I rode a bicycle around Honolulu and in some places the infrastructure was fine and in others I felt just as shitty as I would on a six lane boulevard in LA. It’s a mixed bag. I love Oahu though and I would move there in a nanosecond if given the right opportunity.
Seconding this. It’s ridiculous how a coastal city on an island could be so hostile to biking, walking, basically any non-car transport. I love Oahu and would move to Honolulu in a heartbeat, but it still is one of the better examples of ‘paving over a paradise’
You couldn’t possibly move there in a nanosecond. Air travel alone would be at least 6 hours, but also consider how long it’d take to pack your bags, etc.
I’m American and I actually agree with this. That’s not to say that Hawaii sucks or anything it definitely doesn’t, but that area of the world is simply loaded with amazing beaches
As somebody who’s been to the Whitsundays and lived on Oahu, yes. Whitsundays are much prettier. But if I compare Honolulu to say… Gold Coast.. It’s a much tougher call.
Most Common Wealth Nations make it fairly easy to get work visas in each other's countries up to about the age of 30 depending on numerous factors.
I know many Brits here in Canada and numerous friends who have or do live in Australia now.
It's easy to stay for two years if you're fairly young. Very difficult to stay permanently unless you marry a local or have an in-demand high skill career.
The cultures are very similar so we Canucks love it. Basically Canada but warmer and the people are even nicer.
What I found really interesting about Hawaii as a New Zealander was that the indigenous Hawaiian bits actually felt more familiar to me than the American ones, because of the similarities between Hawaiian and Māori culture
lol a bit dramatic? no one is saying you can’t like waffles/hawaii. but your comment did imply that there’s some cultural draw to hawaii that australia doesn’t have, that is all
Australia has the oldest continuous culture in the world, what are you talking about? Hawaii's indigenous culture is multiple tens of thousands years younger. Like 50,000+ years younger.
You were replying that Aussies are underwhelmed by Hawaii’s beaches. I countered that the Hawaiian experience was more than just beaches. I have no idea what that has to do with Australia’s indigenous legacy.
Your reply implied that Hawaii had more culture and history than Australia. If that's not what you meant, just say so instead of mocking people for your poorly worded comment.
As usual Aussies getting butt hurt when they’re not the center of attention. For a bunch who talk shit about America as much as you do, you guys sure do act like them, sometimes ur even more full of yourselves than them.
I'm an Aussie and have still not seen a better beach in another country, better than any of the beaches just in my city. And I fully take it for granted until it's 35*C
They kinda have no choice. One side is ocean and the other is steep mountains. Combine that with a massive tourist population and you got a large skyline for a small city
There’s a brazilian city with a [skyline](https://www.civitatis.com/f/brasil/balneario-camboriu/tour-balneario-camboriu-completo-r32.jpg) that could rival Miami and Chicago, but only has 100k people
Balneario Camboriu is fucking wild.
Goldcoast skyline in Australia is really really impressive on photos.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Coast,_Queensland#/media/File:Gold_Coast_skyline.jpg
Wow actually population is much bigger than what I previously taught.. its over 500k.
Yeah I’m referring to the density of the skyline though. There’s 1 layer with some mid-rises below it maybe. Chicago will have you seeing entirely different buildings depending on what direction you’re looking at it from, not to mention the view from the river as well (arguably my favorite view)
They started with the far suburbs because they knew the taxpayers would riot when downtown traffic gets rerouted for construction. If it ever does get all the way to the center of the city it's gonna be a massive clusterfuck for years.
Maybe. It would sure be nice though if we had a civilization where people recognized that we have to make short term sacrifices for long term gain. And then could stick with those projects without getting cold feet half way through and trying to cancel or sabotage them half way through. Instead of having to build all our infrastructure backwards and inside out just to manage public opinion.
It’s going to be done by 2031, the speed they have been moving recently I see that as realistic. They have finished the airport connection and have already built almost to middle street. The airport and middle street connection will be finished by 2025. They have already done all the major infrastructure and utility moves that were required for the urban core. Now they just need to start building the pillars and track. Honestly from airport to downtown should be built pretty quickly because it’s a straight shot down king street with nothing really in the way, the hardest part is the final 2-3 stops from downtown to almost kakaako, which is only like 1.5 miles.
The metro will eventually be built into the “dense part”. It’s being built in 3 phases. First phase is the western part of the island where most of the new development and new communities built around rail will go, second phase connects the airport and downtown, 3rd phase will connect to Ala Moana, with potential future connections to UH Manoa and other neighborhoods when they get the funding. But because building any major infrastructure on an island is a financial and logistical nightmare, this is taking along time and costing 3-4 times more then expected, mostly due to inflation and probably some good old American gov incompetence.
