Hawaii’s Best Travel | Things to Do in Hawaii & Travel Tips and Guides for Your Hawaii Vacation

Hawaii Travel Tips for First-Time Visitors (From a Local)

• Bryan Murphy | Certified Hawaii Travel Expert | Hawaii Vacation Planning & Travel Tips • Episode 182

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Have you ever wondered what locals really want visitors to know before coming to Hawaii?

Most travelers focus only on beaches and bucket-list spots, but what really makes your trip unforgettable is connecting with the culture, supporting local businesses, and embracing the aloha spirit.

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If you’ve ever wondered how to travel to Hawaii without being “that tourist”, this episode is for you. Learn how small acts of gratitude, supporting local businesses, and showing respect can transform your trip from just another vacation into something truly meaningful.

In this episode of our travel podcast, Kamaka Dias from Keep It Aloha shares powerful lessons on respecting Hawaiian culture, traveling responsibly, and connecting with the islands on a deeper level.

👉 In this episode, you will:

  • Discover why gratitude and a simple shaka can go further than you think.
  • Learn how to support local businesses across the Hawaiian Islands.
  • Understand what it means to “Keep It Aloha” and travel with intention.

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Scroll up ⬆️ and hit play now to learn how to keep your trip to Hawaii respectful, memorable, and full of aloha.

📱Connect with Kamaka:

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🎧Related episodes:

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đź’»Related blog posts:

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🤓Chapters:

  • 2:32 Insights on Hawaiian Culture and Aloha
  • 18:47 Embracing Aloha in Everyday Life
  • 21:12 Understanding Local vs. Hawaiian Identity
  • 25:05 Supporting Local Businesses in Hawaii
  • 27:24 Future Vision for Hawaii

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This Hawaii podcast is for travelers looking to plan a trip to Hawaii. Discover travel tips, itineraries, and traveling tips & hacks with guides to help you explore Hawaii. Whether you’re planning a Hawaii vacation to the islands, dreaming of a Hawaiian getaway, or visiting Honolulu, Maui, Kauai, Oahu, or Big Island we’ll help you travel with aloha.

Edge of the Ocean, Stick Figure (w/ permission)
Ukulele and Chill, Coby G (w/ permission)
Talk Story, Hawaiian Style Band (w/ permission)

182_Hawaii Travel Tips for First-Time Visitors (From a Local)


[00:00:00] Kamaka Dias: When I said, take, take, take and you gotta give back. You don't have to give money. You don't have to, you know, give your time to do anything specifically. 'cause we get it. You're on vacation or you're just moving here, you're figuring things out. I think the biggest thing that people can give is gratitude.

[00:00:12] Kamaka Dias: I think that's one of the biggest things that we want.

[00:00:17] Bryan Murphy: Kama Diaz is someone deeply rooted in Hawaiian culture and passionate about sharing its richness, and as he mentions normalizing Hawaiian. In today's episode, Kamaka takes us from the lush landscapes of Hilo on the island of Hawaii. To his transformative years in the Peace Corps in Madagascar, and back to his vital work with Hawaii Verse.

[00:00:38] Bryan Murphy: If you're curious about authentic Hawaiian culture, responsible travel, and living with true aloha, you won't wanna miss this episode. So stay tuned. Let's go. Aloha, and welcome to Hawaii's Best. The podcast helping Travelers Plan an unforgettable Hawaii vacation with insider tips in featuring local voices.

[00:01:00] Bryan Murphy: I'm Brian Murphy, a husband dad of three, and certified Hawaii destination expert. Each week I share local insights, travel tips, and up-to-date news, sometimes with guests across Hawaii and sometimes solo. All to help you plan your next trip to Hawaii.

[00:01:18] Bryan Murphy: Hello and welcome back to Hawaii's Best. It is great to. Be with you again.

[00:01:23] Bryan Murphy: Kama Diaz, as I mentioned in the, uh, the teaser intro, he is someone who truly embodies what it means to live with aloha and respect across all cultures. Kaka is a native Hawaiian, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese local boy from the big island of Hawaii where he grew up in Hilo Town.

[00:01:43] Bryan Murphy: He's fluent in Hawaiian, his first language, uh, from a young age, and he graduated from the University of Hawaii at Benoa. But Kamaka's journey didn't stop there at just academics. He ventured far beyond the island spending three incredible years with the Peace Corps in Madagascar. And after returning to Hawaii, he tackled a massive personal challenge that we're here, a little bit about the race to 50 K to pay off his student loans.

[00:02:09] Bryan Murphy: By doing all kinds of odd jobs, which he documented to inspire others as well. Now he's pouring his passion into supporting local businesses as the director of Outreach and host or his podcast. Keep it Aloha. So if you're planning a trip to Hawaii or just treatment of one, kamaka's insights are amazing, and I'll put 'em all together in a succinct spot on our website at hawaii's best travel.com.

[00:02:32] Bryan Murphy: And today we will dive into the importance of understanding local culture. How to be a respectful visitor and why giving back to the places you visit makes all the difference. And we also get into the nuts and bolts of ethical tourism, what that is, how to tangibly do that, and how to generally support local communities and not just take from them.

