Before I get into the details on Hawaii shipping and freight companies, cost of living expenses, apartments, real estate, gas and weather; I want to tell you what is really good about moving to Hawaii first just to put things in perspective.

One of the things I noticed first about Hawaii, the Big Island is that there is hardly any trash on the streets. Coming from San Diego where it seems like every street, side walk, neighborhood and parking lot is littered with trash, Hawaii is not. Every now and again you might see a plastic bag on the side of the highway but other than that, Hawaii is the cleanest place I have ever moved to.

Secondly, crime is low here which gives me peace of mind when it comes to my kid, myself and my boyfriend. People around here don't worry about their cars being ripped off and things like this. Of course this is not to say that you shouldn't always be cautious but it does put your mind a little at ease.

The land mass of the Big Island is about 4,028 sq. miles with a population of a little over 201,000. Compare that to Oahu which has a population of over 900,000 and is only about 596 sq. miles and San Diego which is 4,526 sq. miles (4,200 sq. miles of land) with a population of over 3 million. Now I can't remember the exact number off the top of my head when it comes to available housing but something like 78% (please don't quote that) of all housing or real estate is usually vacant in Hawaii so it is not too hard to find a place to live out here with that said...

Before I go any further let me also say that my first impression of Hawaii is not like it is on T.V. in fact at first, it looked more like desolate land covered in lava rock, blue rock and dry pastures that seem to go on forever but going inland a bit more there are so many precious jewels like hidden waterfalls, untouched land, rain forest, bamboo forest and all those things you think of when you think of Hawaii.

Because we were traveling with our pet to Hawaii we used Hawaiian Airlines the total cost for 2 adults, one child (children over 2 pay full fare) and a dog cost about $2200.00 one way and this was at the end of tourist season when air fare is significantly reduced.

Our next major hurdle was getting our vehicle to the island. I searched several shipping companies and the average price for shipping a vehicle to Hawaii is about $1300.00. The cheapest and best shipping company we could find was Pasha Hawaii. We spent $1,075.00 total but there are a few things you should know to make things go smooth.

1. Your vehicle has to be smaller that 21ft. (might be 23ft. make sure you read everything contained on the site for details) and weight restrictions apply. However, we shipped our Ford F-150 extended cab over and it was fine at 17ft. and 5000 lbs. if that is any help to you.
   
2. You cannot have more than 1/4 tank of gas in the vehicle when it boards.
3. You cannot have anything in the vehicle except insurance, registration and if it applies to you, a car seat is fine so don't let anyone tell ya it is not okay because it is but for anything else that is not part of the vehicle... forget about it.
   
4. Pasha Hawaii insures your vehicle up to $10,000.00 but...but...but...if your vehicle has a lean holder on it they might require (probably will) you to also get marine insurance, we went with Geiko. You also have to contact the place you bought your vehicle through and get an okay. Give yourself a lot of time to do this just in case they take their sweet time and you miss the cut off date. This happened to us and we were delayed another month because of it. Our total cost for shipping our vehicle from San Diego to Hilo (it's the only place it ships to on the Big Island) everything included... roughly $1,175.00.
   

Because we relocated to Hawaii for a job; at the time we didn't have enough money to be able to ship all our belongings here. Instead we sold or gave away almost all our furniture and house hold items and only kept a few sentimental things which we stored with family. Of the things we did keep, we kept our large flat screen HDTV, mostly because we just bought it 11 months before hand... before the depression disrupted our daily lives and work.

So for freight shipping we are going with United Airlines. We haven't done it yet because we are trying to get caught up from the basic moving expenses but when we do I will definitely give you a review and tell you how it went.

So far all I know is that they have daily flights out to Hawaii and the minimum shipping cost is $45.00.

Housing, Rent:

Fortunately we arrived here while the economy is on a downturn and the price for housing is dropping... a lot! So at the moment this has helped us tremendously. In San Diego we were paying $1600.00 for a two bedroom town home.