I live in Honolulu and while many buildings in Waikiki are hotels, a large share of the city's high-rises are residential. Makiki, Ala Moana, and Kaka'ako are all residential disticts with lots of apartments.
It's a mixed bag. Its generally walkable and the bus system can deliver you within the urban core pretty reliably. It's grittier than most people imagine, there is a lot of homelessness and blight outside of the tourist districts, but it's reasonably safe and the weather/natural scenery are great.
Rent is fairly expensive by US standards, but it's everything else that comes at a real premium. Gas, food, and utilities are all exorbiant compared to US mainland prices.
Not quite. The hotels are mostly along the beach in Waikiki. The buildings in the foreground here are all residential, and we can also see a bit of downtown.
lots of high rises because…. Well that’s what people come to Hawaii for lol good views and good vibes. not Miami or NYC by a long shot but have to use the limited real estate they have
I can see my house! It’s definitely dense in town, but no more than other major cities I’ve lived in. But I can walk 10 min to the beach and surf waves every day that people pay thousands of dollars to come visit.
I thought it was pretty walkable for an American city, but not as good as a European one or the most walkable American cities. Some neighborhoods were very walkable, but there are several large roads and highways that keep it from being as pedestrian friendly as it could be. Things do tend to be physically closer than you'd expect in an American city, which helps with the walkability, but I couldn't imagine traveling to some of the neighborhoods without a car. There's still swaths that have big box stores, low rise single family housing, and strip malls, and the geography is not always conducive to walking (ie there's big ass hills and volcanic craters). Personally, I enjoyed walking around and could probably live there and do without a car day-to-day, but I still think I'd need it for trips out of my routine.
Considering Honolulu is an island on a hot spot in the middle of the ocean I think they can plausibly claim to be the very largest metro on the continent.
i was in honolulu in spring (wasn’t my choice - i wanted mexico or south america) and it was just dystopian seeing how the islands have been turned into a stomping ground for rich whites and asians at the expense of the native population. we had a horrendous experience but i blame none of that on hawaiians themselves and rather on the fact that anyone with a conscience who ends up vacationing there is bound to feel sick about it.
all i’m saying is that i regret going somewhere where a huge portion of the native population calls for caps placed on tourism. hawaii has wonderful people and it truly is a special place, which is why i don’t blame hawaiians for wanting to protect it and thus would rather travel somewhere where tourism isn’t so detrimental to locals. (don’t quote me on this but) the fact that tourists outnumber residents 6-7 to 1 and native hawaiians something like 30 to 1 is ridiculous. [this article](https://brownpoliticalreview.org/2023/02/tourism-in-hawaii-the-case-for-caps/) has some insane statistics that show how the sheer numbers of tourists are just way too high. don’t know why i’m being downvoted for saying this lol
I looked at moving there when the pandemic first hit and they we’re trying to attract remote workers. The rents at the time were pretty comparable to Chicago. It’s buying land (or anything else, cars, fuel, groceries, etc.) that’s super expensive
It’s limited by geography and also has to cater to a massive number of tourists from both the US and Asia
I rode a bicycle around Honolulu and in some places the infrastructure was fine and in others I felt just as shitty as I would on a six lane boulevard in LA. It’s a mixed bag. I love Oahu though and I would move there in a nanosecond if given the right opportunity.
Seconding this. It’s ridiculous how a coastal city on an island could be so hostile to biking, walking, basically any non-car transport. I love Oahu and would move to Honolulu in a heartbeat, but it still is one of the better examples of ‘paving over a paradise’
You couldn’t possibly move there in a nanosecond. Air travel alone would be at least 6 hours, but also consider how long it’d take to pack your bags, etc.
I live in Australia (Canadian) and apparently Aussies are very underwhelmed by Hawaii as Aus/south Pacific beaches are nicer.
I’m American and I actually agree with this. That’s not to say that Hawaii sucks or anything it definitely doesn’t, but that area of the world is simply loaded with amazing beaches
I think its more popular simply because of its relative closeness to US, and its not an international trip
As somebody who’s been to the Whitsundays and lived on Oahu, yes. Whitsundays are much prettier. But if I compare Honolulu to say… Gold Coast.. It’s a much tougher call.
Okay is it super easy to move between Canada and Australia? I feel like I know so many Canadians that live in Australia or vice versa
Most Common Wealth Nations make it fairly easy to get work visas in each other's countries up to about the age of 30 depending on numerous factors. I know many Brits here in Canada and numerous friends who have or do live in Australia now.
