What you should know before coming to Hawaii
- Anne Catlin
- Aug 12
- 4 min read
Learn what “aloha” actually means. It's not just “hello” and it's not about “vacation vibes.” Aloha is love, affection, compassion, respect, and a way of relating to others.
Live Aloha
Respect ʻāina. ʻĀina means land, but the concept is much deeper than real estate. Don't litter, trespass, carve your name into things, take rocks or sand, disturb cultural sites, or treat sacred places like Instagram props.
Be a good houseguest.
Learn the difference between local, Hawaiian, and kamaʻāina. These words have specific cultural and social meanings. Moving here from the mainland doesn't automatically give you a Native Hawaiian identity, and living here doesn't mean you've suddenly absorbed the culture and history of the place.
Hawaiʻi has Native Hawaiian, Japanese, Filipino, Chinese, Portuguese, Okinawan, Korean, Micronesian, Pacific Islander, and many other communities with deep roots.
Don't lump everything together as “Hawaiian.”
Don't take rocks, sand or cultural objects home. Beyond the ecological issues, some places have enormous cultural significance. And whatever you do,
don't remove things from heiau, burial sites, ahupuaʻa, or other cultural sites.
Respect kapu. Kapu can mean sacred, prohibited, restricted, or forbidden depending on context. If someone tells you an area or practice is kapu,
don't argue about your right to be there.
Take your shoes off when entering someone's home. This is extremely common in Hawaiʻi. If you see shoes at the door, yours probably belong there too. And like the sign says:
"No take mo bettah slippas when you leave."
Don't drive like an asshole.This isn't the mainland. Hawaiʻi has a different rhythm. That's why you're here, isn't it? Give people space. Be polite.
Have some respect.
Don't touch turtles, seals, dolphins, or other wildlife. “But it came up to me!” doesn't mean you should pet it. They're wild animals, not attractions. Getting too close or touching them can cause stress and disrupt their natural behavior.
Observe wildlife from an appropriate distance.
Buy local when you can. Eat at local restaurants. Buy art from actual artists. Pay local guides. Support farmers, fishermen, makers, musicians, and small businesses. Tourism doesn't automatically mean money reaches the people who live here. And notice that a lot of the Walmart and ABC Store trinkets are mass-produced overseas. If you want something authentic, invest in a local maker.
Let your memories become an heirloom.
Don't expect mainland efficiency everywhere. Hawaiʻi is about relationships more than systems. Getting to know somebody, showing respect, and being patient matters more than demanding that something happen immediately.
This isn't the place to burn bridges with rudeness and entitlement.
Understand that Hawaiʻi has a painful colonial history.The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, annexation, land dispossession, militarization, and the continuing struggle over Native Hawaiian rights are not ancient history. They're relatively recent, they're part of the living history of this place, and they're still playing out today.
Hawaiʻi was stolen from its queen in 1893 by powerful business interests, many of them connected to the sugar industry, with the support of the United States government and its military. The U.S. annexation of Hawaiʻi remains contested, and some people in Hawaiʻi do not consider that annexation legitimate or Hawaiʻi rightfully part of the United States.
Displacement, rising home prices, and the loss of family and ancestral land are real issues.
Don't just buy Airbnb property to manage from the mainland while local families are struggling to find housing. You're not just buying an investment property. You're buying into a housing crisis that real families are living through.
Don't tell Native Hawaiians they're lucky to live in paradise. That's particularly tone-deaf when someone is talking about housing costs, homelessness, land access, cultural loss, or displacement.
If you moved here because you love Hawaiʻi, let Hawaiʻi stay Hawaiʻi. You came here because something about this place called to you. Maybe it was the ocean. Maybe it was the pace, the community, culture, weather, food, music, the way people take care of one another. Whatever it was,
it existed before you got here.
Don't come here and try to recreate the mainland. Don't demand that everything become faster, bigger, cheaper, easier, newer, more developed, or more convenient because that's what you're accustomed to. Don't complain about the local way of doing things and then lobby to change them.
Learn why things are the way they are. Listen before you speak. Adapt instead of demanding that everyone else adapt to you.
You don't get to move somewhere because you love what makes it different and then spend your time trying to make it more like the place you left.
If you wanted the mainland, you could have stayed there.
Don't trespass because Google Maps says you can.This is a big one. A trail, beach access, or beautiful viewpoint isn't automatically public just because you found it online. Respect signs, gates, private property, and the people who live here.
Get reef-friendly sunscreen.Read the label, too. “Reef safe” isn't a regulated claim, so actually check the ingredients. Avoid oxybenzone and octinoxate.
Don't step on the coral. Coral is alive, it's fragile, and it can take an incredibly long time to recover from damage. Stand on the sand. Leave the reef alone.
And perhaps the biggest one: don't arrive expecting Hawaiʻi to entertain you. Come with respect to a place that already has its own life.
Respecting Hawaiian culture isn't the same thing as pretending you're Hawaiian.
You can live here, love the place, participate in community, learn ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, paddle, eat local food, go to hula, make friends, contribute, and eventually become kamaʻāina without claiming an identity that isn't your own.
That's actually a much more respectful relationship with Hawaiʻi.
