Not to rip on Hawaii, but here's why I am glad I now live on the mainland.

1) The public schools are horrible- some of the worst in the country.

2) The economy is awful, and will be for a long time.

3) The culture is much more relaxed. This is fine, but you also have to consider that if you want a plumber and they say Tuesday, it might mean Thursday, or it might mean never. Things don't get done, and what does get done, gets done with less quality there, by and large, than on the mainland.

4) People ABSOLUTELY treat non-locals differently, and it has nothing to do with race 95% of the time. You jsut speak differently. When trying to blend in, and trying to learn the lingo, and you inevitably mess up a word, people look at you like you are mentally challenged, and sometimes will openly mock you. Nothing to do with being a haole.

5) It is such a standing pool of humanity. People generally don't come and go. Therefore, if someone is new, the first question is "Where did you go to school". The answer they want is not Harvard, UCLA, Fresno State, or any other college, but the high school you went to. And generally, if you didn't go to one of three elite private schools, you are looked at with a sense of derision. The question is asked in an attempt to judge you and to place you in the pre-existing caste system which exists there.

Generally, I felt uncomfortable. I felt people didn't feel the need to try. People don't work hard, and a lot of people have a sense of entitlement based upon their particular "caste". I know it is like that many places, but take the worst place you know in that regard in the U.S. and multiply it by 3, and you have Honolulu.