[00:02:52] Bryan Murphy: You can catch more of Kamaka's work@keepitaloha.com and follow their social channels like on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. For more aloha, be sure to check out his podcast. Keep it aloha wherever you gets your podcasts. Alright, so let's go ahead and let's talk story with Kamaka Diaz

[00:03:17] Bryan Murphy: Kaka. Thank you so much for your time. You're aloha and for coming on Hawaii's best today. How you doing man?

[00:03:23] Kamaka Dias: I'm good. Thank you so much for having me. It's great to meet you and I'm stoked to talk story.

[00:03:28] Bryan Murphy: Yeah, man. This is gonna be good. Talk a little bit about growing up on Hawaii Island, but also just kind of bring us up the speed of, of where you're at today.

[00:03:36] Kamaka Dias: I like to think I had had somewhat of an unorthodox childhood and even like still to this day. I grew up in Hilo, went to Hawaiian emergent schools all of my life until my junior year. Hawaiian was my first language. So ever since I was born, my dad only spoke Hawaiian with us. Even to this day, even our text messages, everything's in Hawaiian.

[00:03:55] Kamaka Dias: So I, I went through that process. I was really into sports. I played a lot of sports growing up, some video games on the side as well. So that was my, my two main passion. But this is, this is before like streaming and everything. It was just for fun. That kind. Yeah. And then my senior year of high school, I moved to Kaiser High School in Oahu to play football and soccer.

[00:04:15] Kamaka Dias: So I did that. I graduated from Kaiser. I went to, uh, Manoa was a super senior. I didn't know what I wanted to do. The first couple years I ended up majoring in communication, and my senior year I studied abroad in Spain, in Seville. And from that point on, I, I, I just caught the travel bug. I loved, yeah, learning about culture, languages, other people.

[00:04:38] Kamaka Dias: And I, I was just, just super hooked. So I came back to Manoa. I got a minor in Spanish. I studied abroad again in Argentina. But the, the biggest thing that I guess like the pivotal part of my life was when I was in Spain during that semester abroad.

[00:04:55] Bryan Murphy: Mm-hmm.

[00:04:56] Kamaka Dias: I learned about something called the Peace Corps because my resident director was in the Peace Corps in Micronesia a long time ago.

[00:05:01] Kamaka Dias: So I just overheard the conversation. I wasn't part of it, and I went home, looked it up. It just looked like everything I wanted to do. You can travel, you can help others. You can learn a new language, learn a new culture, you can challenge yourself. So, uh, that just sounded like everything I wanted to do and what I was looking for as I finished my college career.

[00:05:20] Kamaka Dias: So after I graduated in 2016, I went to Peace Corps Madagascar, and I was there for three years. I loved it so much. I extended for a year. Wow. And it was just the best experience of my life. It taught me so much. It gave me so much perspective on life and helped me understand others and myself at the same time.

[00:05:38] Kamaka Dias: Yeah, and then I got back in 2019 and I did this thing called the Race to 50 K, where I paid off $53,757 of student loans in one year. Just by doing a bunch of odd jobs like collecting cans and recycling yard work delivery, dressing up as buzz layer for a kids' birthday party. Like all, all kinds things worked every single day.

[00:05:58] Kamaka Dias: The grind, the hustle, it all the hustle. Love it. Exactly. It's so tiring. But I loved it and I love connecting with others. And this is during the pandemic as well. Crazy. So that made it a little bit more challenging. But I was able to finish in 11 months. And then while I was doing that, I met the people who had the idea to start Hawaii verse and they brought me on to kind of be the face.

[00:06:17] Kamaka Dias: Promote this idea that they have, they had was they wanted to create a coupon directory for local businesses. Kind of like a local version of Yelping Groupon. Right. And we started with 40 businesses in Hilo. We would do spotlight episodes, record a cool video at their place, promote them. Started with 40 businesses.

[00:06:34] Kamaka Dias: We grew to a thousand businesses statewide, and it kind of just exploded from there. And then at the end of 2021, we kind of transitioned out of those spotlight videos. We had an e-commerce store as well where we sold local products and we decided to start a podcast. And it's funny 'cause like podcast is my life now and it's my passion.

[00:06:54] Kamaka Dias: But I didn't even wanna start the podcast. They told me I should start a podcast and I was, I was kind of hesitant. They said they'll set it up. I just had to come up with a format and everything. And I started doing the podcast, which we started as what Averse podcast. And it just blew up so quickly and the conversations kind of started to go into culture and people more so than local businesses and entrepreneurship, even though we talk about everything, right, there's no topics that are off limit on the podcast.

[00:07:25] Kamaka Dias: So most recently we split the podcast from our business Hawaii verse, and now it's Keep It Aloha podcast. And that's what we're doing today.

[00:07:35] Bryan Murphy: You mentioned you only came back in 2019, so this is like Oh yeah. Still fairly recent. Mm-hmm. Like a lot has happened in these last couple years. And I'm curious, in all your travels and specifically Madagascar, what, what was it like for you traveling kind of as an outsider, mahany, if you will, to another location?

