“Avoid Oahu HI” feels strangely like a palindrome in like, tone or something, even though it is not even close to being one.
The op’s gripe sounds like every large city I’ve ever been too. I’m convinced they all have a city director job devoted to timing all traffic lights so nobody makes 2 consecutive green lights. If that is impossible then a construction zone will be set up so that 6 generations of families are employed repairing it.
I use to have to commute out of state and it took me through a section of highway that apparently employed crazy people to either wreck their car or run out of gas during rush hour traffic every single day. My current job is 15 minutes away and it’s the exact opposite. All the crazy people are traveling in the opposite direction. I also have many layers of back roads should the need arrive. In 2 years I’ve never had to use them.
So I feel the op’s pain. I’ve never had the desire to sit in an airplane for hours at a time so I can swim in the ocean and tour a few islands. the volcanoes would be interesting but that’s about it. We have scenery out the wazoo in North America and most of it is in remote areas that are a pleasure to travel through.
I’m wondering what paradise the OP comes from that Hawaii is such a hardship posting for him.
Bumfuck, North Dakota.
Since the OP signed up just to deliver that single missive and has never logged on again, I’m not sure we’ll ever know.
I had much the same experience. Hawaii was a disaster. Everything that’s “nice” about it is confined to the tourist resorts.
Well, I came from Killeen TX, where milk doesn’t cost $10 a gallon, your water bill doesn’t run into the hundreds of dollars, and the Fourth of July is a celebration instead of an opportunity to protest the Federal government.
I’ve also never before lived in a place where the beaches are overrun with the tents of homeless families. Hawaii has the highest rate of homelessness in the entire US, which isn’t hard to imagine when you realize that literally everything is obscenely overpriced thanks to the combination of isolation and tourism. So on that point, specifically, the “paradise” OP comes from would be literally any other state in the union.
I came from Texas too, albeit from a far worse place than even Killeen.
Maybe he only has internet access once a week, at the MARS concession on the skimmer side of PH. 
FWIW, my sister lived there for about two years, and said that was right around the perfect length of time. They were just starting to feel like the negatives were beginning to outweigh the positives when they left.
Oh, this is so wrong that I cannot adequately express in words how wrong it is.
Get away from the tourist resorts and experience the less-populated area of O’ahu (yes, they exist).
If you need help finding these, try reading the O’ahu Revealed book others have recommended.
Brudda Iz!
Israel Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole, probably best known for his “Wonderful World/Somewhere Over the Rainbow” medley (if you haven’t heard it, pick a versionor two to listen to) is one of my favorite musicians - even though Hawaiian music is not even close to my favorite genre. He was a phenomenal ukulele player (not like our resident Ike, who is a ukulele playa) who masterfully blended traditional Hawaiian music with jazz, reggae and other influences to create something truly magical. He was born and raised in and around Honolulu and, like far too many musical geniuses, died way too early.
Indeed. Plus, whose water bills get up into the hundreds of dollars??!? The one semester I lived off campus, bills were included in the rent, but if the water had been that high, the rent would have been even higher than it was. True, this was decades ago, but I recall being told the water supply was basically free, that all they really charged for was delivering it. I do recall some concern growing at the time I left regarding the water table finally starting to lower, so maybe it’s changed from my time. But hundreds of dollars? I don’t think so.
Plus it’s free.
Our last visit to the memorial, on our trip 10 years ago, the mood out there was solemn and somber, as normal. Then suddenly one of those giant turtles appeared in the water, and everyone was like," Oooh! Turtle!"
I lived up in the Nuuanu Valley (the Pali Gap) for 6 months after graduating from college, circa 1978. I remember when they put a plumeria lei around my neck after I got off the plane, and I thought…“wow, this IS paradise” (I always have plumerias growing here in So Cal)
I found a job painting an old turn of the century home, right across from the Queen Liliokalini summer home, now a museum of sorts.
The owner of the home Mrs Kida, she was a real demanding task master, she used to pick pineapples as a young women. She rented out rooms in the old house to a variety of wingnuts, myself included. I purchased an old chevy impala for $150, and used it to drive down to the South Shore to surf. After it broke, I would run down the hill, through some "weird"bar zones, and get to the beach that way. The bus cost 25 cents, and you could ride it all over the island, just checking places out, which I used to do.
Really some good memories of the people and places and scenery.
I was also able to hang out a bit on the Big Island, with some local folks, and people treated me really well. I’m a haole, and there is that resentment, but I never saw it.
I think I remember those times better than the next 30 yrs!!!
I know times have changed, but as others have mentioned, you just have to venture off the beaten path a bit, and the Islands and her Peoples will welcome you still.
Thanks for everyone’s advice. I guess I should have mentioned in my original post that this will be by 6th trip to Hawaii and 3rd to Oahu. While Oahu is not my favorite island (that would be Maui), my cousins and her husband are joining us and I consider Pearl Harbor to be a must see. So we’re spending 4 nights on Oahu before traveling to Maui.
Have a great time! Can you pack me in your suitcase? 
Oahu resident checking in.
Yes, I can attest that the water bills on Oahu can run into the $100-$200 range monthly. You’re actually paying a very high “sewer infrastructure” charge and pennies for water delivery.
Milk can run about $5 and eggs about $5 a dz. Shop around and you can find better deals for daily staples. Open markets are huge here and are generally the best place to get your veggies, Kapiolani Community College has a huge one on Saturdays (which I generally avoid) because of the crowds, but if you want to make a day of it it’s almost like a carnival without rides.
Traffic, yes there’s a ton, but hey you’re living in a city that only has so much flat land and a ton of unusable mountains what do you expect? There’s one main Highway leading east west (burbs to town) a couple of accidents and a little rain just kills the commute. You can probably afford a very nice house in the burbs and have a 1-2 hour commute or buy a tiny shoebox in town and have a 15 minute commute. Guess which one I decided to do?
Yes everything is expensive, electricity at $.33/kwh, groceries, heck I drool at the prices advertised at major chain restaurants on tv. Please always note the little disclaimer and think of us here (and AK) and how we’re paying $2-$5 bucks more for that $7.99 lunch combo.
Don’t forget, very little gets shipped directly here from abroad. Everything stops on the west coast then get brought back here, Why you ask? Read up on the Jones Act.
Homeless-yes there are tons of homeless around. Many are locals that have fallen on hard times, but also a lot of mainlanders and foreigners that though they could make a go of it not realizing the high cost of everything. Your 40k/year job just does not go very far here. The state is trying some new initiatives getting folks off the street into shelters, but there are a vast many that just don’t want to follow the rules.
I agree with much that is said, go hiking, Arizona Memorial is a must, as is wave watching on the North Shore during the fall/winter(sorry traffic is horrible when the waves are up, but well worth it), if it’s the summer go diving there instead, eat at a shrimp truck on the side of the road, but for goodness sakes get out of Waikiki if you want to experience the island and not just live here.