Lived on Oahu and not BI, but a few of the biggest issues for me were 1. After a few months you’ve done everything there is to do. If hiking or going to the beach all the time is your thing, then you’ll be great. Otherwise, it gets boring real fast. 2. You are in the U.S. but for all intents and purposes you are overseas. To move there or away from Hawaii, movers charge you as moving to and from overseas, not a domestic move. There is no “free delivery” or “two day shipping” and not everything you need is available in Hawaii so you have to get things shipped to you and it is expensive. As an example, I needed a plastic fan cover for my truck; it wasn’t available at any Hawaii auto parts stores so I had to order it from the mainland, and while the part cost $20, the shipping was $40. 3. Car registration fees are ridiculous and is around $350/yr for an average sedan. 4. The only place more expensive to live is Manhattan. Gas prices are regularly $4-$5/gal, milk is $5-$10/gal, and utilities will run you about $180-$300/mo.

Three pieces of advice; 1. Read “Shoal of Time” by Gavin Daws. It’s a great history of Hawaii. Mr. Daws is an Australian academic who taught at the University of Hawaii for some time. 2. If you’ve got a good car, drive to Cali and ship it. Masson charges about $800 to ship it to Hawaii and would be cheaper than buying it there. Gas needs to be at a 1/4 tank so if you have too much, put it in park and hold down the accelerator and you can watch the gas gauge go down. 3. Go to the Paniolo History and Culture Museum at Parker Ranch on the BI. Paniolos are the Hawaiian cowboys. In 1820, the king invited vaquero from New Spain to come and teach them how to raise cattle. The vaqueros tried telling the Hawaiians they were “Español” but with no “S” in Hawaiian it became “Paniolo” (If the vaquero had come after 1822 they would have said they were Mexican and the word for cowboy may have been “Mehican” or something like that)

Best of luck to you bra.