MOVING STORIES

Dated or not, the moving stories archived here are as relevant today as they were when written. 10 years is a very minor passage of time where island life is concerned!

Once our move is completed(to St. Croix) I'll have to post some updates.
We're in the process of selling our stateside home and relocating many animals.
ETA is June/July for many four foots and a couple of two foots to land on island.

Hope you've taken into consideration that airlines have a cut off date in May ( maybe earlier) for four foots flying cargo due to heat in cargo.

We have 2 dogs, 3 cats and a one eyed goldfish. I don't even know HOW to get a goldfish here. He's not small anymore either. He's 11 years old, originally from London and about 6 inches long with his tail so no more sneaking him on a plane in a thermos.

We'll be getting a charter. I'm in contact with quite a few at the moment.

Somehow, if we ever leave I'll bet it's with more four foots.

we are looking at moving our dog in june, as well. We are going to STT but maybe we can share a charter

no more sneaking him on a plane in a thermos..

No more sneaking any thermos on a plane unless it's empty. In Titanic they flew old Rose in on a helicopter with her goldfish bowl full:-) Call the airline and ask them. I'd guess it's not in their FAQs.

Oh crap. My son just got a betta fish here in the states, I totally neglected to think about how we are going to get him home. :S We are certainly not getting a private charter, I can tell ya that much.

also some airlines dont allow snub nosed animals-cats dogs

JEZZIKA: If you look under the Message Board rules, there is a contact for board moderator, aka,Islander. You might want to send a message with your request. I know there are people who have moved here in the past couple of years. Maybe they can be encouraged to write moving stories.

And welcome to the forum! 🙂

Good Morning! Yes Id love to hear about your move. Im going for a visit in May. Was possibly thinking of making a transtion come Sept, Oct. However hearing all the horror stories and negativity I'm kinda of really questioning my Island dream *-)

Good Morning and Thank you for your suggestion. I'd love to hear some positive stories and more recent moves. The other odler stories does put a lot into perspective. Thanks all!! I like this forum(tu):-) Jezzika

People who want to post are posting.

My wife and I moved here in July of last year. Here's a small snippet of how our move came to be.

I have family that owns a beach house on Eleuthera in the Bahamas. I visited there a lot and once my wife and I met she came with me on those trips. Our dream was to save up and retire to that island one day 25 or 30 years into the future..... In February or March of last year(2014) I saw a job opening within my company in St Croix doing basically the same kind of job I was doing back in Pittsburgh. I had never seriously looked at or considered moving to the USVI before this time. I texted my wife and asked her what she thought of me going for the job. She told me to stop wasting my time texting her and to send in my resume already. haha. Long story short, I was in the final 3 for the job and did a 1 week visit in May to meet the guys already down here working. Things went really well and I scoped out a few places to rent the last day I was here. I scoured craiglist and made a bunch of phone calls to see a few different places. I saw places from Frederiksted to Cotton Valley.

I was given the confirmation that I got the job a few weeks later. Moved here in July. I started frequenting this board a lot in those months leading up to our move. I understand why so many people read this board and probably stop their research and give up feeling dejected. I certainly felt that way even after visiting and talking to the guys I would be working alongside and knowing that a lot of the bad stuff is hyperbole. My wife and I chose to live on the West end of the island even though so many people will tell you that the West side is the "bad side". We have had zero problems when it comes to crime or being treated badly or differently by the locals. My wife and I have felt very welcome most everywhere we go. Treat everyone well and greet them politely and you get the same back 98% of the time. We travel to all areas of the island to see different beaches or try different restaurants. It may seem like a small island but we still have a lot of places we haven't thoroughly explored yet.

My wife was able to find a job within the first 4 days of being here I believe it was. She had been emailing with a few places before we moved so that really helped because she had a baseline relationship already.

We used International Logistics that advertises on this site to handle our move. We did a 40' container. They brought it to our house and we had 4 hours to load it up. We put a small amount of household goods and 2 vehicles inside the container also loaded with goods. They trucked it to the port in Jacksonville, FL and put it on the ship from there.

There's a very vague overview of our move. Hope this helps you a bit.

My wife and I moved here in July of last year. Here's a small snippet of how our move came to be.

There's a very vague overview of our move. Hope this helps you a bit.

Good Day Tommy, Thank you for your story. I would love to hear more stories & experiences. All information helps. I will make my visit, follow my heart, come to a decision & remain positive if I decide to make the move. Thanks again- JEZZ ( I really like this message board- its COOL

it is sad that you would let what has happened to others who post here change whether you would move here. the negativity has really lightened up over the past few year.

the stories are true-if you read through the forum you will find that out. not to deter you but to give you a true idea of what life is like here on our islands.

