...Two Weeks Later Part 3: Getting Settled In

On Tuesday August 30, we awoke in our Waikiki hotel renewed by the knowledge that we had secured an apartment and that we could move in as soon as we had furniture.  All of our utilities would be covered in our monthly rent except for internet so I set about to getting us connected as soon as possible.  After getting our appointment set for Wednesday between 8 AM and noon (got to love those reasonable installation windows!) we left the hotel to start getting furniture and other household items.

Our first stop was the mattress store that we had visited the afternoon before.  We were able to ensure delivery by Wednesday afternoon.  So with those two tasks completed, we set about to stocking our kitchen.  We made a trip to the very busy but affordable Wal-mart to buy essential kitchen ware, bathroom items and a couple of fans.  Because of the mild climate, most places in Hawaii don't have air conditioning and if they do, it is in the form of a window unit or two.  Central air in homes seems to be a mostly unnecessary expense.  From spending a little time in our apartment the day before, we did find that it was a bit stuffy, even with the windows open so fans were definitely in order to circulate the natural airflow.

After getting our new purchases to the apartment, we rushed back to the hotel to enjoy the free weekly happy hour drinks in the lobby.  The happy hour was literally sixty minutes keeping in the spirit of the continental breakfast they offered in the morning, but the drinks were very good so I wasn't complaining.  We were originally planning to check out on Thursday September 1 (hoping that
would have found an apartment within a week of our arrival) but since we were going to be able to stay in our new place a day early, we made arrangements to check out accordingly.  The hotel served us well for our first week on Oahu but we were ready to be cooking meals in a real kitchen and having a lot more space.

That afternoon/evening, we got our things packed up and then headed for a visit to the beach one last time while we were still within walking distance.  We made it to the beach just in time to enjoy the sunset. 

Diamondhead at Dusk

Sunset at Waikiki

We celebrated our move with overpriced Mai Tais at a hotel bar.  They were good but they really gouge the heck out of tourists in Waikiki!  As we were heading back to the hotel, we stopped in at a little Japanese restaurant for a sake and a sushi snack.  Tempura avocado is pretty tasty!  After that it was off to bed for us since we had to be up and out of the hotel early so that I was at our apartment by 8 AM to wait for the cable guy.

As planned, we woke up very early on Wednesday August 31 to check out of the hotel and get the rental car packed up.  We easily made it to the apartment before 8 AM and began the waiting game.  We only had a little while to wait before the cable guy showed up to install our internet.  By 9:30, we were ready to go and I had the router up and running as well.  With our mattress delivery not scheduled until 2 PM, we decided to check out some furniture stores for a couch, chairs and computer desk.  I am always amazed by the ludicrous prices for furniture.  Even on the Mainland I think that there is a real disconnect between what you pay and what you get when it comes to furniture, but then again I am a function over form kind of guy.  New furniture was really not in our budget so we did some searching on Craigslist to try to locate a few items.

We didn't want to limit ourselves to Craigslist so we followed up on a recommendation that our realtor friend Sandy gave us about a place that sells discount furniture that was previously in hotels on the island.  We visited it and found a few pieces that we liked right away and others that we thought might be worth getting.  We weren't ready to commit to some of the things right away but we did opt to purchase a TV and large mirror for very reasonable prices and we were able to move them in our rental car.

With some comparison furniture shopping finished, we headed home to await the arrival of our mattress.  Again we had a window (only two hours this time) but they arrived just after 2 PM and were in and out in a matter of minutes.  We spent the rest of the evening making some dinner, getting our new apartment organized and Roxi also continued her class preparations.

