home office in LA for 20 years, but I could easily get in the car and meet with a client or go to a deposition or court. COVID has shown one can go an entire year without doing any of that in person, so it'll really be about my ability to focus and get things done while "living" in my favorite vacation spot.

Thanks for your update. I figured you had to be getting close. You are going to love it.

I was going to answer your post about Fireworks but I didn’t have a lot to add since I haven’t heard of any going on. We usually get a great view of the illegal fireworks going off by The Ko’olau Mountains but New Years has always been better.

As far as your work, I think it will have helped that you were doing much more teleconferencing and people are much more used to it. I’m sure you will be able to separate that work time and still be very productive.

Our original plan was to make a slower move after I retired. After going through how we ended out moving, I think that may have been easier but this got us here much quicker.

It will be great to hear about your transition and how things turned out. I’m sure it will be nice to have your condo all done.

 

[slip]

I was able to get my Wifey Baby out again tonight. Since a lot of places are booked a couple weeks in advance, we decided to come to Basalt again for Happy Hour Pupu’s. It’s a nice short walk and wheelchair friendly all the way.

 

[slip]

We really like the Happy Hour at Basalt. We came with our daughter last week and today it worked out great because they have been booked for dinner for quite a while. I should have taken a picture of the menu but forgot. I did get a picture of our receipt. I think the best deal is the Bar Burger, it’s Waygu Beef. The last time, they were out of the Duck Empanadas but they had them this time. They had a bite to them. My wife’s favorite was the Adobe Chicken Wings. They are excellent.

 

[AnnaS]

Thank you for the great update. Happy to read it's all working out for you!!!! Continue enjoying

 

[Tamaradarann]

July will mark two years living in Hawaii. I have been working from home since my wife broke her ankle and I hope to get back to the office next week when she gets the cast removed.

Some memories have been coming up in my pictures and on Facebook so I started to think about the move and some of the questions and concerns about making the move.

One of the main things we thought about was moving away from friends and family. With video chat and Facebook this really hasn’t been an issue. My daughter is still coming to see us at least once a year and we actually see her more since she doesn’t have to visit with of ther friends while she is here compared to Wisconsin. Our son has visited once and we were surprised he came once. He just doesn’t travel as much as my daughter but we communicate with him more often through messages or calls. This has ended out the same as we thought so far.

We haven’t been back to the mainland yet and when we first got here we tentatively decided to go back for a visit in 2022. That is still the plan. We have no island fever and we were never really worried about that.

Living on Oahu was a concern. We concentrated on the positives. Living in Waikiki we are close to everything and everything else is a relatively a short drive away. I haven’t lived in a big city since I left Chicago when I was 17 and my wife has never lived in a big city. Her biggest complaint is the noise. Waikiki is loud at night with all the sirens and loud cars and motorcycles. I got used to it again and my wife got used to it too and we still joke about it, especially when we get back to Molokai.

When I lived in Chicago, we lived on a Bus route so it was loud and busy but we lived in a brick house in a residential area, no really tall buildings so it wasn’t too bad. Here we don’t have a/c so the windows are open year round and it is a lot noisier.

The variety of food reminds me of Chicago and we really enjoy that. We have been to a lot of different places and there are still many more to get to. Awesome food here and really convenient. Anything can be delivered now. Definitely a big plus.

The aloha spirit of the people. This has really come through. Everyone at work and in our building has been great and very welcoming. Many people at work are born and raised here and I love hearing their stories about growing up here. The revolving door here is also true. I know many people who came after me and have moved back already. So that is tough on businesses. It seems that most of the people I talk to weighed all the issues with moving here but somethings were more than they thought and that was enough for them to move back.

This kind of goes hand in hand with thinking living here would ruin the Hawaii experience and the sense of escape when you only come for a week or two. This hasn’t happened to us. We are in the Lucky to Live Hawaii group. We still can’t believe this is our home now.

Expense, yes it is expensive here but really the only thing we pay more for is groceries and sometimes eating out. We can always eat out cheaper and only a little more expensive than back in Wisconsin. Gas is more expensive but I don’t drive near as much so we don’t spend any more on gas. Car registration is much more but it’s only once a year. Car insurance is a little more but not drastic. We don’t have to pay to heat or cool our apartment so even with the much high electricity rate that bill is lower.

All in all we are about even. My wife retired but my raise more than made up for her not working and we are just saving the extra.

