Hawaii is Highly Overrated
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8/23/2008
Hawaii is Highly Overrated...
Honolulu has a serious homeless problem. When I visited there, I saw hundreds of homeless people all over the place... especially while driving down North King Street. This is a far cry from the "Aloha" spirit that people go to Hawaii to experience. There are approximately 8,000 homeless people just on Oahu. They also have a serious illegal drug problem in Honolulu. Dog-the-bounty-hunter has his hands full in Honolulu.
Honestly, I think Oahu is highly overrated. I can't speak for the Big Island or the other islands, but Oahu has been over-developed into a concrete jungle. If you hike to the top of Diamond Head in Waikiki (and trust me... it's a challenge), at the top you can look down over Honolulu. It was there that I realized just how much Honolulu has been ruined by all the commercialization, building and tourism. It's super crowded.
Traffick is an absolute nightmare. There are hundreds of streets that all start with the letter "K" and sound the same. Plan to get lost and spent most of your time looking at a map if you rent a car.
I was really disappointed when I stopped in an ABC Store at Waikiki Beach to buy some Hawaiian gifts. After looking at 3 different items that all said "Hawaii" on them, I complained to the store clerk that they were all "made in China." I finally found some Kona coffee, which is made in Hawaii. It's sad that everything is about making a buck nowadays.
You can hear some great Hawaiian steel guitar at the Waikiki Marriot Hotel on Thursday and Sunday nights, which was the highlight of my time on Oahu.
Food is ridiculously expensive. $9 for a gallon of Orange Juice. $7 for a pound of bacon. One of the best deals on the island is the "Diner's Drive-in." Food is cheap, but good. Forget housing. You can't buy a home for less than $450,000, and that's for 2-bedrooms at the most, with no yard.
Waikiki is all about money. I spent $35 to park for 5 hours at a Hotel one block from Waikiki. When you know everything is being done to make money, it's not the true spirit of Aloha, which is suppossed to be from the heart.
Like anywhere else, there's good and bad. Yes, it's a beautiful island; but all the commerialization has really robbed Oahu of it's former beauty. With 7 million tourists visiting annually, it's a busy major metropolis, and get this... now they're constructing a hard-rail train system through Honolulu. So much for paradise!
Still, expect to see lots of rainbows if you visit or move there. It rains continually due to the mountains rising into the clouds. It's beautiful to see, just don't look too long while crusing down HI, H2, or H3 (the major highways on Oahu). The mountains are incredibly beautiful, but after looking at them for a few days you'll be sick of them. Been there done that. The music will make you want to cry when you get there, because it's so pretty, but it'll also make you want to cry after about a week, because it's so annoying. Of course, it's always beautiful to come back to later on.
Many people living on Oahu own multiple homes, from previous generations. They live in one and rent out the others. That's how many people make it in Hawaii. Housing was ridiculously cheap in Oahu 25-years ago compared to today. I've heard that 8 out of 10 people living in Honolulu are millionaires. The bottom line is that the middloe-class cannot afford to live in Oahu, but if you are single, you can make it. You can rent 1-bedroom and share a kitchen for $800 a month. That's the only way to make it in Oahu. If you have many household goods, pets, kids, and need a house, Oahu is not for you unless you are very wealthy.
Kindest regards
David | ,