March 26 in Michigan

It is currently 31 degrees and Sunny/Snowing. The Weather website says its 68 degrees in Kapolei... but it is also morning there, while it is 12 noon here.

Recent news: I have recently returned a phone call from Rowe Moving in Calumet, MI. Supposedly it isn't particularly cost effective to ship our bed to Hawaii, and we'd be better off selling it and buying new when we arrive. The only problem with that? It was a wedding gift, it wouldn't be right to sell it, an it wouldn't be right to try to sell it to the person who got it for us (my husband's mom)... since she already bought it once.

The hard thing about traveling with furniture to Hawaii (even if it's just the bed) is that almost every apartment is completely furnished. Or on the 30th floor semi furnished. We are thinking of renting a pre-forclosure house, but we don't know much about that either. We don't want to own, but those are the only empty AFFORDABLE things we could get.

Oy! If you are a student, and want to move to Hawaii, get accepted to colleges first. Start applying, sending transcripts, changing your FAFSA schools... This way, you have a reason to go, a fall back place to live, and a fall back meal plan (much more affordable than living and grocery shopping on the economy. WE are just lucky enough to be related to military peoples to go grocery shopping on base!

Oy! We are applying to University of Hawaii-Manoa and West Oahu! One is in Honolulu (busy place) one is in Pearl City (a bunch of trailers in the middle of nowhere). I am going to sign up as a prospective student to get emails from advisors and such!

Plan of Action for moving to Hawaii as a married student:
Apply to college, get accepted.
Add schools on Fafsa.
Send ALL transcripts.
PLENTY OF OTHER STUFF I'LL GET TO LATER

If you are lucky enough not to be married with cars and STUFF, and just were planning on living with your parents 'til your 35, you've got it easy:
Do the previously prescribed school related business.
Buy a one way ticket a week or so before school starts, from Orbitz or through Kayak (unless you have other connections or discounts elsewhere). Prices range from $409-1500 depending on what you want to spend.
Bring a suitcase full of clothes, have a great deal of spending money with you, and a laptop for school.
As a student you can live on campus, eat on campus, do everything like that... until the school year is up. Unless you want to consider summer courses, you are going to have to leave campus, find an apartment, or just go back home until the Fall.

If you aren't so fortunate, are a student (married or not I spose) with a car and furniture... It's not as easy.
Refer to this site for some car shipping companies... Among a lot of other valuable information about Hawaii living:
http://www.alohafriendshawaii.com/movetoHawaii.html
Pack your stuff in boxes, ship through the post office, not UPS, or through some crate moving business, just in plain boxes, no more than 70lbs each. This is the cheapest way we've found.
If you literally have a house full of stuff... good luck to you! The lowest we've found for shipping houses, with the 2100lb minimum weight, is $5000. If you have one big thing, chances are you will find a way to ship it. We have a guy lined up from Marquette who will come and package it for us, as well as ship it away for just a little over $1000. Which is a lot to some people, but when compared to $5000, its pretty nice! Oy! And UPS also ships big stuff as well, like beds, in something called a pallet. The only problem? You have to package it, and deliver it to the mailing people. And the only prices I could find for shipping were overnight and 2nd Day Air... A hefty $4000!

I will be writing more later I'm sure!

March 25 in Michigan

It is 35 degrees out and snowing.

This is my blog, meant to inform people about my move to Hawaii! And as students, this is going to be a rather random, difficult thing to do. But we are doing it!

It is also meant to give people a way to keep track of my husband, Seth, and I in our travels!

I plan on posting everything from us getting ready to leave, our packing and shipping, to us giving stuff away, all the way to us living in Hawaii, finding jobs, and going to school.

This will also be a PHOTOBLOG!!! For all of our people in the Upper Peninsula who have never seen the beach, or have seen the beach but only once or twice, we will post pictures as much as possible!

This is also for people who just want to get away from the norm, and need some sort of support in making a big move to a new life. This is scary for us, and we are gonna try to map it out for everyone! All of our struggles, and pains... Its like when you are going from relaxed hair to natural, and have to make the BIG CHOP of all your relaxed hair (usually making you bald).

This is sort of like going bald! We will be starting out with a new life, 4000 miles away from just about everything we know! Alone in a little island in the middle of nowhere. This is not going to be easy!