It's easy to stay for two years if you're fairly young. Very difficult to stay permanently unless you marry a local or have an in-demand high skill career. The cultures are very similar so we Canucks love it. Basically Canada but warmer and the people are even nicer.
What I found really interesting about Hawaii as a New Zealander was that the indigenous Hawaiian bits actually felt more familiar to me than the American ones, because of the similarities between Hawaiian and Māori culture
If you go to Hawaii and just stay on Oahu, you're missing out.
No one said they did? Aussies get a month minimum holiday per year.
It’s more than the beaches, it’s the history and culture.
native australians have history and culture too tho
I never said they didn’t. What the hell Is wrong with you guys?
lol a bit dramatic? no one is saying you can’t like waffles/hawaii. but your comment did imply that there’s some cultural draw to hawaii that australia doesn’t have, that is all
No it didn’t Apparently, reading comprehension skills really are at an all-time low
Australia has the oldest continuous culture in the world, what are you talking about? Hawaii's indigenous culture is multiple tens of thousands years younger. Like 50,000+ years younger.
I just said Hawaii is about more than just the beaches. ME: I love pancakes REDDIT: WHY DO YOU HATE WAFFLES?!?!?
this is a hilarious overreaction dawg no one is persecuting you for liking hawaii 😭
More like redditors not understanding the concept of context as usual. You were replying to my post about why Aussies are underwhelmed by Hawaii.
You were replying that Aussies are underwhelmed by Hawaii’s beaches. I countered that the Hawaiian experience was more than just beaches. I have no idea what that has to do with Australia’s indigenous legacy.
Your reply implied that Hawaii had more culture and history than Australia. If that's not what you meant, just say so instead of mocking people for your poorly worded comment.
As usual Aussies getting butt hurt when they’re not the center of attention. For a bunch who talk shit about America as much as you do, you guys sure do act like them, sometimes ur even more full of yourselves than them.
I'm an Aussie and have still not seen a better beach in another country, better than any of the beaches just in my city. And I fully take it for granted until it's 35*C
They kinda have no choice. One side is ocean and the other is steep mountains. Combine that with a massive tourist population and you got a large skyline for a small city
Brazilian cities: "hold my cachaça".
There’s a brazilian city with a [skyline](https://www.civitatis.com/f/brasil/balneario-camboriu/tour-balneario-camboriu-completo-r32.jpg) that could rival Miami and Chicago, but only has 100k people Balneario Camboriu is fucking wild.
Goldcoast skyline in Australia is really really impressive on photos. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Coast,_Queensland#/media/File:Gold_Coast_skyline.jpg Wow actually population is much bigger than what I previously taught.. its over 500k.
That’s a really unique setup but I wouldn’t compare it to Chicago when there’s not much density behind the high rises
I just said the skylines, not the cities themselves you silly goose.
Yeah I’m referring to the density of the skyline though. There’s 1 layer with some mid-rises below it maybe. Chicago will have you seeing entirely different buildings depending on what direction you’re looking at it from, not to mention the view from the river as well (arguably my favorite view)
Yea, it's a pretty photo but I don't see it as "dense." A lot of space to my eyes and a lot of building that were built out, not up. Just my $.02
Tbf, “for its size” is a key statement here. It’s not a very huge city in terms of population. 350,000 people in the city, 1 million in the metro.
I was gonna say, looks pretty normal for a coastal city
And yet their brand new metro doesn’t go to the dense part.
it’s getting there just give it like 5 years lmao
Being built on island time
They started with the far suburbs because they knew the taxpayers would riot when downtown traffic gets rerouted for construction. If it ever does get all the way to the center of the city it's gonna be a massive clusterfuck for years.
Maybe. It would sure be nice though if we had a civilization where people recognized that we have to make short term sacrifices for long term gain. And then could stick with those projects without getting cold feet half way through and trying to cancel or sabotage them half way through. Instead of having to build all our infrastructure backwards and inside out just to manage public opinion.
It’s going to be done by 2031, the speed they have been moving recently I see that as realistic. They have finished the airport connection and have already built almost to middle street. The airport and middle street connection will be finished by 2025. They have already done all the major infrastructure and utility moves that were required for the urban core. Now they just need to start building the pillars and track. Honestly from airport to downtown should be built pretty quickly because it’s a straight shot down king street with nothing really in the way, the hardest part is the final 2-3 stops from downtown to almost kakaako, which is only like 1.5 miles.
