BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Hawaii How Not To Be "One of Those" Tourists in Hawaii

Mahalo for your thoughtful and detailed advice on how not to be "One of those" tourist in Hawaii....but I have one more.....
Whatever you do, do not buy matching Aloha shirt and dress at Hilo Hattie's or anywhere else! You will definitely be spotted as a tourist.

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Thanks, Sonia. I'm glad you liked it.
You are right about Hilo Hattie's...some people get carried away.
Some may be under the impression that an aloha shirt will transform them into Tom Selleck. But then again, none of Magnum's women wore a matching muumuu, did they?

Gordana,

Welcome to BellaOnline!

I was lucky enough to be stationed at Schofield Barracks (or rather my ex was, I was along for the ride, he flew helicopters) for 3 years. My oldest child was born at Tripler.

One thing I would like to make mention of is when locals say to wear "Aloha wear" - they do not mean Hawaiian shirts and muuumuus, they just mean dress casually. This is something we found out at our very first outing with our unit, with complete embarassment!!! (Our Captain was single and was horrible about actually introducing new folks to the local customs).

Also, if you want to purchase a Hawaiian shirt or muumuu, look at what the locals are wearing. There are absolutely georgeous muumuus out there that do not look like anything sold in the Sears catalog!!!

I know when I lived there, on Fridays it was common to wear local fashions to work. But the men's shirt were almost like taking what we think of as "Hawaiian shirts" and turning them inside out- much more muted and appropriate for business.

I still have a lovely muumuu I purchased from (I believe) Hilo Hattie's. It was a very formal dress - black with gold painted flowers down one side, not at all garish. I don't find much occasion to wear it anymore <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />, but it is a lovely reminder of my time there.

Hi Michelle!
Thanks for the info.
I remember shopping at Hilo Hattie's with my mom. She always bought these pretty sundresses there.
I, myself, do secretly wear my "Hawaiian" shirt, but only to a Beach Boys or a Jimmy Buffet concert.
I agree that some of the patterns are gorgeous...it's the matching shirt/muumuu combo that I tend to snicker at.
I had some friends stationed at Schofield and at Kaneohe Bay years ago. What a lucky place to be stationed!
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Don't take my comment wrong about the "aloha wear"...Aloha wear is beautiful....I love some of the muumuus as they can be very classic....what I was refering to was the matching shirt and muumuu combo that some tourists like to wear....
In Hawaii, 99% of business people whether lawyers or bankers will wear aloha wear every business day....and as Michelle mentioned, the most classic are the ones made on the reverse of the fabric, not the loud and colorful, but the muted and understated. The look is beautiful!

Matching Aloha Wear - not my style either, and I agree it's very much the tourist look; however, a friend of mine and seamstress who had lived in Kona since she was a teenager and loved to sew, used to make matching mu`umu`u and Hawaiian shirts for her and her husband (local guy, not local haole, but you know, mixed plate, real local kind of guy) to wear to church - and it was his idea lol.

To me, it's ok to be a tourist...I mean this is Hawaii's main economy. The locals I knew loved watching the tourists enjoy their Paradise as much as they loved poking fun (all good fun) at them. But again, that was Big Island. It's ok to look like a tourist if you don't mind the ribbing, but what's really not appreciated is the snooty tourist. A visitor/tourist is more accepted when she demonstrates a real interest in Hawaii, it's aina and host culture, rather than arriving with the attitude that she's better than and only there to waited upon. I guess it's the same everywhere. We get back what we send out. It's like what Sonia wrote in her post about living in Hawaii, about going with the island flow.

Matching Aloha Wear is funny, almost as funny as watching a tourist put their snorkeling gear and flippers while still on the beach and then trying to make their way through the sand to the water - or saying the "ALOHHHHA!" learned at a commercial style luau to locals instead of just a simple "howzit" "hi." But that's just funny.

A Frank Delima tape was playing on one of the TV's at Sears when I'd first moved to Hilo about 15 years ago, and he was poking fun at tourists and what they wear. But in true Delima style he was also poking fun at Hawaiians, Samoans, Japanese, his own ethnic group, Portueguese, and so on. And we (locals and tourists in their plaid shorts and matching Aloha Wear) were all laughing, at each other and ourselves.

How boring if we were all the same, and everyone dressed in clothes that were ever so subtle and tasteful. The important thing, like Sonia pointed out in her other thread is to enjoy the differences and to show aloha and respect for the culture and aina :-)

Aloha <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Cindy

I agree Cindy. Nobody anyplace likes a snooty tourist. I've traveled in Europe and everyone was always very nice even tho I was obviously an American. They liked to see me enjoying their country.

I think the key is being polite and enjoy the experience of being someplace new and different. Everyone responds to sincere interest in their town or city.