Questions about moving my family to Oahu, Hawaii?
Question:
I'm moving with my family to Oahu in April. There are so many questions I have and I thought I'd ask rather than searching for each one. My husband will be an e7 when we leave our station here in Germany (so we're used to a high cost of living.)
First off, we have two babies. One will just be a year old and the other is 2. We heard Mililani is a great place to have a family, the rent there seems to be much higher though than someplace like Ewa Beach. My daily routine consists of taking the kids for walks, getting out to let them play. I'd love to live walking distance from shops, cafe's or playgrounds and we also spent everyday at the beach in the summer back in Washington. A safe community is also a must. Somewhere I'm not afraid to let the kids play in the backyard without constant supervision.
We also have 2 cars, our new car the army will ship. We have an audi a4 that will cost about $3,000 to ship. Would it be worth shipping it to have the two cars? Would it be better to buy an old car or scooter when we got to hawaii? The audi's a 97, so it's not new, but its still a nice car. Are used cars more exspensive there? What would you do?
I've also read on here that there is some discrimination against those of us who aren't locals. Does that apply to getting work too? I have a degree and consider myself to be friendly and sociable, but should I still expect finding a job to be difficult? I know here work is only available on post, I'm looking forward to being around english speaking people again!
Any help is appreciated!
Answer:
Mililani is a nice place and close to Schofield Barracks/Wheeler if that is where he will be stationed at. The rent will be higher because it is closer to the main hwy (H1) but while it is you will end up spending less money on gas, time on the road, wear on your car in the end. Getting out of Ewa Beach after 6 am is a nightmare, weekends are bad as well. It isn't that far to go down to the beach but to be honest the waves at Ewa can get pretty high so it isn't the safest place to take little ones. Mililani is about 10/15 minutes from Schofield, 20 from Hickam/Pearl Harbor and 35/40 from Kaneohe Bay. There is 2 beaches at Hickam you can go to that are nice, low waves, wading water, etc... There is one at KBay that is decent as well. You can try up at North Shore area too. Or you can drive over to Ko'Olina where they have specific coves that are great for babies.
Schofield is a decent size base, full commissary, new exchange, movie theater, bowling alley. PH & Hickam are the same, Kbay's is nice as well.
With the cars definitely ship the better one, with the 2nd one it can depend if it has been good for you so far then ship it because to get a decent used car there will be around the same cost. There is used car lots on the base to choose from. You could keep the Audi til the last minute, ship the other vehicle asap and then it would be there waiting for you when you arrive. Then sell it and buy another one or motorcycle when you get there. If he wants to get certified to get a motorcycle then Hawaii is definitely the place. There is a dealer in Waipahu called Seven Seas Cycle that is awesome, they really bend over backwards for the military.
We were there twice on orders, I'm white, my husband is black, we lived in Kunia, Aiea & Salt Lake areas and never had problems. I took the bus to work each morning and was the only white girl on it. We ate at small restaurants (they have some great ones to eat at less than 30 bucks for the family), local beaches, everything, never a problem. You are always going to get the idiot every so often but it happens no matter where you are. be positive, dont show an attitude, be respectful and you should be fine.
jobs can be tough because it has the lowest unemployment rate out there. It can depend on what you do. They are always looking for teachers if that is something you want to look into. Housing is PPV now so they can be looking for staff. It might take a little while
yes it is expensive but probably not as bad as Europe.
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