Post #258238 by WenikiTiki on Sun, Oct 1, 2006 1:28 PM

On 2006-10-01 10:13, mjj wrote:
Thanks Guys. I'm not really concerned about owning another house right away and would probably even prefer to rent for a while. I hear its hard to find a rental with AC?

About the ego, thats what I want to get away from myself, I'll gladly adapt to the more laidback lifestyle. But, damn the more I read on the newsgroups I'm surpired I wasnt attacked already. All this talk about Kill Hoale Day, people waiting around corners, people coming back the next day to keep fighting, cars and apartments always being broken in to. I've never been the target of any hate like that. I had wanted to be active in the night life but it seems like thats where all the problem come in to play.

I forgot to explain some of these above concerns. First, you may not need AC (AirCon in pidgin). I live in Kaneohe and we live in a nice home and 95% of the home in my neighborhood don't have AC. We sleep with a sheet and a blanket in the summer, and add a comforter when it cools down. That is why I keep telling you all Kailua and Kaneohe. The windward side of the island is much more temperate! And no AC means no accompanying high electric bill.

My oldest son, his fiancee and his best friend have had their cars broken into several times on the leeward coast beaches. Yet they keep going back (Definition of insanity). I have traveled around the world and never had my car broken into. I did get a ring stolen in Seattle and surprise, surprise my wallet stolen in D.C. Those personal type crimes are the scariest. But pretty much if you stick to basic rules you won't get robbed. Don't leave ANYTHING visible in your car. Don't leave your stuff laying unattended on the beach. Tie the car key to your swim suit if you must, but leave the camera and wallet in the hotel room or locked up in your glove box. Do this at your house or hotel, not in the parking lot. If you want to go on a cool hike, or snorkeling anything away from your car for awhile where it is sort of deserted see if you can bring along a friend to sit in a lawn chair by the car. When living in Guam we learned a great rule of thumb: If there is a lot of broken glass on the ground, people will likely break into your car there.
You might be thinking I am overstating the problem, but bad people do hid in bushes in areas where they know tourists come. The Pali Lookout is notorious for that. And on our recent visit to the Big Island we had the car loaded with our luggage, as check-out was early and our flight was late. We were driving around to various things on our list of must see... and at the petrified lava tree place we all jumped out and my friends and hubby decided to walk the path. I had a funny feeling, decided to wait with the car, and no sooner did they walk away when 4 guys came walking out of the woods, not on the path, very hidden! I actually was standing on the far side of the SUV from them, and weren't they surprised to see me. They all looked rough, but they climbed into the worst looking car in the lot and left.

My oldest son goes down to Waikiki pretty often, and has had no problems. Except not having enough money to get his car out of the lot!