The weather, Hawaii isn’t for everyone. Many people love the change of seasons and I likes fall back in Wisconsin. For us no snow out weighs it all. It’s been two years and I have yet to wear a jacket. Watching the snow back in Wisconsin has been great. I never really thought about not liking the snow until it snowed and I had to deal with it. Now I only think about it when I see my friends post about it.

My job has been great. I have been able to get to the other islands and I go to Guam next month. I also head back to Maui next month too. In August and September, I’ll be heading back to Kauai and the Big Island. Even though there was more work that needed to be done that I was lead to believe, I am really happy with all I accomplished and so is my company.

My timeshares. I rent out most of my weeks and a couple years ago I was thinking about downsizing on my ownerships. I’m glad I held on to what I have. I know we will be island hopping when we are both retired and it will be great to use more of these weeks for ourselves. I almost got rid of my Maui weeks a few years ago and I am glad I kept them and may even add another week there. Maui is a really short flight from Molokai and we will be able to shop there and bring things back home. I may also add an Oahu week but I’m not sure we would head back annually.

So two years in, everything is pretty much what we hoped the move would be and if anything, Oahu has been a little better than we thought. Next year will start another adventure with me retiring and moving to our condo on Molokai but we are really looking forward to that. We are still aware that things change so who knows what the future holds but we love where we are at right now.
View attachment 36522View attachment 36523

Thanks for your summary of your transition. Your description of the change from Wisconsin to Waikiki sounds exactly like we picture it is and would be for us to move there. The main difference in your perspective and ours is that you are looking forward to the quite life in Molokai using a car to go anywhere, and we are looking for something more walkable than our quite dead end street in the woods with no sidewalks and sewers on Long Island.

We think of our timeshare use like you do if we move there. We love going to the other islands for a week or two and Vegas is now a Southwest direct flight so getting island fever on Oahu shouldn't be a problem.

 

[slip]

Thanks for your summary of your transition. Your description of the change from Wisconsin to Waikiki sounds exactly like we picture it is and would be for us to move there. The main difference in your perspective and ours is that you are looking forward to the quite life in Molokai using a car to go anywhere, and we are looking for something more walkable than our quite dead end street in the woods with no sidewalks and sewers on Long Island.

We think of our timeshare use like you do if we move there. We love going to the other islands for a week or two and Vegas is now a Southwest direct flight so getting island fever on Oahu shouldn't be a problem.

Yes, I think it will be an easy transition for you two. Sounds like time is getting close for your return.

We will certainly more inter-island too. I don’t see much of a schedule change for trips to the mainland. Probably every three years or so but we’ll see.

 

[rickandcindy23]

There you go, bragging again. I am so happy for you, really and truly.

 

[slip]

Really looking forward to tomorrow. My wife gets her cast and stitches removed. It seems right now the cast is keeping her from getting up herself because it is rounded on the bottom so she stays off it. We are hoping she will be able to keep her balance and be fine with the boot on. She was able to do it before the surgery so we are hopeful.

I have to go to Maui next month and Guam shortly after but she will come with to Guam.
After that it will be The Big Island and Kauai. I hope to have her come with on those trips too.

 

[amycurl]

As long as she is "compliant and enthusiastic" about her PT once the cast comes off, I'm sure she will be fine.

(In quotes, because that's how my home PT nurse described me in her discharge notes to my outpatient PT after I had my hip replaced. )

 

[slip]

As long as she is "compliant and enthusiastic" about her PT once the cast comes off, I'm sure she will be fine.

(In quotes, because that's how my home PT nurse described me in her discharge notes to my outpatient PT after I had my hip replaced. )

Yes, she always went and told me about her PT appointments. Some sessions went better than others but she has a good attitude. She’s looking forward to getting out again too.

 

[slip]

I just took a look at my upcoming schedule with vacation and work and it’s going to be a busy rest of the year. I talked to my boss at corporate and he really wants to try to get someone hired and have he/she work with me for my last two months. I hope he gets the OK for that, I have never seen that done in all my 37 years.

Anyway, below is my upcoming schedule for the rest of the year.

July: Maui and Big Island both for work.

August: Guam for work and Maui for vacation.

September: Kauai for work

October: Maui for work and to visit my nephew who I got a week for at the Maui Schooner.

November: Big Island for work and Thanksgiving on Molokai. Starting to move some things.

December: First week still on Molokai. Second week we have my wife’s sister and her husband and son coming to visit on Oahu. I have exchanges lined up, just waiting to confirm the dates.

January: I will have to take my replacement to Big Island, Kauai, Maui and possibly Guam.

Time is going to fly.