[00:07:55] Kamaka Dias: In Madagascar, they have a word that we have in Hawaii that's similar to Hale. It's called Zaha. Oh,

[00:08:00] Bryan Murphy: okay.

[00:08:01] Kamaka Dias: That's what. Foreigners and travelers who are malagasy are referred to, or pretty much anybody, just white or that doesn't look like they're malagasy. None. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And and it's similar in a lot of countries like that where, where they have a lot of visitors, there's usually a word for how it, and that was a big, I guess, step in my journey of discovering what I was and finding out my identity and giving me perspective on.

[00:08:31] Kamaka Dias: Being a howle. 'cause for the first time in my life I was a howle. I was a howle living in another country. I was trying to dress like them, speak like them, eat like them. And to me I was doing it out of respect. But when I reflected on that and I thought back of my life here in Hawaii, I would always get upset at people doing that.

[00:08:52] Kamaka Dias: People coming here and they're matching Aloha shirts with their family and saying, Maha, Mahalo and aloha saying words poorly, pronouncing them poorly. And I would get annoyed by that. And then I, I realized, wow, I, I'm doing the same thing about a gas card and I'm not doing it to be disrespectful. I'm doing it as a sign of respect.

[00:09:11] Kamaka Dias: So that really shifted my mindset and gave me a, a new perspective and a little bit more empathy for the people coming here. But it also made me realize that. You know, it's okay to live in another place and travel, but there always has to be some, some sort of gift back, you know? Mm-hmm. My thing is like, what value are you bringing to that place?

[00:09:34] Kamaka Dias: And I think that's the biggest issue with here in Hawaii. If people move here and they take, take, take, you know that that's all they wanna do is enjoy the island, you know, buy a nice property over here and they don't add anything to the community. So that's my biggest thing is where, and it, it's even made me hesitant to travel.

[00:09:53] Bryan Murphy: Hmm.

[00:09:54] Kamaka Dias: I, I haven't traveled outside of the US since I've been back, but I'm so much more conscious of being a good visitor and a good guest that I, I almost don't wanna. Put myself in that How lit shoes again.

[00:10:07] Bryan Murphy: Wow. We could like deep dive into that right there. I'm just so curious. Can you think of that family all matching, you know, Aloha shirts or quote Hawaiian shirts.

[00:10:18] Bryan Murphy: Yeah.

[00:10:18] Kamaka Dias: Yeah. It's Aloha shirts people. Right, right.

[00:10:22] Bryan Murphy: If you had to like, okay, maybe we could drill down a little bit, but like your biggest. Tip you mentioned like take, take, take, take, but like what is like the biggest tip that you can give someone traveling to Hawaii? How to give back?

[00:10:34] Kamaka Dias: Yeah. I think, I mean, it depends what your intentions are.

[00:10:36] Kamaka Dias: I think that that's the biggest thing is what are your intentions here? Is your intention just to go to the beach and go to all of the nice places in Waikiki, have a have a real touristy. Vacation, which is fine, you know, just don't do anything dumb. But are you trying to move here, live here, create a family here with that, you know, I think it's good to, you know, maybe look for some organizations to volunteer, you know, if you really wanna get involved in the community.

[00:11:04] Kamaka Dias: But I think at the lowest scale is just educating yourself on the history and the people. And knowing what to do and what not to do over here. Because when I said Take, take, take and you gotta give back, you don't have to give money. You don't have to, you know, give your time to do anything specifically.

[00:11:20] Kamaka Dias: 'cause we get it. You're on vacation or you're just moving here, you're figuring things out. But I think the biggest thing that people can give is gratitude. I think that's one of the biggest things that we want. When I see someone crossing the street, or I let somebody go on a crosswalk and they don't throw up the chaka.

[00:11:36] Kamaka Dias: They don't wave or acknowledge you. That that is one of my biggest pet peeves. It would be so much different if they just threw up a shaka. They mouthed the word. Thank you like that, that sometimes that's all we need is the acknowledgement that I did something nice for you. I showed Mya Lo, how you gave me a law back.

[00:11:52] Kamaka Dias: I see you, and it's something as small as that. To me is like giving back or just, you know, not going in the the sacred places or just Sure. Not saying flip flops. I don't know. There's levels. Yeah, there's a lot of levels. It levels. Yeah. But yeah, the simplest, simplest level. Throw up the shock. I said when when in doubt, shock out.

[00:12:16] Kamaka Dias: When in doubt. Dumb and pinky out. There you go.

[00:12:20] Bryan Murphy: A lot of the conversation I think around like giving back. Goes into like volunteerism, you know, it's like such a hot word and, and giving you your time and, and you know, but you know, grandma's got the stuff booked up at the Sheridan and we gotta go eat at Duke's on Sunday and we gotta do this and that.

[00:12:36] Bryan Murphy: Like, when are we gonna go volunteer? And it's like, okay, you mentioned something that's so tangible. Gratitude is so, is so huge, and I think that can lead into a, want to hear your definition of aloha and, and just the thought behind the title of the podcast. Keep it aloha. What does that mean to you? And aloha in itself.

