April 21 in Michigan

46deg in Michigan, 78deg in Hawaii.

Just a short update!
We have 16 days! OMG! It still feels like we live here, as most of our stuff is still out and not packed, but we got rid of one of our cars... and packed some boxes... It's a start!

Final companies used: Magic Carpet Auto Transport and Orbitz. USPS...

I'm not freaking out, I just wish that once we get there, at least for a little while, we are really in the middle of nowhere and not downtown right off the bat. Just to ease the transition from a small town in the middle of nowhere to a big city in the middle of an ocean far far away from small towns... Just a little shack on the beach for a while might be nice...

April 11 in Michigan.

This is what we will be leaving... Darn, I'm NOT going to miss it! Last night, all the snow was melted. This morning... uRgggh!!!

April 10 in Michigan

The temperature is... 74deg and lightning in HI... 32deg and peaceful nighttime in MI.

Just writing in (as if anyone reads this)... Orbitz is currently having some sort of trouble with their website. We tried booking our flights, gave all our information, and then nothing. No confirmation email, no phone call. We tried to look for our bookings, but the site was down. Then we called the Customer Service people. One said their site was down. One other said that they didn't even have us in their files and tried to rebook us on flights that cost twice as much as we had already! Crazy crazy.

So now we are waiting until tomorrow, or rather later, to make sure our bank account wasn't charged. Then we can try again!

In the meantime, we have been looking on Craigslist for apartments... :)

April 8th in Michigan

It's pretty gross outside now... 33 in Michigan, 73 and raining in Honolulu...

We are switching to Magic Carpet Auto Transport! They are chock full of good reviews, and there was only one bad one... A dood wanted to send a mobile home, but when he called them, he told them it was a van... HELLO? Anyways, gotta get going now, just thought I'd let y'all know!

A good place to look for good car shipping companies is Transport Reviews.com. You get all the reviews, and all the best and worst rated car shipping companies available.

Okie then! Off I go for now!

April 3rd in Michigan...

It's 42 deg in Michigan!

Alright, so TriStar=BAD. We started shopping around, and found some better options... But when we tried to cancel our car shipment with TriStar, they hung up on us 5 times in a row. We would talk to them, tell them who we were and our account number, then say that we were going to be cancelling our shipment and then CLICK. We called Customer Service 3 times, CLICK. We called all the numbers we could find, followed by a CLICK. Ya... That's not nice!

April 3rd in Michigan!

Now Blogger went and froze my account! Told me that they weren't sure if I was a human and said my site was spam... Well it aint!

It is 48deg here, and it feels great! It smells like spring finally! The snow is melting! My computer says its 73deg in Hawaii though... Even nicer, but for some reason, if the weather doesn't heat up here fast enough, the heat of Hawaii might overwhelm me!

Alright, so what we have done so far! There was a bout of sadness and despair with our trip. We didn't know what we were going to do! How we were going to live! It's so expensive there... OY! It was all rather overwhelming! But we realized, after we made our announcement that there was no turning back... It would be better in the long run to live somewhere that we can actually get jobs and graduate with a usable degree! And live somewhere that our car would work alright (this cold weather is terrible for it)...

Back to business. We are shipping our car through TriStar Carriers... Which may or may not be a bad idea. I just read a review for it and it isnt that good, and the only good reviews I can find anywhere are on their site. Kinda shifty! I am trying to see what "Specialty Mobile Systems" has to offer, as they have the best reviews I've found!

We have Charter Communications, a cable/internet service here. We just scheduled the cancelling of our service which was very easy and quick! We also switched from Cellular One to AT&T, using coupon codes we got an amazing deal...

I don't know much about shipping our bed though. My mother has been talking with the people about that. Supposedly they are called Yellow Shipping? I dont really know...

I'll write more later, about the car!

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!