So You Want to Live in Hawaii

I can’t tell you how many times I have been working at the Ho’oulu Farmer’s Market, selling our Da Vine Foods Lilikoi Products, when someone says they want to move to Hawaii. I get tons of questions about how we did it. So I thought I would share it with you. So here is our story.

When my husband and I were in our 20’s we took our 1st trip to Hawaii. I was 3 months pregnant with our first child when we visited Kauai and Maui. It was during that trip that we both agreed that we wanted to live on the islands someday. The friendly people with their spirit of Aloha, the weather, the ocean, the food, the openness of all the buildings, it was where the indoors and outdoors melded into one. We couldn’t get enough of it!

In 1991 my father in law purchased a condo on the Big Island, Hawaii. He allowed us to stay there for free. So we had the perfect opportunity to come over and explore the island, many times. We had done almost every tourist attraction there was to do, visited every shave ice shop and went to all the great beaches and restaurants on the Kona side of the island. We always did this as tourists though. Not as locals. It was very obvious that we were tourists with our pale skin and fast paced ways.

For 20 years we tried to find a way to move to Hawaii, the island that we fell in love with. First the finances were an issue. Then when we got the finances in order and our kids were in the middle of school. It wasn’t until our son went off to college and our daughter was going into high school that we looked at each other and said, “Now is the time.”

My husband and I are both planners. I mean when we decide to do something we plan it out to the very last detail. So we headed off to the library (a place where books used to be kept to read for free). We had already been using the Big Island revealed book to find those unique spots as tourists, but what about living there? That’s when we stumbled across a book called “So You Want to Live in Hawaii” by Toni Polancy. At the time this blog was written it was in its 3rd edition (2005).

We found the information we were looking for in this book. Everything from day to day living, resource guides for schools, business, moving, shipping, housing, and retirement…you name it and it was all in this book. All of this information was at our fingertips, even for potential problem areas like natural disasters, ocean dangers, critters and insects. Of course, some of the local lingo was included, as well as customs and culture. So we diligently read the book and started planning.

After reviewing all the islands we decided that the Big Island, Hawaii, was for us. It was familiar since we had vacationed here for so many years. We also wanted to slow down from our on the go hectic life pace that we had currently been keeping. Big Island living is like living in the country compared to the other islands; we were ready to find out just how country that was. We set the move date to December 2006. We were moving to Hawaii!

Everything went as planned. I’m not going to say that it wasn’t hectic, it definitely was. But all in all what we had already experienced here and what we read in the book paid off. We were in our new home for Christmas of 2006.

With our ten year Hawaii move anniversary right around the corner, we both feel that we made a great decision. I know lots of people talk about island fever. I have no clue what they are talking about. This island is big enough that you can travel several hours to get away. If you don’t like the weather where you are, take a 10-15 minute drive and you will be in a different climate zone. 11 of the 13 climate zones are on this island. You can always find what you want. We absolutely love it on the Big Island!

If you are thinking about moving to Hawaii I would recommend you do your homework. Include this guide to settling and succeeding in the islands as one of your reads. Then take the jump and enjoy! You won’t be sorry.

If you decide you want to have a taste of the islands at home while you plan your move to Hawaii, remember Da Vine Foods for locally, handcrafted, Hawaiian Passion Fruit (Lilikoi) delights.