Don't forgets?

Hello Katie,

Get copies of perscriptions if you have any; medicine, glasses, contacts.
Forward your mail.
Don't forget your social security card... some employers ask to see it. And an id of some sort... license, passport.

Good Luck.

--Islander

Don't forget your craft stuff if you are into it. It is impossible to buy anything but an F or G crochet hook here! And the yarns are very, very limited on St. Thomas.
Pamela.

Bug Spray - prices here are about the same as at home, but if you're prone to bites as badly as I am, you'll want to bring some with you so you don't have to rush out and buy some right away. If you're bringing pets, we brought about a weeks worth of their food with us, again, so we wouldn't have to rush out for it.

Bring an extra month's worth of prescription drugs along with the actual prescriptions. Sometimes the pharmacies here need to order your meds in the right dosage or quantity, and that can take a long time.

Bring at least one picture of your favorite season (mine's fall). While I adore the never-ending summer here, I miss the fall color tour drive down the GW Parkway. Having good pics that I can use as a screen saver or display on my desk help. They also help you keep track of time passing since it's hard for us newbies to tell one season from the next using the subtle seasonal changes that happen here.

If you're selling a car and live in Virginia, be sure to turn in the plates and all stickers to the DMV before you go. We had no idea they wanted all this back -- everywhere else you simply destroy the plates and the tax and inspection stickers are transferrable. That's how we did it this time, too, and we're still getting letters from the VA DMV asking us to explain why we cancelled insurance on a car we no longer own -- even though they have issued a new title to the new owner and were notified that the car was sold before we left.

I know time is going to fly over the next several weeks -- we'll be seeing you here in no time at all. Here's my wishes for a smooth and stress free move.

HC

Hello there HC- I am shipping one vehicle down to STT. Do I need to notify DMV before I go? I have Virginia plates, Virginia inspection sticker, and also a Virginia county sticker. Also, should I cancel my car insurance before I go or do I just wait and notify Geico once we get on the island? Any info would be helpful...I wasn't even thinking about this end of the shipping. I have been focusing on the financials of it. Oops!

Katie

Katie,

I wouldn't let the DMV kniw before you go -- you'll need to have those plates on the car in order to move it from the port to the DMV (you also need a permit to move it - see the section on Shipping a Car). When the car gets registered and inspected, peel off the stickers and send them and the plates back to the DMV. (Side note: we think having that fresh VA inspection sticker on a relatively new car is the reason the inspector on STX just gave us our new sticker without doing a inspection.)

Don't cancel your GEICO coverage before you go. Even though that policy won't cover anything that happens to the car during its time on the boat, it may come in handy if your car needs to be driven to the shipping port, etc.. Once you get here, buy insurance and then notify GEICO (man do I miss them!). GEICO should be willing to do the same for you that they doid for us: cancel the policy effective the day the car arrived on island and mail you a rebate check for the balance of the policy coverage. (The check arrived quickly.)

A few more thoughts . If you have cable, make arrangements for Comcast to come pick up your boxes a few days before you leave. They missed our first pick up call on the day that we moved outand we had to go back the day we closed on the sale to get them to take the equipment. Make sure they sign off on what they got and that it is accurate -- have had earlier nightmares with getting billed for equipment we never had. A

Also, let the phone company and cable folks know your forwarding address when you call to cancel service. Don't pay the last phone bill you receive before you leave as it will be adjusted because they make you pay it forward. Giving both places your new address at the time of cancellation let's them mail you the final bill and/or any rebates due to you right away.

Get your change of address forms into the Post Office ast least two weeks before you want them to start forwarding mail. Even then, I guarantee that some mail will still get delivered to your old address, so it's helpful to ask the new owner/tenant/a neighbor
to watch for your mail and forward it on to your new address.

That's all I can think of for now - will pop back if anything I wish I'd known or done differently comes to mind.

HC

Good tips so far. If you are moving into a house or condo here are some of my tips:

Pack sheets. We got here and had a bed but no sheets. We are now sleeping on 250 thread count (aka grit) sheets from KMart. At least we can exfoliate while we sleep.

Bug spray is a great idea.

If you are moving into a house, have someone sign you up for phone and cable service. It takes forever to get done down here, and not having a TV stinks. We are still waiting for cable, although our realtor got us a phone setup.

I guess most of my suggestions depend on what you are moving into.