Years ago, we published a “listicle” of 27 things that make Hawaii unlike anywhere else. Some were surprising, some were simply trivia. But we asked readers a straightforward question: which one keeps drawing you back? Almost nobody answered with one of the things on the list because they were answering a different question altogether. Readers named a 28th we could never print.
Debra never mentioned a beach, a rainbow, or a sunset. She wrote about the air.
“As soon as I step off the plane in Lihue, it hits all my senses. Sweet, soft, fragrant and full of life. I just go out after getting my baggage and breathe for 5 minutes. It totally makes me calm, peaceful and relaxed.”
We handed readers a list. They handed back a feeling.
Comment after comment circled back to something we had never included because it really cannot be listed. Not a fact, not a landmark, and not even a particular beach or island. Instead, readers described the feeling of arriving, the people they met, and the sense that Hawaii somehow felt like home, even when home was thousands of miles away.
One reader gave us a comparison we’ve never forgotten. Hawaii residents, she wrote, are like electric cars.
“Locals can travel and live in different parts of the world but they always need to return to the Islands and plug in. They soak up the air, the water, the dirt, the food, the music, the flowers, the hula, the mana and of course their ohana. Then they get fully charged, unplug and return to their other lives.”
Another reader quietly rewrote the very first item on our list. We had started with rainbows, but she answered that the rainbows that mattered were not in the sky at all.
“The rainbows on land and in the beaches — the people — are what makes me feel like I’m at home while on the islands… It’s like I’m accepted even more because of the color on my skin. I truly feel like I can be myself.”
Again and again, readers reached for the same idea using different words. For Bob, it was simply a feeling, and the people who created it.
“It’s just a sense that this is the right place for us… If you spend any time with them, they are kind and generous and wonderful to be around.”
For Carol, it ran deeper than a vacation.
“It is our birthplace. The strength of Hawaii is in our blood. My love of land and ocean came from four generations being born, raised and living in Hawaii.”
None of those responses would fit on a numbered list, yet together they explained more about why people return than any fact we could have included.
The same pull, with a question attached.
Reading those comments again today, something else stands out. Some of the same readers who described that powerful connection also wondered whether it still feels quite the same. Not because they had stopped loving Hawaii, but because they worried that the thing they loved most had become harder to find.
Liam, who once lived in Hawaii and now returns as a visitor, managed to hold both thoughts in the same comment.
“My worse day in Hawaii was better than my better days on the mainland. Now I visit when I can — it’s gotten more commercial however and is losing that aloha feeling.”
Carol, who still returns to the islands she calls home, noticed a different kind of change.
“Affordability in Hawaii is even worse and everywhere is too crowded. But I still return occasionally to see my favorite beaches and mountains.”
Those comments do not cancel out the earlier ones. If anything, they make them more meaningful because people don’t worry about losing something unless it mattered in the first place.
We asked readers to choose from a list of facts, but they answered with a feeling. Some also admitted they worried about whether that feeling would always be there. We’re not going to answer that question here because it belongs to the people who keep returning.
Your turn.
After the beaches, the weather, and the scenery are off the table, what is the one thing that keeps drawing you back to Hawaii? Tell us in the comments. We’d genuinely like to know.
Photo Credits: © Beat of Hawaii. Lead Photo is Hanalei Bay, Kauai.
By Rob and Jeff, Beat of Hawaii.
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The aloha spirit and genuineness of the people. The deep connection of people to the aina and their culture.
There’s only one way to answer this question, and it is; “All Of The Above!!!”
Aloha to all.
I keep returning to Hawaii because it sits in my soul. When I get off the plane that part of my soul ignites from the air, the clouds, the rain, the smell, the people. Sometimes it brings tears to my eyes. It is the place where each day is peace and a quiet joy. Hawaii is a feeling not a cocktail, a restaurant or a resort. It is paradise for the heart and soul.
The Trader Vic’s Mai Tai’s. I won’t say at which bar because I want to enjoy some in February. 😁
Love getting off the plane walking into a open airport with the smell of rain and all the floral scents. I love just standing, smelling the hibiscus and listening to the ocean waves where my mind is totally out of my body and I am relaxed, happy and peaceful with no baggage of life weighing my mind.
Ok here’s a few more. The water, the food and visiting with my extended ohana. The roosters and chickens not so much.
My first trip was in 1989. I usually have a bit of apprehension traveling to someplace new…but not Hawaii. Walking down the street in the heavy mist, (although i wasn’t getting wet) I had this overwhelming feeling of calmness and deja vue. When people ask if we get tired of it…I just say “no”. It’s the feeling of the aloha spirit. Nothing tangible. As a tourist, I want to be “invisible” to the locals…but as a human…I just want to be the guy next door. Someone who is not inpeeding on their world…but someone who is reverantly sharing it. The islands are a part of our everyday lives, from our decorating, our dress, and even the names of our dogs. We have 358 more days until we get to experience that feeling again…in the meantime…it lives in our hearts as always.
Years ago, I was hanging with some friends at a bar in Waikiki, not super touristy, and there was –inevitably– Hawaiian music playing in the background. At one point a new song started and our waiter kicked off his slippers/flip-flops and started dancing hula to the song. By the end of the song, a few other people had joined. I found it fascinating how the style of each dancer differed, I assume as a result of learning at different halau. Very casual, unplanned, joyous, communal. I popped in again many times because of that, really, until the place closed a few years back.
It is a profound sense of spirtuality I derive from my visits to Maui and Kauai. Honokowai on Maui situtated between Molokai and Lanai fills me with a sense of self in the universe. I also feel get a feeling that if there is a God in the Universe this is where he or she must live and a piece of that presence becomes fixed in my soul. The sheer natural beauty of Waimea Canyon & Kōkeʻe State Parks and the Na Pali Coast supplement that feeling. Hawaii is spiritual and one can breathe it in, if they care to. My advice to persons comng to Hawaii, just breathe, you too will feel it.
So many things have brought me back over the past 50 years and I am returning in 2 days! I love the warm ocean, the trade winds, the fragrant flowers, the slow pace, the simple life. Throw in shave ice, Mai tai’s, pina coladas, malasadas, the casual dress….. 🌴🐠
-My wife and I look forward to dinner at the Dolphin in Hanalei. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!!
-Visiting with my many friends.
-I own a place in Princeville, so it’s like coming home.
What draws me back is the feeling I get every night at sunrise seeing the sun do down over the ocean. Though I have been to other countries and other beaches nothing compares to the sunsets I see in Hawaii❤️
For me it’s the pace in Hawaii. My own mind finally starts to slow down after a day or two. And that’s invaluable. We’re heading back to Kauai in September and already looking forward to that.
The comments were honestly better than the original list. They reminded me why we started coming to Maui in the first place so long ago. But we do come less often due to the financial reality.
Hawaii has always felt less like a vacation the way Europe does and more like a reset button for my life. I’ve never been able to explain that to anyone who hasn’t experienced it themselves.
Mine is the first breath of air after the airplane arrives. That stays with me time after time. Thanks for the reminder.
Every time someone asks why we keep going back for 30+ years, I start listing beaches and hikes, then I realize none of those are really the answer. It’s totally the feeling that we still get despite all the issues.
A huge part of it is just the climate. Humans evolved to be outside, in the sun, breathing clean air. The weather in Hawaii is almost always comfortable, and unlike other tropical locations there’s not much humidity or many bugs. Add the sound of the wind through the palm trees, the bird chirping, the ocean and mountain views, and the open air homes where you can feel part of nature. That’s paradise.
The song Honolulu City Lights sums it up perfectly.