So what do I need to do to SUCCESSFULLY move to Oahu?

Thanks for the info. You will note my "sample" budget below. Clearly, any "successful" move is predicated upon certain "key" elements:
1. A significantly improved economy/job market.
2. Improved experience (time and effort will take care of that).

However, what I was looking for was more subtle (and hence harder) to ascertain. For example I've noticed that Renal/dialysis nurses tend in many markets to be in demand when allmost no other nursing positions are to be found. Were I to learn that this was my "ticket" I would work on becoming a renal dialysis nurse and getting every credential in that area that I could. Other's areas that seem to be in consistent demand include pediatric/neonatal ICU, but are these the "hottest" areas on the islands as well?

As for pay at least until recently most salary comparison sites listed HA to pay SIGNIFICANTLY more than areas such as Indiana (where we live) or Florida (where we hope to move in the SHORT term). Do you mean that salaries are lower than California, NV, and Arizona which have the reputation (again at least until recently) for having really good nursing pay or the mainland in general. Currently, we earn $22.00/hr and $24.50/hr respectively before night and weekend shift differentials (and we work nights).

Well keep in mind my goal "move date" is five years out! Two or three years ago the nursing job situation in Hawaii was signficantly, if not radically different and I dare hope that it may again change for the better. In fact one of the things that made Hawaii have better than average job prospects was the fact that it is significantly shielded from large amounts of illegal immigration from South of the border (on the other hand that illegal immigration also helps nurses in places like Texas and Arizona by putting pressure on the demand for healthcare). With all of that said I would submit that my "sample budget" (listed in a different post) IS at least somewhat reasonable. Indeed, if given the power to make the decisions I believe that I could feed my family of three for about $50.00 per week (and we would be healthier for it). How? First we would eat ALOT of soups. Vegetable, cabbage fish, ect. We would also eat things like eggs, vegetables, and oatmeal (indeed there was a period in my life where I ate allmost nothing besides Ramen noodles, brown rice, and cheap apples, and cheap multi vitamins spending about $2.00 per day on food, plus I would water FAST and eat nothing every other day saving even more money). Anyone who has read Thor Hyerdahl's Fatu Hiva Return to Nature will learn that it is POSSIBLE (although not easy) to subsist allmost entirely off the land (albeit such an attempt would involve a certain amount of tresspass in most parts of Hawaii). Heck if one were truely willing to give up everything (including their family/careers) to live in the islands as nomad/bushmen in remote parts of the island(s) it could probably be accomplished to one degree or another it's just a matter of HOW FAR are you willing to go to achieve your goals. Did anyone see the movie about that guy who gave up everything (including an Ivy League education) to go live in the wilds of Alaska (perhaps not the best example since he died a miserable, lonely death, still he largely achieved his goals at least in part however misguided that most people might judge those goals to be). Another man who wrote the book Worldwalk literally WALKED AROUND THE WORLD living allmost entirely on the generosity of others (he was nearly killed on several occassions).

It's not that I was rejecting the advice. However, moving to Oahu was essentially my raison d'etre for going to nursing school! Call it a substitution for drugs, sex, prozac or food (although not really food I guess since it was only during nursing school that I magaged to drop from 270 to about 180 before going back up to 200)! No doubt my general attitude about life often bordered on severe clinical depression, but I would always comfort my dispondency with the mantra "if I can just hold on I can make it back to the island at least I will have the beach and no one can take THAT from me". That dream kept me going even when I quit nursing school halfway through a BSN program (my mother was terminally ill and the two hour commute each way with no sleep on my cinical days was killing me) only to start again from scratch to claw my way through an ASN program.. It continued to sustain me when I lost my first "dream" critical care nursing job because they said I "didn't have the stuff" to be a critical care nurse and it motivates me today on my PCU unit to give 110% each and every shift. Even when my relationship was on the rocks, my 300K+ car faultering (and no heat here in Indiana winters with a 30 minute commute is no laughing matter), my central heat in my home not working, bathtub cracking into the crawlspace (the list sadly goes on and on) it sustained me... Now, despite my best efforts that dream seems as far away (perhaps further) than ever and the only thing advancing is my age. I'm 40 and I truly do hope to take a crack at learning to surf on the North Shore before 50 (or die trying!). If push comes to shove at some point I very well may follow Thor Hyerdalh's example and take a stab at living off the land in the backwoods of Oahu, Molokai or Kaui until the local authorities lock me away for vagrancy. Perhaps my greatest fear is that I might indeed one day obtain my dream, but do so at an age that renders the endeavor moot. Even more I fear that you are all correct and that THIS is as close as I will ever get to my dream http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ltAG...eature=related . Sometimes however the pursuit of a dream can be as or even more important than its realization. I guess you could say that I'm a bit sensitive when it comes to this particular area, but I mean no one ill and wish you all the happiness that still seems to elude me. God bless.