🌺 First 30 Days in Hawai‘i — Your Essential Relocation Checklist.

Photo by Jo Barnes on Unsplash

🏠 Housing & Utilities

• 📄 Sign rental agreement & collect proof of address
• ⚡ Set up electricity (HELCO) & water service
• 🌐 Choose internet provider (Spectrum, Hawaiian Telcom, local options)
• 📬 Update mailing address with USPS
• 💰 Budget: Rent + utilities + internet ≈ $1,200–$1,800/month

🩺 Health & Employment

• 🧪 Schedule TB testing (required for many jobs/schools)
• 🏥 Obtain health clearance from a local clinic
• 🗂 Gather employment eligibility docs (passport, SS card, birth certificate)
• ✅ Complete I‑9 verification with employer
• 💰 Budget: TB test $20–$50; clearance visit $75–$150

🚗 Transportation

• 📝 Register car with Hawai‘i DMV (title, insurance, safety inspection)
• 🔧 Complete safety inspection at authorized station
• 🛡 Transfer or purchase Hawai‘i auto insurance
• 🪪 Apply for a Hawai‘i driver’s license
• 💰 Budget: Registration $50–$300; inspection ≈ $25; license ≈ $40

📜 Legal & Residency

• 📑 Collect proof of residency (lease, utility bill, bank statement)
• 🗳 Register to vote in Hawai‘i
• 🪪 Update ID documents with new address
• 🎓 Transfer professional licenses/certifications if applicable
• 💰 Budget: Minimal fees, mostly admin

💵 Budget & Lifestyle

• 🛒 Track grocery costs ($500–$700/month per person)
• ⛽ Monitor gas prices (often $0.50–$1 higher than mainland)
• 🌽 Explore farmers’ markets for affordable produce
• 🤝 Join community groups/clubs to build connections
• 📊 Use cost calculators to plan monthly spending

🛠 Tools Included

• 📊 Rent Affordability Calculator
• 🧾 Cost of Living Worksheet
• 📅 Onboarding Timeline Tracker
• ✅ Residency Proof Checklist
• 💡 Relocation Budget Planner

🎯 Quick Wins

• ✅ Book TB test before arrival to avoid job delays
• ✅ Register car within 30 days to avoid penalties
• ✅ Use relocation budget planner to prevent overspending
• ✅ Keep digital copies of all documents for faster onboarding

Blogger or writer: what is the difference?

Prepare to stop at every beautiful place and wait for the blogger to take pictures. As bloggers who love to write we need to take pictures for the reader who wants to see pictures. Because of the internet, people want to see immediate entertainment and become entertained.

A writer likes to take in the sights and then write about them later. They like to dive deep into nature or more specifically human nature for me. No picture is necessary.

Yesterday, I went to a Verizon Store in Hilo, Hawaii to see about the Samsung laptop that can run on data. Helping us was a wonderful salesperson who really enjoyed sharing about the Verizon tablets. He did his due diligence, but he failed to understand my wife and me, the customers. When I expressed that I did not like the resolution for the tablet, he immediately started talking about another model that was lesser in price. The problem with his assessment is that we did not express that we had any issues with the price. 

Through active listening, he could have perhaps found a better model to show me. My preference is to have the 2-4K resolution that I love. He could have shown us an iPad, anything that had a 2K-4K resolution. Instead, he thought that I did not want to pay $1099.00 for a tablet. If he found the same size model that cost less, the resolution would have probably been worse.

Even before we met with the salesperson, we were looking at the laptops that run mainly on 5G. In Hilo, Hawaii, there is no 5G per the previous salesperson. How does the company set these honest working salespeople for success?

My call to action: write about your experiences, tell your story, and help to create solutions in the world.

On a side note: after looking at the laptops in the store, Mauna Kea was more interesting to me than any purchases. 

GeorgeGizmo

Problem Solutions and Recommendations

A long time ago- I would listen to people's problems and give advice to them whether they liked it or not. The only challenge is that I was quick to give an answer and call it a day. For the sake of time, and not wasting my time, at least that was my perspective, I told the personal a quick answer. The truth is that one must have good communication skills to assess a situation prior to giving a solution to a problem. 

 

This concept goes for other countries engaging in war. I really do not know too much about Russia and Ukraine but the fact that they were once upon a time all the same people for good and bad reasons. This reminds me of other countries like China and Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The UK and Africa. France and Tahiti. The USA and Hawaii. I am utterly confused as to why the United States of America would engage in either helping or sanctioning other countries. Do we the people want the USA to engage in sanctions with other countries? Or do we want Peace to spread across the globe? Do we have the right to make those decisions and act? Do the people write to their congressperson to engage in these activities. I am confused. Because we get intelligence through our federal agents and other important key players in gathering information.

 

Do the media report on everything that they see and therefore may be causing a sense of recency bias? Are they responsible for the dissemination of knowledge and does the viewer need to use critical thinking skills to make their own decisions? I feel that the latter is the case.

 

Do the media know that they are leaders in information and should really ensure that the right amount of information must be reported. Also, what is the purpose of a media agency to insight war or to help inform the people about the things going on at specific moments in time? Are they the real historians of the past?