Spee1dy,

I didn't mean to infer in my post that what people have shared of their own experiences aren't true but the secondhand and other information can be embellished at times.

I took EVERYTHING to include the good stuff I read with a grain of salt before moving and experiencing it all for myself. That really is the key for anybody. Living anywhere in the world, someone that lives a block away from you may have a totally different feeling or experience with a place.

I agree that there isn't as much of a doom and gloom feeling in most posts now as there was a year ago.

Everyone's experience is going to be different. It depends upon their personalities and skills as well as their expectations. If you're a real city person who can't do without their Starbucks coffee or having things at their fingertips, and done quickly, island life may not be for you. It's not for everyone. Some take to living on a small island with all it entails, like a duck to water, others can't wait to leave because things did not live up to their sometimes unrealistic expectations. People come and go. That's fine too.

Adrian of AandA2 wrote about her experiences moving here and living on her one year anniversary, last year. Should be a must read. Hopefully, she'll chime in now that her 2 year anniversary has passed

tommystx, i am sorry you thought that was for you. i dont even think i read your whole post. know that it was not for you. JEZZ has made several references that they only want positive info. just want them to know not everything is that way. Almost like they only want to see through rose colored glasses and dont want the truth. do you know what i mean?

I enjoy every post on here good and bad. We are who we are and I know who I am and feel Island life on STJ would suit me fine. I would be there now if I were not waiting on a pension to kick in. It is nice to read other experiences of those who have recently moved to the USVI but I am also interested in those who have lived on one of the islands for numerous years and or most of their lives. If I am there a year and it doesn't work out then so be it. It is not the end of the world. I will be coming for another visit to STJ in June and was just there in November. My only concern now is perhaps I should give STX a visit. I know I do not want to live on STT from my visits to that island but because of the short ferry ride I am sure I will be spending time on that island too. I wish there was still ferry service to STX. Thank you for sharing your experience TommySTX.

I truly appreciate all stories & personal experiences. I completely get that Island living isn't for every one. Absolutely!! I would never let any one else opinions or experience make my final decision. I respect honesty & the reality of what people have gone through. I am not looking for sugar coated stories or want a perspective of someone that has their horse blinders on. LOL I guess I read so many unhappy stories I was just searching for some good ones, that's all. I am a realist with a very positive out look. You draw to you what you focus on and for now I am going to focus on the positive. You create your own experiences by your thoughts. Thank you ALL

I agree. I wrote mine in an effort to have updated stories and it never got included. I've seen a few others also. I will be writing my two year in post soon.

Me and my wife moved here about 6 weeks ago. We visited in July and and rented a fully furnished place so we opted to down size and get rid of just about everything in the states. If it couldn't be mailed or brought on the plane we didn't bring it. Traveling with a pet is stressful. We have a snub nosed dog and all the air lines said they wouldn't carry her but out of desperation I booked her anyway and Delta took her without incident. That probably could have went the other way just as easily but it worked out for us.

Things to know about the island, things really are more expensive than you think, especially eating out. You really don't need the AC, we were very AC dependant in the states but have only had it on a couple times here usually if there was no wind and surprisingly enough end up with a blanket on at night when it's in the low 70's. My AC was always set to 68 in the states so that is surprising to me.

Island life is small and for us that is wonderful. Everywhere you go there are plenty of nice people to meet. In 6 weeks here we have met more friends than in the 8 years we lived in ATL.

Crime, for us it hasn't been a problem yet and the majority of the people I have met have not had a problem with it. Like everywhere where and how you live matter and even if you do everything right it can reach out and get you. I think one of the issues here is the community is small and tight so even if something doesn't happen to you it probably happened to a friend or at the very least a friend of a friend so it makes it more personal.

If you come with the expectations that service will mostly likely be slow, things will take way longer than they should and you may not be able to find the things you want. Then the rest is easy. A quick example is when moving we mail some packages priority and they said it would be here in 3 days and they were. Great that's not so bad so we mailed more stuff priority and it took 6 weeks and one box is still out there. I had read the boards and knew that is was probable so it wasn't a big deal. The lesson is never count on anything happening when they say it will, it may or may not and as someone on this board said tomorrow doesn't mean tomorrow it just means not today.

All the wonderful stuff you want in the island life is here and you are reminded of that every time you go outside. The other stuff is here too, it's up to you how much of that you let in your life.

Great post rnblade! Thanks for sharing.

I also looked into the older stories and found a lot of negative ones. But this thread along with recent ones seem more positive. I to have a dream of moving down there and was going to with my children. But we may wait until they are on their own, or at least can choose to stay in the states or come with us. That is our now, 8 year plan. Hopefully we will make a couple PMV before that.