[00:12:59] Bryan Murphy: But just the phrase, keep it, aloha.

[00:13:02] Kamaka Dias: I love that. I usually ask my guests what, what does keeping it aah mean to them and what the definition of all law is. So now it's lit.

[00:13:09] Bryan Murphy: I've stalked you a little bit. Yeah, yeah,

[00:13:11] Kamaka Dias: yeah. I think it's interesting 'cause everyone interprets it differently. I've gotten some really interesting answers when people tell me what keeping it aloha means to them.

[00:13:20] Kamaka Dias: For me, I think keeping it aloha is just having patience, having compassion, and having love towards others and yourself. You know? Mm-hmm. When, like when I see that person that I, that cross the road and they didn't throw up the chaka, they didn't acknowledge me. You know, I tell myself I gotta keep it. Aah, you know, Aloha always wins, you know, because to me, aloha is unconditional.

[00:13:50] Bryan Murphy: Hmm.

[00:13:51] Kamaka Dias: But, you know, so I can show you aloha and I don't expect anything back. But I do believe at its core, Aloha is reciprocal. To fulfill that circle of aloha, you need some sort of reciprocity, you know? Mm-hmm. I do something for you and you do something for me, and it doesn't always have to be, you know, something physical, tangible.

[00:14:10] Kamaka Dias: It's just like, like I said, growing up a chaka. To me, that's what the essence of, of aloha is, is showing that I see you, you see me. Let, let's just talk, think about like the, the avatar. Yeah. You know the blue people, right? When they, they say like, I see you, right? That that's a law, is that it's understanding.

[00:14:27] Kamaka Dias: It's like, I see where you're coming from, you see where I'm coming from. It's all aloha each other and this world would be so much better. So yeah, keeping it aloha is really just like, I guess to some, summarize it for me. I think understanding and compassion.

[00:14:41] Bryan Murphy: Hmm. As native Hawaiian, do you ever get tired of that?

[00:14:45] Kamaka Dias: I think I get annoyed when people don't, don't do things. But then, but then I also have that perspective where I can understand where they're coming from because maybe that's not just. Their culture. Maybe that's, that wasn't the way they were raised and that's why you need to have nui. You need to have patience.

[00:15:03] Kamaka Dias: Because one of the other things I realized when I was in Madagascar is not everybody thinks the way you think. Not everybody's gonna do things exactly the way you do it without, when I moved into the city during my third year, Madagascar, I would, I lived in an apartment, so a lot of people would come through through my apartment when they came to the capitol and.

[00:15:22] Kamaka Dias: I would always take off my slippers or shoes before going into my house. And then some other volunteers that are from different parts of the state, they would just come in with their slippers or shoes, and then I would, I would always kind of cringe and like, you know, have a little ex exorcism inside of my, my body, don't, you know?

[00:15:39] Kamaka Dias: Yeah. And then I, I'd be, oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. Can you just take off your slippers? And then eventually I got so annoyed by that. I mean, I didn't vocalize it, but in my head I'm just like, how are you dis disrespectful? Unaware that you cannot even take off your slips and shoes when you walk into my house.

[00:15:55] Kamaka Dias: But then I, again, I, you know, reflected on it and I thought maybe that's just not how they were raised. Sure. You know, and, and instead of me getting angry at them, which a lot of people do here, but you see something happen, you're just angry. You, you yell at them, educate them. I think that's the biggest thing that we can do.

[00:16:13] Kamaka Dias: 'cause if you educate them that they won't do it again. And if you do it in a, in a nice manner. Then they're gonna receive it way better than if you were just yelling at them, or you let the bird do them, you know?

[00:16:26] Bryan Murphy: Right. What are some resources and, and maybe the podcast in Hawaii versus one of those resources, but if someone is looking to, you mentioned even just learning a little bit about Hawaiian history and getting educated on maybe some of the, the dos and the don'ts, what are some resources that you'd recommend?

[00:16:47] Kamaka Dias: Yeah, I would follow Hawaii creators, maybe the, the people who actually are from here and have a perspective. 'cause you know, you follow people who moved here for college and live here and they're showing you all the secret places to take a picture, you know, or something like that. Yeah. Maybe those are the, the right people to follow.

[00:17:04] Kamaka Dias: If you really wanna educate yourself on the true Hawaiian history. I think the podcast that I host is a really good resource. People learn a lot from that. I, I get a lot of really good people. And it's pretty much just me asking dumb questions to smart people. And it's so educational. I think there we're at a point where my generation is doing a lot of things for the Hawaiian community, trying to educate people and use social media as a way to share our story instead of just the romanticized version of Hawaii.

[00:17:37] Kamaka Dias: Mm-hmm. So, yeah, just look out for that. People, um, find the guests that I had on my podcast, Kool-Aid. I think she just got married, so her last name is different right now, but she, she's a musician and she, she has really good thoughts on Hawaiian language and Hawaiian culture. I, I like following her. So, yeah,

[00:17:57] Bryan Murphy: and as you're listening, I will link up some of the episodes that we've had.