We found a condo in Waikoloa Village for $775.00 but from talking to some of the other residents here, we were extremely fortunate. The "usual" average price for a condo, apartment, house is around $1300-1800. Some of the homes out here are really beautiful but for the most part the homes (within our price range) seem a bit "toe-up" and a lot of them are on stilts so it is a little strange.

The cool thing is that most come with larger yards and or lanais. Lanais are like balconies or patios except that they are made to be outdoor extensions of your home so they have windows and power outlets, things like this. So on the one hand it is expensive but on the other hand you get more for the price and quality when compared to San Diego.

Now of course you can look for a place through the paper or Realtor but Hawaii is very spread out and at times it is really difficult to find things because streets aren't labeled like you are used to so we went through Property Management Resources. It was the easiest route for us to take. Things you should know about rentals out here though:

1. Nearly every single place we looked at requires the deposit to be the same as the rent. Ouch!
2. It is really, really, really hard to find a place that will take pets.
3. Home rentals out here are not kept the way they are on the mainland meaning for things you would usually take for granted ie: fresh paint, new carpet, maintenance man etc... forget it! I am assuming that because everything has to be shipped to the Islands and the cost associated with it is the reason why most places do not do this unless it is absolutely necessary. It makes sense and if that is what it takes to keep the Island clean and environmentally friendly then it is absolutely worth it. You see why when you get here.
   

Hawaii Electric

This is were it gets really expensive. Back in San Diego I whined and complained when my electricity bill was over $50.00 (being a very conservative person) and having to leave a $72.00 deposit. Hawaii electricity makes San Diego seem like a blessing.

On the east side of Hawaii we get service through Hawaii Electric; phone number (808) 855- 4605. Our deposit was $100.00 but not all deposits are the same, at least this is what I have been told. My boyfriends brother and his wife paid an $800.00 but from what the rental agency was saying; they said that Hawaii Electric is doing things a little bit different where they base your deposit requirement on the previous residents average electricity use. So this could work out to your favor if the place you go with has been vacant for a while if you catch my drift. Other than that I really don't know what tips I could give you in cutting down moving cost when moving or relocating to Hawaii.

Putting things into perspective, on average you can expect to pay about $200.00 a month and this would be in homes less that 1000 sq. ft. Larger homes have brought the cost down by switching to solar panels otherwise, from what the locals have told us, larger homes can expect a bill anywhere between $300-600 a month!

Water

We were fortunate in this regard as well. Not many places pay for water but we did find one that includes water which is awesome. The average (again so I hear) people pay for water every two months is about $300.00 which is about $150.00 a month. Again we didn't have to worry about this but if you do the number to the Dept. of Water Supply is (808) 887-3030.

Solar Energy

Now, Hawaii is one of the most cooperative and environmentally conscious states I have ever seen. Many places have already converted to using solar panels to help become free from gas electricity. As it is, everything is run of generators that use diesel fuel which is why electricity cost so much out here but from the commercials I have seen, Hawaii is really actively trying to free itself from this and bring cost down.

Driving around you will see a lot of solar electric places, homes with solar shingles as well as business like the golf courses, grocery stores, things like this.

Mail and Post Office

The mail does not deliver to each and every home or resident. To me, addresses are hard to find, again not everything is labeled like it is on the mainland, things we take for granted. So if you want to get your mail you have to go the the local post office in your town and get a P.O box or any place that has mail boxes. It's an inconvenience and an extra expense to your monthly bills but it is what it is. I suppose when you think about it, because Hawaii is so spread out with towns in what seems like random places, it would be pretty tough for the mail man to deliver to each and every home on the Island. I would love to give you the number to the Post Office but that is something that you will have to look up on your own through USPS.com.

