Magilla Gorilla

Aloha,

My family and I have been visiting Hawaii for over twenty years. We fell in love with the islands and the people when we first visited back in 1989. We have been planning this move for two years now. I thought I would share our journey with all of you. Hopefully this will help some one else with a similair move. We are happy to share what costs are involved and anything else that me be helpful or of interest.

We are moving our business to Kailua Kona which ads more complications to the process. We need to hire three staff members in Kona. We will have two containers with our house and business items as well as two of my cars will be in the containers. I think of Ferris Bueller's day off and don't want anyone driving two of my cars. One has 650 horse power and the other 670. My wife keeps saying, where are you going to drive them? Our other two cars will go in the hull of the ship. Moving your stuff can be costly and we did a lot of research. Our stuff leaves Santa Barbara June 10th. The containers and extra special care for the cars costs over $20,000.

We have one way tickets for June 30th. We are keeping our Santa Barbara house and renting it out. We don't need to sell it and it has been a great investment. This is a little stressful as I have hundreds of plants. I am fine tuning the watering system. This weekend I am installing rain sensors so the system shuts off when it rains. NO MORE GOPHERS! This makes me really happy!

We are going to rent for about six months to make sure we have picked the right area. We want to live above Kona in a town called Holualoa. Compared to Santa Barbara properties are very affordable. We are looking for a home with one to two acres.

Here is the crazy part.... I am importing around 250 plants! I have 220 varieties of bromeliads and then odd ball stuff I wont be able to get there. Some of the other plants are a highly variegated bird of paradise, yellow bird of paradise, several variegated clivias, heliconias and gingers. The improting process is such that one plant to 1000 plants cost $20.00. The plants will need to be inspected here and when I land. The plants are going on the plane in six large containers.

The move is for several reasons. I have four ruptured and four buldging discs in my spine. The weather here in Santa Barbara is cool and damp. This morning it was 46. This sucks! My spine does not like the cold weather. The other reason to move is that many people have dreams and goals but fail to live long enough to enjoy or fullfill them. Life is short and you need to enjoy yourself. Obviously the weather and growing conditions are great in Hawaii.

We are going to Hawaii next weekend to secure the commercial space and housing. I have lots of cool plants in pots that I will try to offer for sale to members at a great price. I just need to find the time.

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Andrew