[00:18:01] Bryan Murphy: We've had Elijah McShane on. Yeah, we talked about the, some of the do's and don'ts we had Kahani, so Lario on we talked about. Yeah. Awesome. He's been a few times actually, um, defining Aloha and talking about a little bit about Hawaiian history and just kinda talking story about that and, and educating. So those are some good resources.

[00:18:22] Kamaka Dias: Yeah, I was just thinking as I, I finished explaining Aloha and you brought it up again. I feel like my definition of aloha always changes. Like you could ask me a week from now and it might be different. Sure. I wa I got a recording video for somebody telling them what aloha means. And you know, when I was rehearsing it in my head the last week, I was thinking like, you know, Aloha and a love for the Latin, love for others love, love for oneself, and now, you know.

[00:18:47] Kamaka Dias: Where I'm at this week, whatever's going on in my world, I'm like, oh, it's compassion, it's patience, it's understanding. Mm-hmm. And that's because just the other day when I was going surfing, I saw somebody go across the street and he threw up the chaka and I really appreciated that. So, you know, that's why I brought up that example.

[00:19:04] Kamaka Dias: So I feel like aloha is always, it's, it's contextual, just like the language. So it's, you know, whatever's going on in your life, maybe the aloha that you show and you receive is, is different at different parts of your life.

[00:19:15] Bryan Murphy: I want to touch on something because the chaka and maybe saying Aloha or Mahalo or mm-hmm.

[00:19:21] Bryan Murphy: Whatever. It's not trite. Like it's really encouraged. Is that, is that what I'm hearing? Like, so someone, you know, traveling and like, maybe they want to, you know, throw up a shaka, but like, I don't know. Is that, is that okay? I, I

[00:19:34] Kamaka Dias: hear that. What I mean a lot. Yeah. And I get where they're coming from 'cause it's like.

[00:19:39] Kamaka Dias: You, you don't wanna be that wannabe. Right, right. That, that's the I'm trying to get at person. It's the same thing as traveling anywhere. Learn, learn a language. You have to get past that, that shame in. In Hawaiian culture, we say ahha, it's uh, dare to dance, leave a shyness at home. Hmm. You know, that, that's one of the, the sayings that we use.

[00:20:01] Kamaka Dias: I think it's good when people. Do that. I used, I used to have a different perspective growing up. I was like, I don't want him to do that. Oh, okay. But because I want, I would love to have Hawaiian normalized. In Hawaii. Oh,

[00:20:13] Bryan Murphy: you're right, right, right. I would

[00:20:14] Kamaka Dias: love hearing people say aloha and mahalo. Even just the smallest words.

[00:20:17] Kamaka Dias: Right. You don't have to know how to say a whole sentence in Hawaiian, but if you just use certain things like, oh, well, why does it say can? Or this bathroom sign. Oh ha. Which means, man, you know, everything's in education. Yeah. Well sign everything. An educational o opportunity. And I do appreciate when people try to use the language because as a.

[00:20:40] Kamaka Dias: You know, traveler myself, if I go to Madagascar, I wanna say, man, I wanna say for thank you. If I am in a Spanish-speaking country, I wanna say gracias. You know? So I, I think people, the locals appreciate that sometimes, you know, it can be cringey. 'cause you know, it's like you see somebody saying a word that you're so used to hearing with a weird pronunciation.

[00:21:05] Kamaka Dias: But I think, I think locals need to have more compassion for others.

[00:21:09] Bryan Murphy: Well, let's, let's define that real quick.

[00:21:12] Bryan Murphy: Local versus Hawaiian. Yeah. A lot of people talk about supporting local, and I think this will kind of lead to talking more about Hawaii verse, but what is local and then what does it mean to support local?

[00:21:23] Kamaka Dias: Yeah, so Hawaiian, you know, somebody with the blood, Hawaiian blood, and if you look back in our history, you know, Hawaii could also mean somebody that was a resident here or lived, had nationality here. But I think more so how the more accepted term these days is if you're Hawaiian, you have somebody with a bud.

[00:21:42] Kamaka Dias: It's not like you're born in California, you're a Californian. Sure. So if you're born in Hawaii, it doesn't automatically make you a Hawaiian. You can live the Hawaiian lifestyle. You can have the Hawaiian mindset, but I think that that's kind of like a controversial thing these days for a local, I think it's anybody who was born and raised here, maybe even somebody who's been here for a while.

[00:22:03] Kamaka Dias: For me, I think it's, it's all about how you. Behave and your mindset and how you act. 'cause I can see right so, so quickly if somebody's local or somebody's not, or they try to pretend like they're local 'cause they've been here for the last 10 years, every six months because they own a house over here.

[00:22:22] Kamaka Dias: You know what it is? They got their Mahalo rewards cards. Like in that South Park episode? I

[00:22:28] Bryan Murphy: don't that episode's so spot on. Yeah, it's

[00:22:30] Kamaka Dias: so good. Yeah, I don't think there's, you know, one specific term for local. I mean, if you look in the diction scenario, explain what a local is, but I mean, if I am just trying to make it as simple as possible, it's just somebody who is born and raised here but isn't Hawaiian or somebody who's lived here for a really long time and is integrated with the community.