On the morning of Thursday September 1, Roxi continued her class preparations while I continued trying to find furniture options on Craigslist.  After a few hours, we decided to make a trip to the western side of the island to visit a Target store in Kapolei where we still had a valid gift card from our wedding nearly four years ago.  It was a long drive even though it was only about twenty miles away.  Traffic on the freeway was terrible and it really made us glad that we had such great advice about where not to look for an apartment.  It wasn't even rush hour and we crept along slowly for miles.  Since then, I've heard that there is a plan in the works to build a commuter train from Kapolei to the airport and downtown Honolulu but it is years away at best.  It's a shame really because it is evident that there is a real need for a reduction in the cars traveling in both directions on a daily basis.

After completing our shopping at Target, we rushed (as quickly as possible with the traffic) back to the HPU campus in downtown Honolulu to pick-up Roxi's desktop computer that we had shipped from Memphis about two weeks before.  We made it in time to pick it up before the office closed for the day.  It was nice having it again not just for making Roxi's work easier, but it has such a large monitor, we routinely use it as a TV to watch shows on Hulu.  Thanks to some Craigslist work, I had located a used printer/scanner/copier for sale that we picked up on the way home.  Craigslist is such an asset in a place like Hawaii; so many people move the the islands for a short time and for various reasons return to the Mainland.  It doesn't really make much sense to ship things either way unless someone else is paying the bill (i.e. company relocation package) so there are constantly nearly new items for sale on Craigslist.

After another long day of work, we decided to hit the beach for a walk.  We made it to Ala Moana Beach (just west of Waikiki and less crowded) just after sunset. We took a leisurely stroll along the beach watching the last of the surfers paddle in for the day.  Even though we don't live by the beach, we are a very short drive even in afternoon traffic so this will be a nice option for an afternoon activity.

Roxi had work meetings on campus on the morning of Friday September 2 so I stayed at home and did laundry and other domestic activities.  I should have squeezed in some blogging but instead I caught up on several episodes of Master Chef and Hell's Kitchen.  Roxi can attest to my man crush on Gordon Ramsey and his slew of reality TV shows about cooking.

Friday afternoon, we continued our search for furniture, revisiting some stores and reconsidering some items that we thought we might need. Ever since we sold most of our things in Memphis, I am really hesitant to repurchase a lot of items.  I love this stripped down lifestyle and I want to keep it this way for as long as possible.  We survived for seven months in the Netherlands with hardly any real possessions; we can certainly do the same here as long as we always remember what a pain it is to get rid of stuff when it's time to move.

We didn't really come to any decisions about furniture other than that we weren't about to spend over $1000 on a couch.  After another long day of searching for furniture, we decided to return to Ala Moana Beach for what was left of the afternoon to relax.  With the sun going down, it was a bit too cold to swim so we sat with our feet in the surf for at least an hour and half just relaxing and discussing our move so far.  It was a really nice time even though we barely got in the water.  After returning to our apartment and doing a bit more research about furniture options, we called it an early night determined to complete our search on Saturday.

On Saturday September 3, we decided it was time to cross furniture off of our list once and for all.  We returned to the Inter Island Hotel Furniture store and selected a great computer desk and office chair combo, a coffee table and two oversized chairs.  We may get a couch in the future, but at that point, we were happy to have a couple of comfortable places to sit.  The only snag left was delivery.  The store had great prices for the gently used items and a very reasonable delivery rate since we lived relatively close, but they told us the earliest we could expect our furniture was September 14!  That was too long to be sitting on beach chairs so Roxi pleaded our case and the salesman was able to arrange delivery for later that afternoon.  We were so excited that this would be done!

After leaving the store, we searched Craigslist for any moving sales and found one that looked good in Kaneohe.  On our way up the Pali Highway, we stopped at the Pali Lookout to the get some pictures of the Nu'uanu Valley.  It was very crowded, windy and cold up there so we didn't stay long but it was a breathtaking view to say the least.

Nu'uanu Valley and Kaneohe Bay as seen from the Pali Lookout.

