Moving to STX in 2 weeks!!

Thanks for everyone's advice on everything I had questions about! We are now only 6 days away and think we have everything ready to be in our way! Can't wait to meet you all! 🙂

Six days away....so you must be there by now...how is it going???

I was curious too! Hopefully everything is going well and can't wait to have you check in. I love a 'newbie' account of things.

Sorry guys! I've been too busy exploring the island to be on my internet 😀 we have been here for 4 days now and so far we love it! We are living mid island and it's nice because we can drive to either side of the island in 20 minutes or so. Everyone here that we have came in contact with so far are so much nicer than people in the states! Courteous and kind as long as you are as well. In the process of finding a job and have a couple of places that are a great possibility. Just waiting to hear back from them. Went to Backyard BBQ and Blues the other night and had a great time and met some very nice folks. I hope to meet some of you soon!

Got my health card today,bought a car, and put in some footwork on getting a job or two! 😎

Great! Was wondering if you were going to skip on buying and shipping the car. Sounds like you found one fast enough in STX....hope it is a good one 😉 How does your dog like it in STX?

Yea just decided to pay cash and buy a car here on the island. Penny loves it here!! And she did so great on the flights over. Now just waiting until the weather drops so we can get our other pup here.

We just moved here two weeks ago and flew with my service dog...a small Yorkie...on American Airlines. You will need a health certificate issued within 10 days of your flight and a letter from your wife's physician verifying the need for an emotional support dog. They WILL check it. They also asked us for the registration ID and was not willing to "take our word for it" even with his tag and vest (I know...against fed regulations, but what to do). Be sure to contact them 4 days in advance to advise you are bringing a service dog. They are supposed to call you back within 48 hours of your flight to confirm and remind you of the requirements. Don't be surprised if they don't call and then say you never notified them, so be prepared to show all your paperwork at the check-in counter. Do NOT assume you won't need it if they don't ask for it in Nashville. You may be required to exit the boarding areas and return to the main check-in lobby to process, then go back thru customs. Make sure your layover in Miami gives you time for that. Unless your second dog is very large, you may want to pay the extra $100-$125 to fly it in the cabin with you as well. The two men flying in the seat ahead of us had 2 rather large boxers that weren't service animals and they had no problem with bringing them on-board.

As far as shipping, we went with VI Cargo. They had absolutely the best price, especially for the larger container, and the service was outstanding. When we got to St. Croix, we had Ferrol Trucking bring our household goods to our home. We have a VERY steep driveway and Mr. Ferrol did a great job siting the cargo container. He brought 3 guys with him to unload and bring the boxes into our home. We had a 40-foot container and they had it unloaded in about 5 hours. Very efficient.

Regarding a car...we bought a used Jeep before we left as we were warned about the availability and cost of a car here on the island. It cost us a little less than $1500 to ship from Miami and another $500 for road tax when we got here. No customs fee as the Jeep was made in the USA. VI Cargo took care of all of that for us and called when the car was ready to be picked up at the port. I have yet to see anything as nice for the price (including the shipping cost) here on the island.

I hope you have a place to stay as most places won't allow animals, especially dogs. We bought a home, so, for us, that wasn't an issue. With the season starting soon, you may have a better chance at finding a job, but as several others have said, jobs are scarce! Hope you have a nest egg to draw on for a few months until you can find something.

Best of luck to you.