# Why don’t you move to Honolulu? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 27, 2024, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311 "2024-10-27T21:15:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/61 "2024-10-29T07:07:27Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > No, even Oahu has a lot of gorgeous, rural areas. I probably wouldn’t want to live there (property is too expensive) but it’s not correct to characterize all of Oahu as urban. And the Big Island is definitely not urban at all. Sorry I was talking about Honolulu. That was my answer to the question posed by the thread. I haven’t been to Honolulu, so that impression was entirely formed by looking at it on Google maps. It just looks too urbanised for me (and that’s coming from England, which is quite densely populated itself) > [@CairoCarol](#): > > Honolulu isn’t terrible, but if you can work remotely, unless you want an urban setting I would check out other islands. Yes. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/62 "2024-10-29T07:58:40Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I was talking about Honolulu. Ah, okay, I was responding to your statement that “a lot of **the island** is city.” Honolulu is a city, the _island_ is Oahu, but Honolulu does not consume the whole island, and plenty of Oahu is rural. It can be confusing - I wouldn’t expect non-residents to somehow have perfect knowledge of local geography, and the local naming conventions don’t help. [Insert rant here about overlapping names and definitions used throughout the various islands. I’m still figuring it out after 6 years and get tripped up not infrequently.] ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/63 "2024-10-29T09:00:25Z")
Thank you for the clarification! We have a similar thing here - I already live on an island (England as part of the British Isles), but visiting the Isles of Wight or Portland, one might say ‘I’m going to the island’ (and on the return leg, ‘I’m going back to the mainland’) - even though any of these journeys is just travel from an island to a differently-sized island. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/64 "2024-10-29T09:20:00Z")
I think the idea of congregating all 330 million US citizens in one island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is interesting. Please keep on reporting how the whole endeavor advances. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/65 "2024-10-29T09:47:48Z")
Obligatory XKCD [https://what-if.xkcd.com/8/](https://what-if.xkcd.com/8/) ---
**Author:** ![deneen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deneen/32/17713_2.png) [@deneen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deneen)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/66 "2024-10-29T09:52:13Z")
Wow- that pool sounds absolutely amazing. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/67 "2024-10-29T10:59:28Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I don’t care for the tropics. I like Northerness, like C.S.Lewis. I did not know that’s a thing. I feel the same. Life above 45 degrees latitude just feels better to me somehow. Might be due to a lifetime of living under 30 degrees lat. I do love tropical warmth and nature as distinct from the oppressive stifling heat and boring vegetation of the Deep South. So I definitely do enjoy Hawaii and could live there for a while. I would actually enjoy a snowbird life of wintering in the tropics and summering in the boreal latitudes. Hawaii would be hard because of the cost of groceries, and the cost of airfare to get basically anywhere other than Hawaii. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/68 "2024-10-29T11:18:45Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > First we went to Puerto Rico. Then we went to Hawaii. Hawaii in October was _much_ more comfortable than PR in October. … lot less garbage as well 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/69 "2024-10-29T11:33:39Z")
There are a bunch of us cooler weather folks. Me included. I’ve lived many places and that oppressive southern heat you speak of was miserable when I was young and intolerable now. I go to Aruba every year for a couple weeks but could not see myself living there much longer than a month. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/70 "2024-10-29T13:59:53Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > So why don’t “you” move to Santa Barbara? I did in 1990. I had just finished my master’s degree and I got one job offer and it was here. I intended to stay for two or three years. It suits me perfectly and I can say after having been all over the globe that it’s my favorite place. I’m incredibly fortunate. (You live here now?). ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/71 "2024-10-29T14:34:43Z")
I heard the grass was greener on the other side. Sounds worth a try. PS I know there are sea and air ferries, but how many island residents do/do not own a boat? I have also met a person who _lived_ on a yacht for a few years, not really comfortable, inconvenient commute, and kind of hard-core but he did it. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/72 "2024-10-29T16:47:01Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > > [@ParallelLines](#): > > > > Risk of MAJOR natural disasters of many flavors. > > Landslides are not infrequent but they are minor - worst case, one lane of a road is closed for 2-3 hours. Hurricanes generally don’t do a lot of damage here, we don’t have tornados, volcanos are extremely easy to avoid simply by not purchasing land where flows are possible. Likewise floods, tsunamis and wildfires are avoidable simply by choosing a location wisely. What exactly are you worried about? Well first, the major disasters, while a thing, were pretty far down my list in terms of concerns. Where I live in Colorado Springs, the only natural disasters I’ve been close to (for values of close) are wildfires, which did indeed hit the far western areas of town within the last twenty years. In the same period, we’ve had a very, very few tornados, but that’s more recent given the prior climatic conditions. So it’s the sheer number of issues you mention that cause me concern, along with the fact that as climate change worsens, I wouldn’t want to buy ANY beachfront property in any state, which Honolulu (the city of the OP) certainly is! But again, that’s quite a ways down my list of reasons for why I don’t move. Lack of jobs, cost of living, and my dislike of the climate (I mean, look where I live, it’s about as opposite climatically as it gets - cold [not as cold as it used to be, thanks climate change! /s], dry, and very distinct seasons!) before I even mention disasters! IF (big if) we were talking one of our “genie” scenarios, where IRL issues weren’t a problem, I could absolutely see me living the high life (literally) up in some of the higher elevation communities where it’s at least a bit cooler and drier. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/73 "2024-10-30T02:38:14Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > the sheer number of issues you mention that cause me concern, I mentioned every natural disaster I could think of - that doesn’t mean they are all risks in Hawai’i! They generally either are not risks at all (tornadoes) or the risk is low (hurricanes, which only graze us so we just get bad storms once in a while) or the risk is easily avoided (don’t buy land where you are vulnerable to tsunamis, volcanic flow, or wildfires - that leaves you the vast majority of the state.) But I did leave one out - earthquakes! We have those all the time here, and you can’t avoid them, but they are virtually never serious. A few years ago we had a 6.4; that caused some breakage of dishes and stuff in people’s houses, but there was no infrastructure damage and no injuries. Most quakes are so small you can’t even feel them, or there is just a moment’s rumble and its over. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/74 "2024-10-30T02:52:23Z")
If I may be lightheaded for a moment - ::checks forum, confirms it is MPSIMS:: - here is a TRUE STORY about why someone was afraid to come to Hawai’i, as relayed by a friend of mine, Deb. A random lady at a party on the mainland said to Deb, “You know, I would be really scared to fly to Honolulu, because the island is just floating around and it moves all the time. What if the pilot missed it?” Deb didn’t miss a beat. She agreed and said, “you know, you’re right: it _is_ always a little scary flying in. But the pilots get lots of training, and they are really good at compensating for any drift, so they generally locate where the island is and manage to land successfully. We haven’t had a miss in years.” I’m not sure I’d be fast enough to respond as Deb did, but I hope so. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/75 "2024-10-30T03:00:12Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Lifting weights is healthy. Honolulu? Perhaps an acquired taste. FWIW the “top ten liveable” EIU cities in the US are… > > ## The 10 best cities to live in the U.S. > > ([cnbc.com](http://cnbc.com) summary of Economist article below) > > 1. Honolulu, Hawaii > 2. Atlanta, Ga. > 3. Pittsburgh, Penn. > 4. Seattle, Wash. > 5. Washington D.C. > 6. Chicago, Ill. > 7. Boston, Mass. > 8. Miami, Fla. > 9. San Francisco, Calif. > 10. Minneapolis, Minn. > [From Atlanta to San Francisco: These are the 10 best U.S. cities to live in based on culture, education, infrastructure and more](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/30/best-cities-to-live-in-the-us-eiu-global-liveability-index.html) > > Of course, others have their own arbitrary lists. > > [Best Places to Live in the U.S. in 2024 - Livability.com](https://livability.com/best-places/2024-top-100-best-places-to-live-in-the-us/) > > [https://realestate.usnews.com/places/rankings/best-places-to-live](https://realestate.usnews.com/places/rankings/best-places-to-live) > > [The 25 U.S. Cities With The Best Quality Of Life, Ranked In A New Report](https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2024/02/26/ranked-the-25-us-cities-with-the-best-quality-of-life-according-to-a-new-report/) I’m a bit suspicious of any list that has Trenton, Jersey City, Hartford, or New Haven as “best places to live”. Pittsburgh and Atlanta are ok, but I certainly wouldn’t rank them higher than Boston or Chicago. But these lists are all arbitrary anyway. And most big cities are pretty great to live in if you have money. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/76 "2024-10-30T03:13:29Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > lightheaded LightHEARTED, dammit. Autocorrect strikes again. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/77 "2024-10-30T04:01:13Z")
I visited Hawaii a couple of years ago, and I’d like to return. I loved the big island. Small towns and tropical rain forests and some nice mountains. And fabulous fruit and beaches and a live volcano of the “leaks lava, but doesn’t explode and kill everyone nearby” type. And such fabulous ginger. And i was blown away by Kauai, which is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. I didn’t love Honolulu. It felt like a boring small city. Not much green. I’m more likely to visit than to move there, but if i move to Hawaii, i want to live where there’s rain, and grow breadfruit and coconut and lilikoi and citrus… And flowers and ginger. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/78 "2024-10-30T14:04:24Z")
The high cost of living and 95% of my family lives within 10 miles of me. I would miss being involved with my grandkids. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/79 "2024-10-30T14:19:08Z")
I knew a woman who lived on Honolulu for a while and worked in a bank or something, in a big building. She said it was no different than going to work in downtown Des Moines, other than there was better scenery in Hawaii. But it was full of tourists, very very expensive, and there was just terrible traffic…She said when they were filming ‘Lost’ some years ago, they were filming a middle-of-the-jungle scene on a piece of land adjoining a parking lot! Had to be very careful to keep the asphalt out of the shot. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311/80 "2024-10-30T14:22:23Z")
Oh, I get it. My wife and I were ecstatic when our boat nailed the landing at _these_ islands: > **[The floating homes of Lake Titicaca](https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220814-the-floating-homes-of-lake-titicaca)** > > Created by the indigenous Uros people as protection against attacks from the Incas, the Uros Islands are one of the world's most innovative feats of human engineering. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-don-t-you-move-to-honolulu/1009311.md?page=5)