Every year more than 300,000 people go from Puget Sound to the Hawaiian Islands, with 445 flights leaving Sea-Tac for the islands this month alone, making us the Aloha state’s second biggest U.S. travel market (after Californians, who frankly don’t need the sun as much as we do).

In some ways Hawaii is the opposite of Seattle, with its feral chickens and swaying palms, beaches you can walk barefoot and waves that don’t require a wet suit. There’s the ways it’s familiar; Hawaii has active volcanoes and miles of coastline, just like we do, a come-as-you-chill dress code, and a bewildering cost of living. Meanwhile census estimates tell us that 58,000 people of Pacific island descent live in Washington state. Here in Seattle, the rising popularity of poke and shave ice is evidence that Hawaii’s “expats” are bringing aloha stateside.

So come explore Hawaii’s four main islands with us. All have beaches and mai tais, but each enjoys its own distinct vibe worth exploring. As Northwesterners, we fit right in. Because it’s a completely different world.