Important Phone numbers:

• Post Office in Waikoloa is (808) 883-1497.
• Time Warner Oceanic is (808) 643-2100. It's the only cable service provider here, luckily it is not to expensive. Cheaper then what we were paying in San Diego.
• Hawaii Telcome is (808) 643-3456
• Gas Co: (808) 329-2984
• West Hawaii Water Co: (808) 883-2046

Shopping

I think this is the suckiest part of all. On the Big Island there are two major towns with stores, "malls" or Plazas at least on the North half of the Island. There is Kona and Hilo. So far they are the only two places you can go to do your shopping which isn't bad if you live in Hilo or Kona but like I said. Everything is so spread out and you have to drive at least 45 minutes if you want to go to WalMart, Target, the Mall, Costco, Safeway or the book store... places like this.

Grocery Shopping

Just expect to pay about 1/4- twice as much as you would normally pay for any particular item. A gallon of milk at almost every grocery store is about $8.00, cheap bread is about $3.00 and a dozen eggs about $5.00 so do the math. What we are doing to cut cost is shopping at Costco. If you don't have a Costco card I suggest you get one. You can pick one up for $50.00 a year.

If you don't live in Kona or Hilo then I suggest that you get a cooler for you meats and cold foods because it is a long drive home. Our average monthly food budget in San Diego was $3-400.00 a month. When we first got here I spent $300.00 the first week shopping at the local grocery stores like KTA and FoodLand. Thanks to Costco we can still stay within our budget and as it turns out, for the most part we are getting more for our money buying meats, bread and lunch items like Cup-O-Noodles in bulk and then splitting them up and freezing them. Well I don't freeze Cup-O-Noodles but you you know what I mean.

For vegetables it is best to go the a farmers market. They have them everywhere here. No sense in buying vegetables at the grocery store in bulk if you don't plan to use them within a few days because they go bad of course you prolly already know this.

And for international goods like soy sauce (they say sho yu out here but I am not sure my spelling is correct) it's better to go to an oriental market because it is much, much, much cheaper.

Gas, Beer, Cigarettes

OMG! I thought Washington (my hometown) was bad when it came to liquor and cigarette sales. Here a pack of cigarettes in almost any brand is $8.00. Right now gas is $3.50 a gallon and a 12 pack of cheap beer is about $13.00. If you want a better beer you better put aside a couple extra dollars a week for it because a 12 pack of Heineken is about $17.00 and you aren't likely to find anything like Blue Moon or Guiness. If you do I am pretty darn sure it would make you want to drink them as slow as possible.

I must say the weather is a little hot for me but at the same time it is extremely diverse. Hawaii is like its own mainland ecosystem. Down near the cost on the east side it is hot! It is humid and the vog can be pretty overpowering. On clear day however, you can see the other islands which is really beautiful. The water is warm and the fish swim next to your feet. The protected and endanger Sea Turtles hang out next but you can't touch them or you will get a huge fine.

If you go inland towards Waimea it is a lot cooler, sometimes cold and half is sunny the other half it rains a lot, sorta reminds me of Washington or Oregon but not as cold. Go towards the Hilo side it is wet and extremely humid, it's a rainforest. And in Kona and Waikoloa it is dry and dessert like. Up on Mauna Kea it gets super cold, it snows and the temp. can drop down to -40f. with wind chill.

There isn't a lot of good surf on this side of the island but every now and again a good swell comes in so you could grab some warm waves. You don't have to buy a fishing permit to go fishing, some species of fish are protected though so you would want to find out which fish.

You can go diving out in the reefs and spear, or three prong fish. Some of the waves break close to shore... I mean on shore, ha ha but it is really sorta cool. Completely different from the waves in San Diego. A lot of the beaches out here require an invite or a special pass to step foot on the land but for the most part there are a lot of beaches.

I personally like the beaches that have trees on the shore so you can get some shade because it is so darn hot. Hapuna beach is really pretty but there is no shade there and from the beaches that I have been to so far, you drive off the main highway on bumpy dirt roads to get to the beaches. I don't mind this actually, and my daughter loves it.

There are tide pools closed off by rocks so you can let your kids play without really worrying about them (not that you shouldn't be paying attention) but you aren't so worried about them getting swept away because sometimes the under toes are strong and can sweep you right off your feet at shore.