After our brief stop at the Pali Lookout, we continued down to the town of Kaneohe to visit a moving sale.  We didn't get a lot of items but we were in need of some coffee mugs, wine glasses and a few other sundries.  Although our furniture wasn't scheduled to be delivered for another couple of hours, I didn't want to dilly-dally; so far all of our appointments and deliveries had been early in the specified time windows.  Sure enough, as we drove back to our apartment, I received a call from the movers asking us if we were home and ready for delivery.  We were about ten minutes away as were they, so we rushed to beat them there.  Thankfully we arrived a couple of minutes before they did.  As with all other deliveries so far, they worked very quickly and in a matter of minutes our apartment was furnished!

Roxi spent most of the rest of the afternoon working on her class preparation while I tried to straighten up around the apartment now that we were essentially set up.  I did a little more searching on Craigslist for a TV stand to complete our furnishings and made arrangements to pick one up on Sunday morning.  I have been amazed at how much we have been able to accomplish in such a short time, but I suppose making as many moves as we have made over the years has made us very adaptable!

...Two Weeks Later Part 2: The Apartment Hunt

Roxi and I woke up at about 5:00 in the morning on Friday August 26.  Between our excitement, anxiety and not having made the adjustment to our new time zone, we couldn't sleep any longer.  We made the spontaneous decision to drive to the east end of Oahu to watch the sunrise.  We didn't quite make it in time see the actual event but we did get to enjoy a quiet morning at the Halona Blowhole.  The tide wasn't quite ideal for the water to spray up through the rocks but the views of the morning sun and island of Molokai were both breathtaking.

Sunrise at the Halona Blowhole in East Oahu

After enjoying the natural beauty of East Oahu, we headed back to the hotel for breakfast before we were set to meet Sandy to talk about our apartment hunt.  I liked our hotel but what they call a continental breakfast wouldn't even be considered a snack in most places.  They basically had sliced bread that you could toast and/or butter, banana nut muffins, some kind of breakfast cake and there was a lady making pancakes on a portable griddle.  It was included in our room price so I made sure to punish them for their meager offering but Roxi wasn't of the same mind as me.  On subsequent days she chose to forgo the breakfast altogether.

After breakfast we met with Sandy, our realtor connection, to talk about parts of town we should investigate and see some apartments that she had made appointments at for us.  She really gave us a crash course in Honolulu neighborhoods and steered us away from areas that offered much cheaper rent but ridiculously long commutes.  Oahu's dirty little secret is that the traffic is horrendous.  There are a couple of "interstate" freeways on Oahu and at many times of the day, they are more parking lots than roads.  As a result, the surface streets around the freeways are also terrible during the morning and afternoon rush hours.  Oahu is not big and commuting for work is common, but a few miles on the map translate to an hour or more in the car one way!

We settled on searching in the downtown area and adjacent neighborhoods.  Sandy had made an appointment for us in a downtown high-rise so we visited it and were actually quite pleased with what our money could get us in Honolulu.  It was not going to be an palatial apartment but it also wasn't going to be as bad as many of the tiny studios that we were expecting from our online research prior to arriving on the island. 

After our time with Sandy, we compared our notes with ads on Craigslist and in the newspaper.  Roxi and I were able to make several appointments during the afternoon and by the end of the day had found two studio apartments that were at the low and high ends of our budget that we could actually see ourselves living in for at least six months.  Housing is very competitive in Oahu and even if you have had an application accepted, there is no telling how many other qualified applicants are vying for the same space.  So we had no guarantees but were given encouragement from the leasing agents for the two apartments.  After a long day we called it night feeling a sense of progress in our Hawaiian adventure.

We woke up very early in the morning on Saturday August 27 to get ready for a faculty orientation event that Roxi needed to attend for Hawai'i Pacific University.  She will be teaching classes at the downtown campus but this orientation was being held at the Loa campus over the Ko'olau Mountains northeast of Honolulu.  The drive from Waikiki up the Pali Highway is beautiful and capped off by an amazing view of the towns of Kailua and Kaneohe from various spots along the road.

