Moving to Hawaii - Part 1
Everyone wants to know, what is it actually like living in Hawaii? Is it truly paradise every day? But before we dive into that, let’s talk about the move & all that came with it. This is probably going to be a multi-part series to avoid being a novel, but I’m excited to share a little BTS of what it’s actually like uprooting your life and moving 5,000 miles away from home.
Prepping for the move
Neal and I had always talked about how cool it would be to live in Hawaii, and what a unique adventure that would be, but weren’t sure if it was actually going to happen. Sometimes the stars have to align just right for opportunities like this, and we consider ourselves very fortunate that they did. He found out about a job opening at their office in Oahu mid-summer 2022 and knowing that I could work fully remote, we decided to go for it. The worst that could happen was they say no, right? Eventually we find out he gets the position, and reality starts to set in and we have those holy crap, this is actually happening moments. Mind you, we were also in the final months of planning a wedding, working full-time and trying to maintain some sort of balance in our lives. But life isn’t for living small, is it? Being who I am, I had a million questions about the prep, the move and what all everything entailed. Oh, did I also mention that I’d never been to Hawaii before we said YES?
Once we found out about the move, had the wedding (a whole other story for the ages!) and came back from our honeymoon, life seemed to move at warp speed. We started donating items, purging our closets, found a storage unit and working through the logistics with the moving company. We also were lucky enough to have a 1 week house hunting trip in January ‘23. This week was great to give me a better understanding of the island, but also solidified the areas we wanted to live in. We also toured a few rentals, toyed around with the idea of buying - not happening, I got to meet some of his new coworkers and ultimately felt more confident in our decision and future plans. We knew getting the dogs here would be no small feat either, and it was one that almost broke me at times, but we all made it here in 1 piece. Flying with the dogs is also a story for another day, Mia and Summer were champs the whole time, but we certainly learned a lot through the process.
By far the hardest part of moving was saying see you later to our friends and family. FaceTime is amazing, but there is still a certain sadness that comes with knowing things are going to be different for the next 3 years while we live here. We’re lucky to have a great network of friends and family near us in Hampton Roads, and it was really sad saying those final goodbye’s and hugs. We’ve been lucky that we were actually back in Virginia in June for our dear friends wedding, and got to see a lot of friends and family during our time there. But with that, is also the hard part in not knowing the next time we’ll be back. It might be this winter, but there’s no concrete plans as of yet.
Moving anywhere is always a big transition, and this hasn’t been any different. We’re thousands of miles away from friends and family, we have a 6 hour time difference to manage and we’re finding our way around a new place, figuring out things like what grocery store we like best and overall what does our life look life here.
I’ve always known that Neal and I make a great team, and while we might have moments of stress or discomfort, knowing that I have the best teammate in the world with Neal has made this move that much easier.