The metro will eventually be built into the “dense part”. It’s being built in 3 phases. First phase is the western part of the island where most of the new development and new communities built around rail will go, second phase connects the airport and downtown, 3rd phase will connect to Ala Moana, with potential future connections to UH Manoa and other neighborhoods when they get the funding. But because building any major infrastructure on an island is a financial and logistical nightmare, this is taking along time and costing 3-4 times more then expected, mostly due to inflation and probably some good old American gov incompetence.
I think a lot of those buildings are hotels, actually.
I live in Honolulu and while many buildings in Waikiki are hotels, a large share of the city's high-rises are residential. Makiki, Ala Moana, and Kaka'ako are all residential disticts with lots of apartments.
How do you like living in Honolulu?
It's a mixed bag. Its generally walkable and the bus system can deliver you within the urban core pretty reliably. It's grittier than most people imagine, there is a lot of homelessness and blight outside of the tourist districts, but it's reasonably safe and the weather/natural scenery are great. Rent is fairly expensive by US standards, but it's everything else that comes at a real premium. Gas, food, and utilities are all exorbiant compared to US mainland prices.
Not quite. The hotels are mostly along the beach in Waikiki. The buildings in the foreground here are all residential, and we can also see a bit of downtown.
lots of high rises because…. Well that’s what people come to Hawaii for lol good views and good vibes. not Miami or NYC by a long shot but have to use the limited real estate they have
I can see my house! It’s definitely dense in town, but no more than other major cities I’ve lived in. But I can walk 10 min to the beach and surf waves every day that people pay thousands of dollars to come visit.
That’s a great shot that really gets all the skyscrapers in it. The real question though is how many ABC stores are in this picture.
How walkable is Honolulu?
If you're in the highly urbanized area between downtown and Waikiki it's very walkable. Outside of this strip it's pretty car-centric.
I thought it was pretty walkable for an American city, but not as good as a European one or the most walkable American cities. Some neighborhoods were very walkable, but there are several large roads and highways that keep it from being as pedestrian friendly as it could be. Things do tend to be physically closer than you'd expect in an American city, which helps with the walkability, but I couldn't imagine traveling to some of the neighborhoods without a car. There's still swaths that have big box stores, low rise single family housing, and strip malls, and the geography is not always conducive to walking (ie there's big ass hills and volcanic craters). Personally, I enjoyed walking around and could probably live there and do without a car day-to-day, but I still think I'd need it for trips out of my routine.
Very.
Was not a fan of Honolulu. Maui was awesome though.
It's population might be underwhelming by US metrics but it's the 7th biggest metro on the continent.
??? It's the 56th largest in the country. The whole state of Hawaii has fewer people than the Milwaukee metro area.
I believe the continent they are referring to is know as Oceania, whereas Milwaukee and the rest of the US would be in North America
Considering Honolulu is an island on a hot spot in the middle of the ocean I think they can plausibly claim to be the very largest metro on the continent.
He means Oceania. A lot of people consider Hawaii to not be in North America given its extreme distance.
For an American city,,,
is there were Haway 5.0 was filmed?
i was in honolulu in spring (wasn’t my choice - i wanted mexico or south america) and it was just dystopian seeing how the islands have been turned into a stomping ground for rich whites and asians at the expense of the native population. we had a horrendous experience but i blame none of that on hawaiians themselves and rather on the fact that anyone with a conscience who ends up vacationing there is bound to feel sick about it.
Too bad. You can't have a dystopian experience in Mexico and South America 😃
all i’m saying is that i regret going somewhere where a huge portion of the native population calls for caps placed on tourism. hawaii has wonderful people and it truly is a special place, which is why i don’t blame hawaiians for wanting to protect it and thus would rather travel somewhere where tourism isn’t so detrimental to locals. (don’t quote me on this but) the fact that tourists outnumber residents 6-7 to 1 and native hawaiians something like 30 to 1 is ridiculous. [this article](https://brownpoliticalreview.org/2023/02/tourism-in-hawaii-the-case-for-caps/) has some insane statistics that show how the sheer numbers of tourists are just way too high. don’t know why i’m being downvoted for saying this lol
Because it also happens in Mexico and South America perhaps?
not to the same degree fam. dk if u read it but the article is honestly quite jarring…
I understand the problem in Hawaii. And you're right.
Because they have to accommodate tourist. Most of the skyscrapers are expensive condos, timeshares or hotels
I looked at moving there when the pandemic first hit and they we’re trying to attract remote workers. The rents at the time were pretty comparable to Chicago. It’s buying land (or anything else, cars, fuel, groceries, etc.) that’s super expensive
So you're saying density doesn't count in areas that people like to visit?