[00:22:55] Kamaka Dias: I don't, yeah, I, I feel like maybe that's one of the biggest things. If you're not integrated into the community, maybe you're not so much a local. Yeah.

[00:23:04] Bryan Murphy: Yeah. That makes sense. The phrase Hawaiian at heart, Israel ole kinda, I remember there was a, a concert that he mentioned that phrase, and the first time I heard that phrase, how does that phrase sit with you?

[00:23:17] Kamaka Dias: I personally kinda like it. I know that's not a popular thing to say and OB Japan got a lot of slack for that when he was running for governor. Saying Hawaiian at heart, it's tough because I've been in places where I felt so in touch with the local community. Like in Madagascar, I felt like I was malagasy because I spoke the language and again, like there's, there's levels to this.

[00:23:43] Kamaka Dias: You know, people come. Don't come here and learn Hawaiian and then live in the middle of nowhere and really get in touch with the Hawaiian cultures. Like I was like, yeah, I went with a Peace Corps and one of the goals, you know, to live like the local bowls, like I got water from a, well, I lived in a community where.

[00:23:58] Kamaka Dias: You know, there was no one else that looked like me, so I really got to live that malagasy lifestyle and speak like them and everything. So I, you know, at that point I, I felt like I was malagasy at heart. I, I wouldn't, you know, ever be malagasy, you know, it's, it's more of like a, a joke if I ever said like, ah, if I, if iasi, it's like, I'm, I'm, I'm already gai, you know, it's more of a joke and they think it a lot better than if you said it over here.

[00:24:21] Kamaka Dias: Like, oh, I'm already one. Say. If you say that, then you're gonna get some stink eyes. Yeah. Yeah. So. I think Hawaii is a very specific situation where you can't do that just because of the trauma, I think from past and you know, the indoctrination, assimilation, colonizations, all the Asian words. I think it's because of that, that people are more sensitive to that stuff.

[00:24:48] Kamaka Dias: Today I feel that I have a unique perspective because I've traveled and lived, lived abroad. I feel like a lot of people probably don't have that same mindset. And I like to think of myself as the bridge between, you know, both kind of generations.

[00:25:03] Bryan Murphy: Right.

[00:25:05] Bryan Murphy: So maybe talk a little bit about how you guys with Hawaii's verse are supporting local.

[00:25:10] Kamaka Dias: Well, we're doing what we've built in the last three years is something very special that I wish more people got on what was on board. I mean, we have a lot of supporters and our name is pretty well known in the community, but I feel like. It's still, it's still hard to train people to do something right?

[00:25:29] Kamaka Dias: To train them to go on the app and look for local businesses and even support local and buy local because it's not always convenient. Supporting local is is not the most convenient thing. It's more expensive. Yeah. It maybe, it might take longer for your thing to get to you if you order something online because it's a, you know, small business.

[00:25:50] Kamaka Dias: You, yeah. We don't have the luxuries of having factories and workers and. You know, print on demand stuff, you know, stuff like that. So you know, what we're doing with Hawaii versus is giving them accessible ways to support local, you know? Mm-hmm. Just instead of going to McDonald's or Taco Bell, just going to Hawaii versus app, look for the local businesses that are around you that have food.

[00:26:16] Kamaka Dias: You know, instead of going to Zara or. Macy's or something, just go in waves and look for some local retail shops, you know? So we're giving them opportunities to support local, and for me it's really just about creating the environment and showing them that it's a possibility. But the main thing is really just shifting your mindset and being more conscious of how you support local, because I don't think it's feasible to support local all the time.

[00:26:45] Kamaka Dias: You know, at midnight, there's no local places open. You, maybe there's a few, but Taco Bell's open. There's Taco Bell. Yeah. Maybe McDonald. So, I mean, I, I Jack in the box, maybe those are times, you know, you go, yeah, you go to those places, but you know, in the daytime when it's possible, try your best to support local.

[00:27:03] Kamaka Dias: You know, even if you gotta pay a little bit more, I'd rather pay a little bit more to buy something knowing that it's going to support a local family rather than, you know, going to. A corporation. So like, I don't, I haven't been to McDonald's since I got back from Madagascar or like one of those fast food.

[00:27:19] Kamaka Dias: I don't, I don't eat at uh, fast food places like that.

[00:27:22] Bryan Murphy: Supporting local is huge.

[00:27:24] Bryan Murphy: Which kind of leads me to, I think like a, maybe a, a bigger question, but I want to get your thoughts on it, you know, since, I mean, there's, there's been criticism about the commercialization of Hawaiian culture and how do you, or how would you navigate that issue in promoting, if you will, ethical tourism?

[00:27:46] Kamaka Dias: I think you gotta work with the locals. Nobody knows the perspective. Nobody knows the local community better than the locals and you know, not, not even just the Hawaiian, but like the local people that are born and raised here that grow up here. I mean, if you can hire Hawaiians that that's even better.