I dropped Roxi off and headed back to the hotel to do much needed laundry.  We hadn't had the opportunity to wash clothes since we had been in Lafayette more than a week before and we were running low on a few everyday items.  While I was waiting for clothes to dry, I did some more research on Craigslist and in the newspaper to find an apartment.  A few hours later, I drove back up the Pali Highway to get Roxi and we decided to take a drive down to Kailua and see what we thought of the area.  It was definitely more suburban and calmer than Honolulu, but the beaches were very crowded for the weekend and we felt like this would probably be too far out of the way for a commute to the city.  On our way back to Honolulu, we had time to stop at a food truck for some delicious garlic shrimp!

View from the Pali Highway

View from the Pali Highway

After a few hours rest back at the hotel and still more research on apartments, we played tourists and had a sunset dinner at the Hula Grill along the beach at Waikiki.  After dinner we went for a walk along the beach and tried to remind ourselves that despite all the stress and hard work we were doing, we were getting ourselves set up to live in paradise.

We slept in a little on the morning of Sunday August 28, but were still up and out of the hotel rather early.  Roxi was busy at work preparing syllabi for her upcoming classes but we took some time out to visit another potential apartment on the west side of Oahu.  It was another strong contender.  On our way back to the hotel, we paid a visit to Chinatown.  Based on our realtor friend Sandy's recommendations, we took some time walking through the markets and getting some very fresh fruits and vegetables.  We also marveled at the multitudes of fresh meats and fish that were available as well.  Roxi made a few mental notes about potential gumbo ingredients. 

We decided to have a dim sum lunch at Mei Sum and it was fantastic.  Not only was the food outstanding, it was the best value for our money at any restaurant since arriving on Oahu.  I have a feeling that we will be eating in Chinatown quite a bit!  After lunch we did a little more exploring of the area before heading back to the hotel.  Roxi continued working on her class preparations while I returned to the grocery store to get a few more things we had run out of.  Roxi spent the rest of the evening working on her classes while I completed several apartment applications and emailed them on to the leasing agents and/or owners.

Monday August 29 was more of the same.  Roxi was working on her class preparation and I was making contacts with apartment leasing agents.  We left the hotel at around noon to head to an appointment to see a place not too far from downtown.  We drove by before our appointment and thought it looked promising.  It was cluster of bungalows as opposed to the larger apartment buildings that we had been looking at.  We met with the agent about thirty minutes later and were pretty amazed at what he showed us.  It seemed like a pretty great deal although it was at the upper end of our price range.  We talked with him about ourselves and he urged us to fill out an application on the spot.

After Roxi and I left, we were discussing the possibility of the apartment we had just seen and decided to start thinking about furnishing whatever we ended up getting.  We were looking at mattresses when I received a phone call from the agent that we had met with only thirty minutes earlier.  He had spoken to the owner and she had given him the okay to rent us the apartment.  I was so shocked at how quickly he got back to us that I was lost for words.  I told him I had to talk it over with Roxi and that I would call him back in a few minutes.  Roxi and I went to a Starbucks to discuss the pros and cons of the apartment.  Besides being a little bit more that I wanted to spend on rent, there weren't really any other cons.  I called the agent back and we made arrangements to review and sign the lease later that afternoon.

After Roxi took care of some paperwork at the HPU downtown campus, we went to the leasing agent's office, reviewed and signed the lease, paid our deposit and first months rent and were given the keys to our new place in Hawaii!  It is located about a mile north of the heart of downtown Honolulu where both Roxi and I will be working yet it doesn't feel like we are living downtown.  It is in an area called the Lower Punchbowl named for the proximity to the extinct volcano crater that is a few hundred yards from us that is now the site of the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.  It was such a relief to find an apartment and be done with that stage of the process and it only took us five days!  The next step was to furnish the place but that work would start in earnest on Tuesday.

Lower Punchbowl: Our new neighborhood in Honolulu