Hawaii Trip Report Blog

Well, it’s been about four months since we moved to the Big Island, and we LOVE IT!  One thing we’ve tried to become fast “experts” at is locating and buying furniture and household items.  For example, we sold a great sleigh bed in Indy to move here, and of course, quickly realized that Eve (our 9 year-old daughter) needed a larger bed asap!  Well, we felt the local options (big box retailers and local stores) were too expensive, and so we started hunting ebay and online stores.  We found that most places will not honor their prices when asked to ship to Hawaii, (seriously, we had many e-tailers refund our money when we entered Hawaii as the “ship to” state.)

So, I told Marnie we needed to start watching the local publications and Craig’s List.  If you have the time and patience to watch these pubs, you will be happily surprised at what you can find.  QUICK words of wisdom: 1)  if you find a garage sale, get there FAST.  For example, if the garage sale is Saturday morning, get there at 8 or 9am, otherwise, it gets picked-over right away.  Or, better yet, get their the day before!  Many people start setting up for their garage and yard sales a day or two before!  2) If you find furniture or items that  you’re pretty sure you need, call them immediately and make arrangements to pick the item(s) up now.  If they’re “snobbish” about the transaction (meaning they will not wait till you get there,) build rapport and offer to pay them right now with Paypal.  (Anyone can accept Paypal!)  But if you build good rapport, chances are you will be able to convince them to hold the items.  As I write this, my wife is picking up an entire lawn/garden set (probably worth $1500) for $100.  But we had to convince the seller to hold it for  us until we could find a truck to borrow!  And last week, we finally found a king-sized bed set for $100 that we would normally had to pay $1000 or more for.  We waited patiently, and then I found an ad at the local video store “for sale: King Sized mattress and frame, clean, almost new!”  We jumped on it!  My wife, Marnie, also found a great coffee table last week for only $10!

 So if you’re moving to Hawaii, and planning on getting a container, bring EVERYTHING!  That is, if you’re stuff is nice, you can at least sell it at a premium!  But DON’T bring your winter clothes!  We’re still trying to figure out what to do with all our heavy stuff!

thanks,

Chris

Hi!

We’re looking for people to help us write reviews of Hawaiian restaurants, condos, hotels, etc.  If you know anyone who likes to write, please send them our way!

If you’ve ever thought about moving to Hawaii, now may be the time to do it!  Real Estate prices are starting to match the rest of the nation.  You can find some really good deals.  Even if you don’t want to buy, you can get into a nice home in a neighborhood with everything to offer!

And if you want to start a business, this is the place to be!  There are a lot of services and products in great demand here.  Everything from pizza delivery to graphic design.  Check it out!

I can’t explain how much I’ve enjoyed visiting Hawaii.  And moving here is probably the best decision I’ve ever made.

And I would have never moved here if I hadn’t visited.  But as we all know, visiting Hawaii is expensive.  Let’s chip-in and help everyone with their choice when they’re trying to set up a trip to Hawaii.  AND, if you’ve moved to Hawaii, please share your experiences.  There are so many questions I had before our move, and I’m hoping that www.hawaiitripreport.com helps others. 

Share your stories!

thanks,

Chris

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