[00:28:06] Kamaka Dias: You know, I think. Working with the locals is the best way to go to do that. And like I, I was just thinking about this recently, like we don't need to keep everyone away from Hawaii. I think there's a good balance where we can work together with some people, you know, on the continent and some people over here and kind of work together to make Hawaii a better place.

[00:28:27] Bryan Murphy: So in working together with visitors, travelers, maybe people who are moving to the, onto the islands, if you had a magic wand, like how would you see. Hawaii ideal place in as far as community and and thriving. What does a thriving Hawaii look like to you?

[00:28:46] Kamaka Dias: I would wave that magic wand to. Take all the, uh, tourists out of the surfing zone so we can have so much more waves for surfing.

[00:28:57] Kamaka Dias: That, that'd be the first thing exactly that I think my, my ideal Hawaii, the one that I envision is kind of going back to that Ahu WA system where it's like this ecosystem where, you know, people up in the mountains are helping people down in the sea. Everyone has their own roads as farmer fishermen. And now we kind of have this modern world where we have social media or we have business side.

[00:29:24] Kamaka Dias: I feel like trying to create this modern is my, my main thing, and having local Hawaiians realize that what you're doing is okay and you're still supporting the community by doing what you're doing. It just looks different these days. You know? You're not gonna find me in the law. That much. You're not gonna find me fishing or doing whatever.

[00:29:45] Kamaka Dias: I feel like what I'm doing in social media, in business is what I'm contributing to my community of Hawaii. And I feel like it's just growing that mindset and letting people know that it's okay to be doing what you're doing. You, we don't all don't have to be farmers. We all don't have to be hunting and shooting bulls all the time.

[00:30:08] Kamaka Dias: That that's, um, boar. In the English language pigs, but I, I do hope a lot there, there will be a lot more farmers and Hawaii becomes a lot more sustainable so that if the ships stop coming, we would be able to last more than two weeks. I'm gonna be honest, I probably won't ever be somebody, we're gonna be a farmer, but I would, I would love to know how to grow my own food.

[00:30:35] Kamaka Dias: So if that ever happens, if the zombie apocalypse came, you know, I, I'd be able to do that. And it, it's just one of those, those things that, you know, I have to get better at, you know?

[00:30:47] Bryan Murphy: Mm-hmm.

[00:30:47] Kamaka Dias: That in that phase of my life as a Hawaiian, I have the language, I have the culture, I know the traditions. There's still a lot of aspects of my life that I wanna be better.

[00:30:56] Bryan Murphy: What are some things that you're looking forward to as far as like, you think all, all things considered from the podcast to Hawaii verse, you know. I don't wanna say like what's next, but like what are you excited about now and maybe some, some goals you have.

[00:31:11] Kamaka Dias: I'm really excited to just keep doing what I do and keep meeting people and building the connections.

[00:31:17] Kamaka Dias: I like to say connections. 'cause connections are, are strong, but connections are better. It is like. That relationship between locals, between kaka, between Hawaiians, it's a lot, it's a lot stronger. I wanna, you know, keep building community. I wanna inspire others to do the same. I really wanna see the Hawaiian language thrive.

[00:31:38] Kamaka Dias: I think that's one of my main thing of what, what makes me super excited, because from the time I was in Hawaiian Emergency School until now, I've seen it grown so much. We were at the brink of extinction. It was a D language, and now I think it's a thriving language. Hmm, there's so many people speaking it.

[00:31:52] Kamaka Dias: There's a lot of resources. I, I do believe in the next 10 to 20 years, the landscape of Hawaii with supporting local, with the Hawaiian language, with ecotourism. I think it's gonna be so much better if we can get people in positions of power, because I feel like what I'm doing is really important to spread the word.

[00:32:13] Kamaka Dias: And I do believe that with Hawaii verse and my podcast, we can make change, but. It's really hard to do that from the ground level. I feel like we do need Hawaiians in office. We do need to kind of kick out a lot of the people that don't have the interest of Hawaii. Mm-hmm. In their mind, some people without political agendas.

[00:32:33] Kamaka Dias: But I, I do believe in the next, like I said, 10 to 20 years, maybe even longer. And, you know, even if it's the next generation after us, I, I'm not even gonna lie for that. I, I hope that there is some sort of change that gives Hawaiian people and local people the upper hand. Because we've been at such a disadvantage for so long.

[00:32:52] Kamaka Dias: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I, I don't wanna let a victim Carter or, you know, have that victim mentality. I'm the kind of person like, okay, this sucks. Let's work harder. You know?

[00:33:00] Bryan Murphy: Mm-hmm.

[00:33:01] Kamaka Dias: Hawaii's really expensive. Well, let me make a lot of money so that I can live here. But, you know, not everybody has that mindset. So I do wanna be, find out a way to help people live here and thrive in Hawaii.

[00:33:13] Kamaka Dias: E Yeah. There's a lot of things that we can do, but I'm just trying to do. Whatever I can do in my lake.

[00:33:18] Bryan Murphy: Yeah. That's beautiful man. What are some of your top eats on Oahu?

