Moving to HI

[Anonymous]

Anyone every moved to Hawaii? My husband is being stationed there and was wondering if anyone had any tips?

[haulingthescoreup]

Where will you be stationed? Will you be living on post/ on base? Have you got school-aged kids?

[fused]

Aloha, mbush! I'm from Hawaii! When is your husband arriving? Do you have any specific questions? Housing, transportation, jobs, expenses, schools, fun stuff to do, good eats?

[Anonymous]

 Thank you fused! 

My husband is going to be stationed at Tripler Army Medical Center which is on Oahu.  I don't know if we are going to live on base or not, but for us, living on base doesn't matter as much because we don't have any kids--just a cat.  I know about the quarantine and everything.  I didn't find out in time to do the 5 day one, so poor kitty gets to sit in jail for several months.

I am going to be transferring to one of the commissaries there, but I am not sure which one.  I heard that their was some sort of a pass that you can get that allows for you to pay less.  Was wondering what that was about.  Was also wondering about the housing if we don't live on base.  Is the public transport good there? Also I watch the weather reports and it seems to pretty warm there, was wondering what kind of clothes are necessary?  Do I need a winter coat, or just another swimsuit 

I am actually getting pretty excited about it, but  I just need to get my husbands orders (its like pulling teeth getting orders--army paperwork), and I need to find where we are going to be living, so I can make some plans .

He has to be there by March 5th, but he graduates on February 9th from his training, so we have a few weeks to get are stuff together.  The army will only ship one car, though, and only a certain amount of stuff, so I guess its time to start paring my possessions down.

[fused]

mbush:

Tripler Army Medical Center is located on the West side (or Ewa as we say) of Honolulu. It's about a 10-15 (longer during rush hour) minute drive to downtown Honolulu. Keep in mind that Hawaii is expensive, this includes housing, food, fun, everything. Here's the good news though, you can wear shorts and slippers (flip flops) year round. Right now it's cool for us locals but if you're coming from a cold place, it will be quite warm to you guys. You might want to bring a sweater and some pants, but you'll never need winter clothes.

The entire island of Oahu has bus service and a monthly pass goes for about $40-$45. This will allow you unlimited rides island wide. No rail transit yet, but construction of one might begin next year. As for driving, well, we drive slowly here. Don't get annoyed, it's an island and we're not in a hurry. LOL  Do you know if the Army will pay for your housing if you decide to live off base? I have never been in the military, but I didn't know Tripler had housing. If you guys live on base, are you sure your it won't be Schofield Barracks in Wahiawa (Central Oahu)? Maybe Tripler is where your husband will work, not where you folks will be living at?

[haulingthescoreup]

I'm pretty sure that Tripler doesn't have housing. It used to be that you would be housed on Fort Shatner, or Fort Kam if you were lucky. (Wave bye-bye to Fort Kam. )

Shatner's pretty huge, or was back in my day. If you have your druthers, I'd pick Shatner over Schofield Barracks, just because it's closer to things.

Yay for slippahs! It's in the 30's and spitting snow here.

[Anonymous]

I know we aren't living at Schoffield.  My hubbie already asked, but they weren't sure that we would be able to live on base either.  The BAH (basic housing allowance) for HI is around 1950, so well get that for housing if we live off base.  I believe that we are going to get COLA (cost of living allowance), also,  and I think that runs about 250. I've been told that I will get that, too, if I transfer through the commissary.  I don't know that for a fact though.  If we can't live on base, hopefully, that will be enough to get a small place. We only have enough furniture for two rooms anyway (our apartment now is only 600 sq.feet). 

I have heard that everything is really expensive and to try to buy everything here and ship it over, so that is my goal.  I am glad to hear that my thoughts were correct about it being warm.  It gives me an excuse to go buy some summer clothes!

Message Edited by mbush12 on 01-13-2009 12:36 PM

[fused]

If you folks live off base and want to be near Tripler, $1950 a month for housing gives you a lot of options. A 1 or 2 bedroom condo rental would certainly be available, so would a two bedroom house. There is a commissary and a huge NEX that's only a few years old near Pearl Harbor. If you live near Tripler, this commissary and NEX would be about a 10 minute drive away.