We just moved into our new place here on Naxos, our home for the next month. As I sit in this little beach bar doing a couple hours of work, I thought I’d SQUIRREL! take a few moments to inventory and see how this place compares to my home back on Kauai.

How Naxos and Kauai are similar

• much sun, much water
• warm and welcoming to visitors
• lots of casual beach culture
• mountains, all over the place
• It’s Five ‘o’clock somewhere. All. The. Time. Mai Tais, anyone?
• great local food – poke, organic rum, and poi on Kauai; tzatziki, uzo, and honey-yogurt on Naxos
• public wifi is very common; widespread access to the laptop lifestyle if you look
• amazing, profound local culture with roots going back a long way
• traffic rules are pretty chill
• most evertywhere feels very safe
• lesbian-gay-friendly
• both have an off-season, where it’s still beautiful but ( even ) more affordable and ( even ) less crowded
• kinda diverse visitor base
• there’s always a chance you’ll see someone famous

great things about Naxos

• most places open late, including car rentals and street grocers
• most everything is very inexpensive
• soooooo many  beach bars/cafes, right on the beach
• no American points of stress – guns, politics, religion – are nonexistent here
• quads are street-legal
• freakishly clear water
• very self-sustaining; serious food production and export happening here
• way cheap inter-island transport
• ruins. Who doesn’t like ancient culture?
• freebie after dinner
• more arid – less humidity, less allergies, and less rain
• traffic rules are more like guidelines
• many mom & pop hotel/stay options, as well as independent food options
• stray animal kindness – cats are fed leftovers, given special dishes outside people’s homes, and mingle freely in the outdoor spaces. Dogs are treated well, but are much less common
• [edit] no centipedes or roaches!
• also, if it’s your thing…
  • european beer – lots of variety, and inexpensive
  • less conservative – more bare skin on the beach
  • smoking in bars, cafes, and restaurants
  • more dudes in Speedos

great things about Kauai

• it’s tropical – lush – wet and green all the time
• there’s English everywhere, all the time
• for Americans, it’s easy to get to, relatively speaking
• there’s surfing, in many varieties
• everything is kept up – very little graffiti or crumbling infrastructure, no abandoned structures ( except for CoCo Palms, of course! )
• more choices for American beer ( and other products )
• spirit of aloha prevelent
• no smoking in bars, cafes, or restaurants
• it’s all in dollars – not cheap, but you already have them in your wallet ( if you’re American, that is )
• shipping things to the mainland US is a sure thing, and not a roll of the dice
• everything closes down early – a pretty sleepy place
• you can flush the toilet paper. You don’t know how great this is until you can’t do it.
• a very organized rescue and response infrastructure, just in case
• traffic – the streets, signs, traffic laws and enforcement you’re used to
• because it’s in the US – language, military, border restrictions, symbols – although different, Kauai is probably tucked more snugly inside American visitors’ comfort zones
• easier to stay connected to American sportzing via sports bars
• intentional culture – very little littering, premium on organic goods and processes
• less speedos

 

Is there a winner to this throwdown?

Kauai is home, so I won’t be moving there too soon. But so far there doesn’t seem to be a clear “winner” for me.