[00:33:23] Kamaka Dias: I love acai bowls. Yeah. You know, it's like one of my favorite, or smoothies. That's one of my favorite cold surf snack. I like smoothies from La Kai.

[00:33:33] Kamaka Dias: There's usually one everywhere, so it's too breezy to go the health bar and Diamond Head has good Sables with the pa EA on top. Another health bar. I think they're like Brazilian owned or something like that. The owners are really nice. They, they make a good acai bowl. And then in one of my favorite coconuts, uh, in co arena mm-hmm.

[00:33:54] Kamaka Dias: In Hu Kai, they have really good acai bowls with toasted coconut flakes. And then for food, I, I really like, I don't eat out too much, but I really like Highway Inn. That's usually like a, one of the places that I bring my friends if they're visiting, 'cause they have good Hawaiian food. It's kind of like family style and then Pioneer Cafe, they have good food as well.

[00:34:16] Kamaka Dias: Yeah, that's probably some, I'm, I'm sure I'm missing a whole lot of other places, but those are usually my, my go-to places in like Salt Cock. Well, you can find good places there. Even Mo Kitchen, that's a good place as well.

[00:34:28] Bryan Murphy: Yeah, yeah.

[00:34:29] Kamaka Dias: I got wear some Hilo spots 'cause you know, that's, that's my hometown.

[00:34:33] Kamaka Dias: Yeah,

[00:34:33] Bryan Murphy: yeah, for sure.

[00:34:34] Kamaka Dias: So Poke Market probably one of the best poke bulls you'll ever have. They have really good sides. Cool shave ice, uh, in downtown Hilo by the farmer's market. They're on Hawaii versus, so if you mention Hawaii versus to get a dollar off, the best shave ice I've ever had, well, we sit ice shaved needle, but it, it's the guests you'll ever have all or organic natural flavors.

[00:34:55] Kamaka Dias: There's one they put like hot pure cream on top. It's, it's amazing. So definitely check those places out. And if you wanna be a little bit more fancy, moon and turtle, they source from a lot of local farmers. Super good. Okay. Right on. So yeah, east side, west side, I'm sorry. East side or West side? East side or west side?

[00:35:12] Kamaka Dias: Well, I mean, so sometimes my hair club would say West Side, but I, I'm a East side boy, you know, you know, east Side. And when I moved Tohu, I lived in Hawaii, my grandma, and that's also East side. So even though I wanna, you know. Yep. A West side bang on. I am an East Side boy. I am turning into a townie now. I live right by Allana Surf Town, so you know, I'm just accepting my reality.

[00:35:41] Kamaka Dias: Yeah.

[00:35:42] Bryan Murphy: Kama, thank you so much for coming on. Curious how people can find y verse, how people can find Keep it. Aloha podcast.

[00:35:50] Kamaka Dias: You can find us on Instagram and Facebook for Hawaii verse even TikTok. And then our website weavers.com. Keep it aloha. We are everywhere. We try to dominate social media or on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.

[00:36:06] Kamaka Dias: We post new clips every single day, maybe even more than one clip every single day. So you see a lot of Keep it Aloha Spam from us and then keep it aloha.com. Uh, I forgot we just created a website and we're selling our merch right over here. Keep it. Aloha. And we'll have more in the future. Yeah. Only been doing it for about a year and a half, so we still have a, a long way to go and a lot more exciting thing to come.

[00:36:29] Kamaka Dias: Cool. Yeah.

[00:36:30] Bryan Murphy: Kaka, thank you so much for coming on today, man. Appreciate you,

[00:36:33] Kamaka Dias: Mahala. I appreciate it.

[00:36:36] Bryan Murphy: Maha Nui to Kaka for his time and for coming on the show. I hope his story and insight have given you a deeper appreciation for what it means to truly engage with and respect the local cultures and communities that we all visit, especially.

[00:36:51] Bryan Murphy: Hawaii. A couple of things I take away from our conversation today. First, traveling with intention isn't just about where you go, it's about how you connect with the place and its people. And like Kama has said, it's about giving back, not just taking. And a second thing that really stood out to me was the importance of showing gratitude.

[00:37:12] Bryan Murphy: Something as simple as a chaka or thank you Mahalo, uh, can really go a long way and reflect the aloha spirit in making meaningful impact. And like I mentioned, you can find the resources we mentioned today. And a bit more about Kakas projects at our show notes page, Hawaii's best travel.com/ 1 2 4 where we dive in more about these topics and some of the resources mentioned in today's episode.

[00:37:39] Bryan Murphy: And if you found value in today's episode, love to hear from you. You can share this podcast with a friend or drop a review wherever you. Get your podcast and every little bit helps spreading the aloha and helping others discover beautiful Hawaii. So until next time, be well and keep it. Aloha

[00:38:00] Bryan Murphy: Mahala for listening to this episode of Hawaii's Best. To stay up to date on future episodes, hit follow on your podcast app. Hawaii's Best is a production of Shore Break media group with editing by easy podcast solutions and music courtesy of our friends stick figure.


People on this episode

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Bryan Murphy

Host
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Shorebreak Media Group

Producer
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Kamaka Dias

Guest