Hawaii's superb -- terrific scenery and year-round golf & beach weather in the high 70s/low 80s. Close to zero smog or pollution of any kind. Gentle tradewinds, aquamarine beaches everywhere you look and swaying palm trees. Not many ties are found in Hawaii... We wear aloha shirts and tommy bahama silks.
High cost of living (I pay $2400/mo for a 2BR 1600sft a/c oceanfront condo) and gasoline is still > $2.00/gallon. You can get ok 1BR apts for $800-1K/mo. There's not much of a middle class job base, it's mostly low paying tourism/retail, and the average educational level of locals is very low. Not like a well educated high-tech city. Entrenched public unions/socialistic environment and astronomical taxes.
This is not the place for sports fans. Ever try to watch Mon night football at 10am ? lol. We have no local pro sports, just local college games, which are so-so.
Getting up at 2-3am daily to prepare for trading each day is very difficult, even after years of doing so. I use roadrunner cablemodem, residential is 40/mo and business 80/mo.
No violent crime to speak of, this is great, eg I feel safe everywhere I go, anytime of day/night (unlike anywhere else I've lived, eg Calif, Michigan, Chicago, Colorado) ... but very high property crime, and 91% of major crimes on Oahu went unsolved last year. Underpaid/not enough local police here.
And with among the worst public school systems in the country, we have one of the top rates of public school teachers who pay to have their kids go to private schools in the country (since they know firsthand how bad the public school system is, both teachers and cops are underpaid).
But everything else is great. The food, the scenery, the local values, the asian lifestyle.
Many mainland haoles (local word for caucasian people like me from the US mainland) move here for a couple of years, don't like the fact that they're in a minority group (caucasians are less than 50% of the population here), and end up moving back to the mainland. They don't adjust, don't learn how to use chopsticks, don't like plate lunch, try to change everything to be how it was on the mainland, and give up and go back home lol.
Interesting, of all the states I've lived, Hawaii has as a favorite question for non-locals, eg "how long have you been here?" and if it's less than 4 yrs+, they wonder how long you'll stick around, assuming you'll leave (as many do).
I've been here 8+ years and like it better than anywhere else. The only problem is, decent houses cost well over 350K (the median price for a small 2BR), good ones are 500K+. That and the taxes.
But hey, the view from my condo is :
http://www.dtu1.com/condoall.jpg so I'm still here. And my
www.dtu1.com/wife.jpg likes it here as well.
hope that's useful ... I made it in hawaii, many don't... they don't feel comfortable being in an asian cultural environment, and go back. I'm glad I could fit in. At first it's tough, eg like visiting Singapore, and not seeing many other people that look like you. But in time, some can adapt.
Hawaii has the #1 rate of interracial marriages of any state, which is fine with me since I like asian women. Getting a wife from Japan was helpful, and having an open mind and trying to get along with folks from different cultures, is essential.
Ken
