You know, we actually get a lot of calls asking if a passport is needed to enter Hawaii.
Is Hawaii a foreign country? Well, no, of course not. It’s the 50th of the United States and has been since 1959. But there are aspects of foreignness that make it seem so to a lot of people.
To begin with, it’s way out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, five hours away by plane from the West Coast. Our population has no ethnic “majority”; rather, a little bit of everything. There are two official languages: English and Hawaiian, but Hawaiian is rarely spoken, except when it’s sung. There’s a lot of pidgin, which everybody who lives here speaks a little. You can enjoy just about any kind of cuisine you can think of.
When you walk down the street, you’ll see people who look Asian, Hispanic, Middle-eastern, European and African-American, but we all dress pretty much alike to suit this wonderful climate.
No, you don’t need a passport, special paperwork, shots or anything. Everything considered, Hawaii’s like any other state in the union. Only nicer.