While the cost of living is very high here I thought I should mention that most every community activity is free. You can go to the public pool, zoo and things like this for free. In a lot of ways it is good to know that your tax money is actually going to things that make Hawaii a wonderful place to live.

Like trash. You have to take your trash to the dump yourself in most places but it is free. They call it rubbish here. There are a couple places where you have to pay to dump but I don't know why that is. You don't have to pay to go see the waterfalls or access the beaches and there is always some sort of community event going on.

For the most part the people are really cool, chilled, relaxed. Hawaii moves a lot slower then the city which is a huge stress reliever. There are animals all over the place that run free in their pastures off the side of the highways and get this. I have never seen a donkey/horse before. While this is not official, "official". I have officially named the donkey/horse a "Honkey".

There are flowers the grow everywhere. Why the hibiscus is the state flower is beyond me when I see more plumaria then anything else and hibiscus used to be my favorite flower but now I think it is the plumaria. I never seen so many colors of hibiscus and plumarias.... actually I never knew they came in so many colors.

Hawaii is a great place to live. Those things I took for granted on the mainland really put things into perspective for me and make me treasure what I have found here. At the heart life is simple. Family, Friends, Fun. The environment is the cleanest I have eva seen. The max. speed limit is 55mph. There are only about 3 highways that take you from one side to the other and I can appreciate how expensive it is to live here because what would really suck would be disrespectful people to come from the mainland and ruin what seems to be a rare and beautiful place to be.

Public transportation is free too! You can ride the bus for free. The only draw backs are that there aren't any labeled bus stops. Which is good and bad because you can catch the bus anywhere but you don't really know which bus is going where and you have to know where to you want to stop. They don't have handles that signal the driver to stop so you have to shout out to the driver when you want to stop and they will stop at the next safest place they can pull over at.

Jobs are just as hard to find right now like everywhere else but minimum wage (or what people get paid from what I hear working at McDonalds) is $10.00 an hour.

• Pre-order you packing supplies.
• You have to have a cooler larger enough to keep your groceries cool for the drive home.
• Get a party tent. Trust me on this one.
• If you already know where you will be living, get your cable request set up as far in advance as you can. It takes 2-3 weeks to get service set up.
  
• Wear sunscreen. When I got here I was told that I should put on sunscreen because the sun is different out here then it is in S.D. Of course I ignored it. Tip: don't ignore it. :D
• Make sure you have enough gas in your vehicle. You really don't want to get stranded out in the middle of nowhere in the hot sun or pouring rain. Someone will most likely stop but still...10 minutes in the hot sun in the middle of the highways is um...well...and...yeah...
  
• Bring an umbrella
• Bring some shade to the beach
• If you see a vehicle with a blue light on top, it is probably a cop. A lot of the cops here drive their own vehicles.
• Read up about Hawaii Legends and Myths... when the locals tell you they don't like Saddle Road you will know why.
• Please don't drink and drive. One of the saddest things I have seen out here is people and their entire families dying because they were drinking and driving. Given that there are only 2-3 main highways, everyone has to share. While there are child and vehicle safety laws like wearing seat belts and making sure you have your kids in the right seat restraints, people ride without anyways and even ride with their children in their laps. About a week after I got here there was a fatal accident about 200 yards down from where I was staying and an entire family was killed. The husband was drunk, the wife was not wearing a seat belt and had an infant on her lap and two girls in the back seat. Only one was wearing a seat belt. All of them died. The one wearing a seat belt did survive for a little while but died a couple days later. Does it make me angry? Yes. And also very sad. 
• Just on the basic expenses of moving here from San Diego, we spent apx. $5000.00. So if you are planning to move here just know, at a minimum you can expect to need about $5000.00.  Unless of course you don't have to ship you vehicle and family over and more if you are planning to send all your belongings and are moving into a more expensive home.  Let me remind you also that I am a what is called a "Penny Pincher" though I prefer the term 'conservative'.
  
• And finally, use common sense and show respect for the people and the land.

Aloha and Mahalo.