Honolulu, Hawaii

                        Interesting facts

1)    They wear white pants after Labor Day. Remember that old fashion rule your mother taught you about not wearing white after Labor Day? Well forget about it in Hawaii. White pants. White purses. White shoes. White hats. Anything goes. Since the weather is warm year-round, we wear the same wardrobe for summer and winter. They  don’t dress seasonally.

2)    Hawaii is the only U.S. state with two official languages. English and Hawaiian. Some locals like to think of Pidgin as an official language, but it’s not. It certainly can sound foreign, and it’s spoken a lot here, but Pidgin is not an “official” language.

3)    And speaking of Pidgin, it carries over into their local signage. You might see signs here with words misspelled, missing the “d.” for example:  “Shave Ice.” “Smoke Fish.” “Open Saturday. Close Sunday.” In Hawaii, that missing “d” it’s just understood.

4)    We greet with a hug, not a handshake. One of the FRIENDLY facts about Hawaii: We hug hello. We hug goodbye. We hug “I love you” and “I’m sorry” and “Nice to meet you” and “Thank you.” We just love to hug here! So don’t be shocked if a local gives you a hug instead of a handshake.
5)The Hawaiian word Aloha serves as both “hello” and “goodbye.” You pretty much can’t go wrong with a flexible greeting like that.