A little more than a year ago, R and I started telling our nearest and dearest that we were planning to uproot our entire life – sell our beautiful home, prep our pup for a plane ride, and quit the jobs we had spent many years (and not to mention sweat and tears) working. Upon sharing this news we were often met with one of two responses…
“Really?! Why would you do something like that? It’s so hard to (insert something like get a job, buy a house, fly a kite, etc.) there. You’ll be back before you know it.
-or-
“Really?! That is fantastic! You will love it! I wish I had done something like that when I was your age.You’ll figure it out and be just fine.”
Truthfully our time here has been much more in line with the second response than the first, and we have had far more good fortune than bad, but it’s high time we let you in on the things that have been really darn hard about living on this little green dot. If dropping everything and moving to your version of paradise is next on your bucket list, save this until AFTER you get there. It’s so much easier to take a picture of the beach and write about living in the tropics than it is to write about the things that are hard, but hold on to your butts, here’s what drives us (coco)nuts.
Work. Working in Hawaii is really darn hard. Really, and not for any of the reasons I thought it would be- like all the temptation of those turquoise waters and soft sandy beaches. It’s hard because everything in Hawaii takes longer, the pace is a lot slower, and I am too type A for the tropics. I am used to lightning-fast work and high pressure environments and getting things done faster than on time and right the first time (usually). That is not how most things are done around here. Sure, there is still a lot of pressure and urgency in my position even on this little green dot, but it seems to affect me differently than some. There is also a vast gap in training, education, technology usage, and sometimes language all within one office or organization. Trying to keep straight who uses email, who doesn’t and how to best get a hold of the person you need is a challenge and often just downright annoying (for a type A gal especially).
On top of all that, typical office politics and water cooler gossip are amplified to a whole new level because many of the people you work with are related directly or indirectly to other people you work with or are friends with. Gossip is so prevalent there’s a name for it…coconut wireless and it is amazingly fast compared to other more modern communication channels. Finding a job in Hawaii is hard, but keeping it and staying positive might be even harder. On the plus side, I’m learning a lot about patience and planning (way, way) ahead and those are always valuable lessons.
Housekeeping. Mold and moss grow inside when you’re not looking – never something we dealt with in the high and dry plains of Colorado. Here your clothes always feel a little damp in the morning and your towels seem like they will never dry out. Tons of red dirt and tons of water makes for tons of red mud everywhere all the time. The dog sheds constantly. I could vacuum every day and it wouldn’t be enough. Want to take the night off from doing dishes and leave them in the sink for just a little while? Well, don’t. If you do you’re likely to wake up to a swarm of some kind taking over your kitchen. Roaches, ants, geckos all of the above love it when you leave leftovers out. Also, geckos love to poop everywhere. Not only does everything inside need attention all the time, if you have any sort of plants or landscaping outside it needs attention all the time too. Our grass seems to grow inches overnight and bushes and trees become overgrown and insane in the course of a week. Have fruit trees? Awesome! Now go make sure you pick it all before the birds and bugs do.
Sand. Everywhere. All. The. Time. You will find it in your hair, your bed, your dog, your teeth, your food, your car, your shoes. The brightside is you start to just let it go a little. Who cares if your car is full of sand, it means you’ve been to the beach and a little bit of it just wanted to come home with you.
Travel and trade. Both into and out of Hawaii. If you want to go anywhere or get anything from more than an hour and a half by car you have to get on a plane, or take a really long hike/swim. Sometimes (ok a lot of the time) I miss convenience. I miss walking to one of five grocery stores nearby, picking up a semi-healthy dinner at a quick order restaurant or just having the option of shopping at a mall instead of online. This isn’t really a statewide problem, Kauai is just a little more isolated than some of the other high population islands out here. We finally bought some sheets the other day and got them open, washed and on the bed before we noticed a huge tear in the corner of the fitted sheet. Called the store and they will happily exchange them, but now the size and color we chose is out of stock (because we bought the only one that was in stock) and has to be reordered. At least 2 weeks to get another set in. So not exactly convenient. Darn.
Customer service. Barely exists out here, in fact on the tourism survey it is often the number one complaint of visitors. It’s not that people are unfriendly or unkind, it’s just you get what you get and that it. “It is what it is” is a popular saying out here. There just aren’t that many options or that much competition to make service a huge priority. R and I haven’t been too bothered by this because we don’t play tourist all that often or go out to eat much, but when we do, good and bad service is often a subject of conversation.
None of these things are deal breakers or overshadow the positive aspects of island life. It was just time to share some of the things that makes us question our own decision to pick up and head west. Maybe being a little too uptight for the tropics isn’t so bad either. Being a little more type A- is probably a good thing too and A is still an A.
R+T
