Two years ago, in 2016, my mother came to me and asked, "How would you feel about moving to Hawaii?" Of course, my first reaction was to freak out and say yes, because who doesn't want to go to Hawaii? Let alone live there. However, moving to Hawaii is not as glamorous as it seems. My mother, my brother, my three cats, my dog, and I had no idea at this time, but we were about to embark on the journey of a lifetime.
My mom is a photographer which means that she can work anywhere and Hawaii is arguably one of the most ideal places for a photographer. The process started 2 years ago because we had to sell everything. I first got rid of stuff I no longer use and then eventually had to wean myself from stuff I wanted to keep. Moving to an Island requires less stuff plus it is costly to move it across the ocean. It was a challenge to surrender my personal belongings. I mostly kept my personal memorabilia from my childhood, clothes, and books. We sold most of the furniture a year prior to our move when we …show more content…
This included my dog. On average, it costs $1,600 to take an animal to Hawaii. The Hawaiian islands have no rabies in any animals and in order to keep it that way, they have a policy in place where you have to quarantine your animal to ensure that they do not have any rabies. This is a very costly procedure. Not to mention you have to pay for airfare for your animal. With this procedure in mind, I began the long journey of babysitting for my neighbors in order to pay the way for my 4 animals. I worked early mornings and late nights for two years, on top of managing my schooling. Finally, the day came when the house sold and it was time to start the quarantine process for my animals. Unfortunately, I did not have enough funding to pay for my dog. I realized that we would have to rehome him as he could no longer come to Maui with