Moving

Driving on the wrong side of the road.

Ric
Did that take some time to get use too.

The hardest thing(s) to get used to from a female point of view? Shopping choices!!! Oh, what I wouldn't give to stroll the aisles of a Food Lion, Target or Bath and Body Works! But alas, we have K-Mart, Office Max and the soon-to-open Home Depot! Seriously, I find that I spread my weekly food shopping among K-Mart, Price Smart, Marina Market on the east end and Plaza Extra depending on what I'm looking for and how much I'm willing to pay. Hope this helps!

What's the hardest? driving on left.?..naw , any observent tourist can master that in half a day (unless demon rum is involved)

Lack of shopping options ? naw...You sort of expect that.

the slow pace (island time) ?...naw ..that's why you came here...

The incompetent government? ...naw...(no comment)

water conservation, hurricanes, bugs...naw

Fitting in to society is the hardest. The local population is very set in their way. They are "small town" type people who are very slow to accept outsiders regardless of skin color.. However there are many new settlers here (continentals ... mainlanders..) who can provide support and friendship .

by the way "naw".. means no ..lol

Hi Jeff,
My husband and I moved here a year ago from Los Angeles and we expected things to be different. After all, that's why we left LA. The transition wasn't real had, but you do miss certain conveniences, family and friends. Change takes patience, so we just try to relax and go with flow:>)

Rita

Hardest thing to get used to: No one stop grocery shopping.

Second hardest thing to get used to: No home delivery of pizzas or anything else.

Everything else is easy. Not fitting in - I'm used to that. I didn't fit in wherever I lived - that's why i moved here. People who take the plunge and move are people who move to the beat of a different drummer. We don't want to conform. And here, it doesn't matter if you conform. What matters is being respectful and kind to the people you meet. If you are you will have many friends here.

thanks ric. that does help.
i'm psyched to move to stx in about two years but my husband is reluctant until i can prove how wonderful it is when we visit.
can someone that has been on the island from april-august comment on humidity and how much they use air conditioning?

What air conditioning? Windows open for islands breezes. Our offices didn't even have air conditioning.

Rita
Do you recomend shipping a car or buying one over there?

Jeff,

Let me first say that if you live on the east end, and in a familiar place, you can have Pizza delivered to your door. Just ask my husband who is a true pizza lover. I've also heard that Domino's delivers south and west....... UVI for sure.

We initially looked at not shipping the car and buying one on island. But since our car was paid for and we didn't want any new bills, we decided to ship. Also, when we thought about it, there was no way we could have replaced our Kia for $2200. The car was in excellent mechanical condition, almost new tires, just had a major service and excellent body condition ....... the body doesn't look that way today! but that's my husband's fault >:). He doesn't drive a stick very well. We also thought about dirving it from California to Florida and having it shipped from there. It would have saved us a lot of money, $750 vs $2200, but my husband didn't want to do that much driving or put tham many miles on the car. The car arrived here with very minor damange and the insurance paid to fix it.

As far as buying an usedor new car on island, I'm not ready to do that yet. We need another car, but I'm trying to see what advice I get from my "local" friends". So we are basically sitting on the fence. One says by new in Florida and another says buy used on the mainland.
Rita

Huh? No, actually that's a relief. Ever since the 2000 elections I've been suspecting that Florida isn't really part of the mainland....

Hello Kisha,

Not fond of air conditioning myself however ceiling fans are used almost always in addition to having windows open for breeze... in the evenings it gets cooler. Winter months are cool. August and September are in my opinion the hottest and air conditioning would sure by nice to use and some folks do, particularly people with sliding glass doors, sitting outside on the porch with the breeze or in a hammock usually does the trick if you are around the house and its too hot inside. Do yard work or anything like that early in the day or late afternoon, it really is overbearing during the mid-day hours... If you are driving around a lot, particularly during traffic mid-day or there abouts in town air conditioning is lovely.

So no airconditioning here, ceiling fans are definately needed to help with air circulation in the house though. Depends on the house - if its really open and breezy then it will stay rather cool.

--Islander

Islander,

I consider cool to be in the 40's and 50's, I would like to know your definition of cool?

The all time record low on St. Croix is 58 F on 3/7/93. All time record high, 97 F on 1/17/94. Cool? Definitely a matter of opinion and location.

Chad and Dawn -

LOL... 40s-50s to me is freezing, bitter cold.

The cool winter temperatures here are only a few degrees less then what it usually is so maybe 78 or 77 degrees at night, daytime it would still be around 79-80.

Read more on weather at

http://www.vinow.com/usvi/weather.php

--Islander

thanks everyone for the informed opinions, as usual. we're considering a condo so i'm not sure about breezes, i guess it depends on layout and how many windows you have in the apt. we'll have to consider that as we look at possibilities. i'm guessing we'll stick with fans for most of the place but ship our A/C for the bedroom. but it's good to know that we could do without it.

Kisha, doing without depends entirely on what you said - the number of windows. If there aren't many windows that can stay open - then you will melt.

--Islander

C & D: 40 is fridge temperature!! BRRRR! About perfect to me is 80-85, below that is cool, above that is warm. Depends a great deal on the breeze. In the winter here you see kids going to school bundled up in coats when it is in the 70s! Rarely will a local get in the chilly ocean in January! You get used to it fairly quickly.

this conversation cracks me up! my husband lived in alaska for four years and the opposite was true to him: 40 degrees was kind of warm, anything above sixty was boiling!! he cried for A/C when it was only 75 degrees. i guess people can adapt to any situation.

Well, not necessarily. I've been in the Arizona desert longer than I would care to admit, and not matter how many summers I go through, 115 degrees is TOO DARNED HOT. They tell me, "But it's a DRY heat!". My answer: "So is my oven!"

By contrast, I've been in STX when it's 90 degrees with very high humidity, and as long as there's a trade wind breeze it feels absolutely heavenly -- 85 degrees would be quite cool!

thanks for that SailAway - i'll pass that on to my husband