Aloha y’all!  I’m finally settled here in my new home on the island of O’ahu!  And now more than ever, because of the Covid-19 madness, I’m able to blog again.  I know it’s been awhile and I thank you all for your patience but now I get to share my new adventures with you and my mission is somewhat accomplished.  My journey back to the islands has been conquered.  So to be quite honest, it has been a roller coaster of a ride.  For one, me being a planner normally helps ease the stress but boy has moving been a huge task.  My transition has been sometimes great and sometimes discouraging.  I believe my feedback, moving forward will either help you decide one day if making a move to Hawaii is the right decision for you or anywhere else in the world for that matter; or if you’ll only come for a vacation.  Either way, we’ll have you! 🙂  I’m now the self-designated Mz. Aloha shaka shaka wink wink.

By the way…newsflash…. I’ve decided to only blog and am no longer posting to my recently removed instagram account.  I originally created one to stay in touch with my family in Hawaii since it irked them that I was never in the know with what was going on with them, because I wasn’t on Facebook.  I know sharing my photos from my travels only made sense but I hope you can bear with my decision.  I didn’t want to stop writing but I’m okay with not posting to instagram.

So…you can only imagine how much of a threat this has been on the tourism industry.  Every night I watch the news and I see that tourists are frustrated that everything is shutting down and they can’t simply enjoy a night out of dining or drinking because the Governor has put our health first.  I completely understand the frustration but if you value life over money than there you go, you wouldn’t question the decision.  I just hope we all get past this very soon!  I know we’re all supposed to be staying home as much as possible but I’ve found that short daily drives has helped me keep my sanity.

I’d like to share a positive and negative with my move back to Hawaii…

+ :  When I’m going stir crazy vitamin sea, has been my go to and I am so very grateful for it!!!  The beach has been the highlight of it all, aside from being able to see family more often.

–  :  So it finally hit me.  Hawaii is a very expensive place to live but it’s the price you pay to live in paradise, and I was on board with that decision a long time ago.  However, it is irritating when I hear “isn’t it expensive to live there?” Well yes, but all I can say is save your money and live simply!!  Anywhere you choose to live in the world, if you follow these two rules, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!  It helps to be a minimalist as well.  I no longer need clothes for four seasons since I now enjoy warmth year round.

The first week I was back I thought to myself, how the heck do locals survive here?  Well my best answer is…cook at home as much as you can AND get a Costco membership.  Gas is currently at $2.95/gallon and it was $2.69 last time I fueled up in Texas (premium gas).  In addition, the savings are tremendous on the shopping end therefore a membership is definitely worth it.

That’s just a taste of what’s to come!  Once we get past this COVID-19 situation, I’ll be going on neighbor island trips and I’ll be sharing more info on what it’s like to live in the 808.  Kauai, Maui, Big Island here I come!  Stay tuned bluecrushers…ALOHA for reading!!

Hazel- Blue Crush Travel

Pic:  beautiful rainbow from my front door