Hilton Head Island is an island in South Carolina. It is a beloved tourist destination because of its warm beaches, beautiful flora and fauna and rich history. It is such a popular tourist destination that locals joke that most of the people living there are not from South Carolina. This phenomenon is very intriguing, as many people who say how much they would like to move to their vacation spot never really act upon that wish.
My cousins did follow through with that wish a few years ago, and I was able to talk with them about that during my visit to Hilton Head. Here are some of the differences between visiting a place and moving to that place, using my recent vacation to Hilton Head and my family living there as examples.
First, the experience of visiting a vacation spot. It is always fun to go to a new area, explore the land and the culture and try new things that could not be done elsewhere. These things are done with the comfort of being able to return to a familiar place. During my stay at Hilton Head, I went to the beach, ate relatively fresh seafood and even saw a dolphin passing by. These are all things that are either uncommon or impossible back in Indiana, which makes them exciting, and makes South Carolina seem like an appealing place to call home.
On the other hand, actually moving to the vacation spot is not my area of expertise, but perhaps my family, who did end up moving to their favorite vacation spot, could shed some light on how that goes.
Q: What made you decide to move to Hilton Head?
Uncle Rob: “Well, we’ve been visiting Hilton Head for close to 20 years for our summer vacations. We really enjoy the pace and the lifestyle we’ve experienced down here. We knew back in 2022 that we were gonna move out of our current house because we had kids that were getting ready to graduate high school and move on. My company was open to remote work, and we knew we wanted to retire down here someday, so we decided to move earlier than retirement.
We chose Hilton Head because we liked the laid-back atmosphere and how it’s not overly commercialized. There are places that you can go to be a tourist and places on the island where you can go to be a resident and kind of avoid the traffic and things like that.”
Aunt Courtney: “I don’t think there was one decision, but we knew we wanted to move here when we retired, and we were both working from home because of covid, so we just started a conversation of ‘Why wait for 20 more years when we can move now?’ Our kids were game, so we did it.”
Q: What things do you like to do that are only available in Hilton Head?
Uncle Rob: “Number one is the beach. We enjoy going to the several beaches around the island. We also enjoy the warm weather that even happens during winter. We like to joke that there are only three seasons here. Moving here, we did factor in the seasons, as we didn’t want it to just be hot all the time.”
Aunt Courtney: “Going to the beach and going to the pool later in the year and not being cold. I also really like the bike paths that you can walk and bike on pretty much year-round.”
Adyson: “I like going to the beach, obviously, and pool time more throughout the year.”
Conner: “I like going to the beach and the outlet mall occasionally.”
Q: What things do you miss from your old home?
Uncle Rob: “We definitely miss family, but it’s good in this environment of social media to still be connected with people and events and stuff like that. That’s about it, the friends and family.”
Aunt Courtney: “Family. That’s probably it.”
Adyson: “I guess my friends that are still in Indiana.”
Conner: “I miss my friends and cousins.”
Q: How hard was it to transition to the lifestyle of Hilton Head?
Uncle Rob: “Not hard. We found a great church and some good friends. The cool thing about here is that very few people are from Hilton Head. The only person we know that is from here is the owner of The Ice Cream Cone (a local ice cream shop). This means that everybody around knows that you are new here and don’t know anybody when you first move in. The people in our neighborhood and the people at church were very welcoming and willing to help us get acclimated and meet new people.”
Aunt Courtney: “It wasn’t hard at all, but I think that’s because we vacationed here so much, so we kind of already knew the area, we knew the restaurants and the grocery stores and stuff like that.”
Adyson: “Not that hard. We got our community pretty fast, so we just kind of fit right in.”
Conner: “I still haven’t fully transitioned, so it was very difficult.”
Q: What was the hardest part of transitioning to the new area?
Uncle Rob: “Having the confidence that we were going to meet people. I think for Conner, it was a big adjustment. A lot of people his age go to college, and not a lot stick around, so that was a bit harder for him.”
Aunt Courtney: “The hardest thing was probably finding new doctors. Orthodontists, pediatricians, eye doctors, and the sorts.”
Adyson: “New schools. I was homeschooled before, so I had to figure out public school pretty quickly.”
Conner: “The hardest thing was finding friends here and leaving my old friends back in Indy.”
The answers had some obvious themes, with the beach being popular and family being missed. Unless one is moving to a place where family already is, missing family will be one of the hardest parts of moving for many people, especially if they are moving across the country or to a new one altogether. Of course, everyone will have a different experience when moving homes, but it is important to be well informed about how moving will affect one’s life.
