Q
I am currently a sophomore in college at the university of **********. A friend and I decided that we would like to live in Hawaii, the big island, for the summer (may 26-aug. 30). We received really cheap airfare, but we are not having any luck finding jobs or a place to live. We are college students and don't have a lot of extra money to spend, although we realize that it will be expensive, we would like to find a place to live that isn't too expensive. We were just wondering if there is any places that you could suggest that we look. Thank you so much for your help, I really appreciate. I look forward to hearing back from you. Have a wonderful day.
Thank you, Kelsey and Jon

A
Hi guys, Where are you flying into? What side of the island did you want to live on?

Q
Thank you for responding so quickly. We are flying into Kona airport. We would prefer to live near Kona, we heard that it was a little sunnier there and not quite as much rain, but we are open to anywhere. Thank you again for responding so quickly, we really appreciate your help. I look forward to hearing back from you, have a great day.

A
Ok, well, Kona is where all the jobs are, but Kona is also where the exorbitant housing prices are. You will probably be able to find a service job once you get here - the restaurants have pretty high turnover so that's where I would look first - Lots just put a help needed sign in the window rather than an ad in the paper or something. The hotels are usually union jobs so it will be much harder to get in there. The problem is, there will be a lot of other people just like you looking for jobs and housing just for the summer. It's not impossible to get jobs, but it is not easy. There is no industry here except for agriculture and tourism, so that really limits the available jobs.

As for housing, you may have to go in as roomates with other people because, especially if you don't have cars and have to stay right in town, prices will be high.

Start looking at classifieds and maybe ask your question again at the moving forum.

Feel free to ask me any more specific questions you have. I'm sorry I can't help more. Good luck!

Q
Thank you very much for responding to my concerning finding a job and a place to live in Hawaii, the big island. I really appreciate it. To be honest, I am extremely nervous about this summer. I am so excited to go to Hawaii, it has always been my dream to spend a summer there, however I believe that the chances of finding a job and an affortable place to live isn't that great. I just had one more question for you if you don't mind. Although I would love to go to Hawaii for the summer, we still have the opportunity to back out. I was wondering if you think it will be possible to find a job and a place to live, or if maybe this isn't the best thing to do as college kids. I was also wondering about how much it costs to live there, such as the cost of groceries, ect. One last question is if you think that Kona would be the best place to live on the island, or is there a town that may present more opportunities. Thank you so much for your time, it is greatly appreciated. I look forward to hearing back from you. Have a wonderful day.

A
I really hesitate to encourage or discourage you from your trip, as I really don't have any experience looking for the type of job or type of housing that you will be looking for. I do know that we on the big island have traditionally had very high unemployment rates with really crappy available jobs, but I do also know that right now the economy is really hot and there are tons of jobs available. As for housing, I just don't know. I really think you should go to that konaweb site that I gave you before and ask there - they would be more likely to know the answer.

Besides Kona, the only other place I would suggest thinking about would be Hilo (where i live). You might be more likely to find housing for the summer, as we have a large college here, but you would be less likely to find a job, as we have less jobs on this side (less tourism because it's rainier with less beaches etc.).

As for what stuff costs - it's expensive. Gas is $2.30 a gallon, milk is $4 to $8 a gallon, a Digornio frozen pizza is $8.00, apples are $1.50 a pound, Orange juice is $6.00 a gallon. (now, if you go to a farmer's market, you can get papaya, banana, pineapple, lettuce, onions, etc for dirt cheap.)

As for is it a good thing to do as a college kid? .. if this were your only concern I would say YES! do it! you;ll probably never have this opportunity again. Someday you'll have kids and a spouse or other responsibilities like housebound relatives to take care of or a really good job you just can't leave, but it won't matter because you already did some fantastic stuff when you were young and unencumbered. And you really would have a fantastic time here ) I just would feel better if you did a little more research - have you looked into hostels or long-term vacation rentals (just do a google search for kailua-kona hostels or long term rentals, you should find some stuff.) e-mail a real estate agent, post at a couple of more boards ... ooh, if you e-mailed a receptive hostel operator you could probably get some really good leads.