I am in the navy. A year ago I moved to Honolulu HI after accepting orders to come here. Big mistake! One sentence to sum this island up is “its only paradise if you don’t live here”. Even if you are on vacation here I doubt you will have any fun because this place is busting at the seams! Here is a list of reasons why you should never accept orders, move to, or vacation on the island of Oahu.
Over populated: in 2013 it was documented that there are 1,000,000 people living on this tiny island… That leads me to #2…
Traffic: it’s every where you go here. They will close lanes and claim they are working and as you go down the road you don’t see anyone out working. This sometimes will cause you to be hours late. One time it took around 1 hour and 15 minutes to get 2 miles up the road… On base I think they just like to mess with people by closing down lanes at the gate… Then if you call in to tell your supervisor it’s all your fault. Apparently you should have started driving to work 2 hours early to get there on time even though you live 2 miles away…
Wait times at restaurants: avoid Waikiki at all costs. The other night we went to cheese cake factory at 6:30 pm. We did not get out of there until 10 pm on a Tuesday night! You had to wait 2 hours to get in. 30 min to get to your table, another 30 minutes for the waiter to take your order, another 30 min to get food, another 30 min to get the check… 4 hours!
No parking: parking lots? I don’t think these people believe in parking lots. They have parking decks. But guess what? They are full!!! So guess what, you have to walk for miles to get to your destination with 2 small children in 90 degree weather. Same thing applies for base parking. Expect to walk around 2 to 3 miles to get to work because that’s how far away you have to park your car.
Unnecessary randomness: hey if you want to get your dog fixed you have to go to the DMV to get a certificate… Never knew they had anything to do with animals… Plus it’s going to cost you an arm and a leg…
Too expensive: okay I get that things have to get shipped here. But isn’t that the case for every where in the world? I think they just like to say that to get extra money out of you.
Hawaii is a no fault state: hey you get in a car accident and it’s the other persons fault… Guess what, your insurance has to pay for your injuries and your cars repair… Not the other person even if they clearly did it. What the heck is wrong with this place??? You get punished for someone else running into you!!!
I’m done… This place has my blood pressure through the roof. Save your self the heartache and stay home. Don’t come here!
#2 - don’t drive on Freeways. Don’t try to drive to or near Waikiki. Otherwise it’s pretty much like any other crowded busy place.
#3 - the busiest restaurant on the island and caters to tourists with nothing better to do. If you lived there, you would know better.
#4 - Taxis and buses take you anywhere you want to go. The only people who can park in Waikiki are the ones staying in hotels who are willing to pay the extra daily fee. We did, and had no problem at all.
#6 - “shipped” is literal in this case, things are sent by boat or plane, both of which are more expensive than shipping by rail or truck. This is the first reason I would not live there, by the way, because the supply chain is too fragile.
Your other points may be valid but are irrelevant to visitors, at least. Anyone proposing to live there should, indeed, do careful research first.
From what I could see Oahu is the only part of Hawaii with decent paying jobs because Honolulu is where the state government is, plus federal jobs, plus jobs working with big corporations branch offices, the University of Hawaii, etc…
Its also the only place on Hawaii with a highway where one can drive 65.
You can always avoid the traffic jams in Honolulu by taking a city bus instead.
Not!
What you can do is wait a half hour for the next bus, only to find that it’s jam-packed like the proverbial Japanese commuter trains, and not taking on any more passengers. So you wait another half hour for the next bus, only to find likewise. Repeat several more times. This is especially so if you’re trying to get somewhere any time around rush hour. Maybe after three or four hours, the passengers will thin out enough so you can get a seat.
Well, that was my experience from the time I lived in Honolulu. And that was 30 years ago!
People drive 65 or faster on the Big Island all the time. To be sure, they probably aren’t supposed to be doing that. But there are plenty of stretches where the posted limit is 55 - I can’t remember if it ever goes higher than that.
The Big Island also has UH Hilo, Imiloa Astronomy Center, the Keck Observatory, the Natural Energy Lab, Volcanoes National Park, and a fair amount of tourist infrastructure. So there are at least SOME professional jobs on our island.
I wouldn’t want to live in Honolulu, but if I did I would console myself with the good hikes and delicious local food - and I would pop over to the Big Island as often as possible. It’s only a puddle jumper flight. And the Big Island rocks. My husband and I are posted to Indonesia at the moment, and we like that a lot - but we can’t wait for the day when we can go live on Hawaii full time.
Well, there’s your problem right there. Everyone knows that you should have gone to Barking Sands and you’d have none of those problems (except the car stuff and cost of everything).
There is something about Honolulu that reminds me of the W.C. Fields contests, in which the winner gets a one week vacation in that city. The runner up gets two weeks.
I love Honolulu. Don’t think I’ve ever heard it get much of a bad rap. Sure, it’s got its industrial areas like any other city, but those are probably smaller in scope than other cities’. I would not mind living on other islands, but I’m a city boy, and nature’s never far in Honolulu. It’s a rather thin city, running along the coast and wedged along some mountains.
Is Hawaii boring? I don’t know many natives but a friend of a friend who grew up there said it was boring because there wasn’t much to do after you got used to the scenery.
