Ever feel isolated or claustrophobic...

I think much might depend on how much driving you do or like to do - we lived on STX, and I NEVER had rock fever or even thought much about it being an island - but we are from a very small town where our travel zone wasn't very big anyway and where there aren't a lot of people, primarily a rural area with roughly the same population as STX. I can't speak for STT, all I've seen there is the tourist stuff.....but I never felt fenced in on STJ either...come to think of it, of all the islands we visited or stayed a period of time on....nope, not a bit. If you love road trips I can see where it might get maddening....I hate the car, hate the travel, so it was fine. My folks came to visit and we put over 700 miles on our car in 10 days just winding around STX. There's so much to see!

I get rock fever rather badly. I've lived in rural and urban areas, but in the rural settings I always new I could drive somewhere and get away. You can always drive a hour or two and go to town for the day or take a weekend vacation when you live in the country. Here you have to fly which always brings the costs way up and puts a big damper on being spontaneous. Things are also always the same, at least on stx. Bring your hobbies and such with you, the entertainment factor can be low. Make good friends. The beaches are beautiful but you cant (or at least I cant) live at the beach every day.

That being said when it rains it pours. Why do they do things like have the whim starvin artist sale and the chili cookoff on the same day (this sunday if you havent heard)?

Every now and again I would feel restricted and 'trapped' by the size of the Rock. For a couple of years, trips to the mainland and Europe helped..then for the last 2 years before we left StX, they made it worse. When I found myself bawling before getting on the plane from San juan to StX, I knew it was time for me to move back to the "Big World".
When we left StX and moved to the Pac NW, my husband and I both thoroughly enjoyed the road trip between Miami and here. Driving all day and not getting where we were going - on "big" roads - woohoo!

Never, not once. I only leave the island once a year on vacation. I'm on STT.

Interesting the answers you are getting... I have never had rock fever, but I also don't like going back to the states, either. I think the phenomenon has to do with your comfort in living with limited stuff (to see, to have, to do...)

Of course, I always want to leave when East Ender starts serenading me with Feliz Navidad. 🙂

I don't get rock fever, but I've been traveling back and forth 3-4 a year.

I don't get rock fever, but when I visit my daughter in Oregon, she can't keep me out of the supermarkets. I volunteer to do all the shopping. Safeway and Fred Myer are hugh, with so much variety. Everything is so fresh, they have misters that come on every 10 or 15 minutes over the produce. And food is so cheap! But, except for leaving the family, it's always good to get home.

East Ender, in my personal situation...no, it wasn't.

If you hate living here, or you crave something that's elsewhere, I imagine you'll get rock fever. On STX, I find no shortage of fun and interesting things to do, so I don't get rock fever. STX is big enough for me. Your mileage may vary.

jane: No, it wasn't what?? Limiting? You said you felt restricted and trapped. That makes me think that what you experienced was... restricting and limiting. That is my understanding of Rock Fever- you cannot drive far enough or do enough to satisfy something within.

I think someone saying I get rock fever because I hate the islands is very...well wrong. I think its more like claustrophobia for me. If you have claustrophobia does that mean you hate closets? No it just means you don't want to be trapped in one. I don't want to be trapped on a island. If the airlines stop flying in or out, I'm trapped (don't own a boat have not idea how to use one for serious sailing). So that is always in the back of my mind. Its a nice feeling when you turn 16 and know that you can go anywhere with your license. I remember when I bought my first car on my own it was a huge feeling of freedom of being able to do or go wherever you wanted. I lost that feeling here, I know its not logical, but either is claustrophobia. Like most people who feel this I get off the island for a vacation when it gets bad and go stateside to see family and remember how much I hate traffic.

I dont know if you would call it Rock Fever but I definitely have busy feet. I usually try and leave STT every 3-4 months for a trip back to the states or elsewhere. I love STT but have moved over 20 times so I just like to be on the go.
Great thing about STT is the ability to Island hop to St. John, BVI's, Puerto Rico, down island etc.. and having easy access to the entire Eastern Seaboard via the STT Airport. If the notion strikes me I can be sitting in NYC having dinner within 5hrs or just sitting in a beach chair on St. John or Jost doing nothing but sipping on a cold beer.

East Ender, I was responding to the hoary old adage "has to do with yr comfort level in living with limited stuff (to see, to have, to do...". In my case, that would be inaccurate.
Perhaps a good analogy would be...if you had all the things to do, see, have etc in the world, but those things were experienced inside a kiddie's playpen. Some peoples' eyes would not look up at the mesh walls at all...some people would glance up once in a while etc etc. I am at the other end of the spectrum...I would become fixated on the restrictive nature of the mesh, lurid plastic roll cover, and escape.

I live on STT and HAVE to get off the rock at least once a quarter.

It's not that I feel trapped, it's that I am a self-confessed materialist, food snob and culture sponge.
Every three months I need to shop for shoes, organic food, or new African music! 😉

Well, Zappo's isn't quite the same as trying on a bunch of shoes, I'll grant you that. 🙂

jane: You and I are saying the same thing. Some people are aware that there are things out there that they can't have and they go whacko. Some people aren''t aware, so no big deal. And others know that there is stuff out there, but are happy in their little poopy playpen.;)

Trade: Feliz Navidad! 😉 And what is Zappo's?

I definitely get Rock Fever. I knew I would and I was prepared for it. Before I moved here I told my stateside friends that I felt I would need to get off the rock a minimum of once every quarter and it turns out that my instincts were quite correct.

EE this is Zappos:

http://www.zappos.com/welcome.zhtml

It almost seems like they have any and every shoe ever made 😉

You sure learn a lot from the sketchy and shady people on this board! Thanks mell!! (They really do have a bunch of shoes, don't they?)

Hiccup.....Oh excuse me!

What was that you said EE?

I was just enjoying my Chocolate Martini that Joe The Bartender taught me how to make!

I think I will go make myself another one after that remark!!!!

Have fun shoe shopping -- may you shop till you drop!!!!

😀

Heh-heh-heh. Maybe now East Ender will be too busy shoe shopping to sing bad Jose Feliciano songs.

onika, shoe shopping will be my problem too (moving to stt in july)... thank goodness for the internet... zappos is good... DSW is also an awesome shoe place. not sure about their web site these days?, if not, shoe pavilion has a good site i think? oohh, piperlime, from old navy/gap, big time shoes... i'm a flip-flop girl myself, but there's always a need for something special...in shoes....happy shopping!!!!!!

i will be happy to be on the island, hope to not have rock fever for a while... so looking forward to island life!!!!!

mel, are you bringing over chocolate martinis to my house-warming?? .... once i find a home.... once again, one bedroom or studio, end of july, if anyone knows of anything!!!!????

OK, hold the phone, last time I checked Zappos did not deliver to STT. Have things changed?!?!
Oh, would that were true!

Onika,

Rejoice!!! It's True!!!!

🙂