Planning my visit before I relocate

Congratulations on your move! What island will you be interested in relocating too? St. Thomas, St. Croix or St. John? This is helpful as each island is unique and posters will tailor their advise as such.

No matter which island, you need to visit as many rentals as you can that are in your budget. Read local newspaper. Drive around the neighborhoods so you know where rentals are when you see them in ads. Find a new cell phone provider if you have Verizon. Not sure about T-Mobile or some of the others, but AT&T or Sprint for sure or one of our local providers. Figure out how you want your TV channels delivered, and compare services/rates. Go to grocery stores and try not to get depressed. Figure out how you want your mail delivered. Some places have home delivery, but most people have a post office box. Put in app just in case or apply online when you're ready to make you'd move. Or consider a private box if no post office boxes available.

Figure out your transportation. Visit Motor Vehicles to see how to get VI license. Check out doctors if you have health issues. Talk to people about jobs.

The same things you would do when relocating stateside.

Wow! Just like the song:

"She came down from Cincinnati,
It took her three days on the train.
Lookin' for some peace and quiet,
Hoped to see the sun again.

But now she lives down by the ocean
She's takin' care to look for sharks.
They hang out in the local bars,
And they feed right after dark."

Sorry...that song went through my head when I read your post.:D
I agree with Ms411. Also network for work and leisure activities. Welcome to the board...

Good day Veronice,

You say your budget is $2K per month - is that income you have outside of any part-time work, or what you hope to spend each month for expenses?

$2K per month won't get you too much on St John, although it is not impossible to live on that. It will go further on St Thomas and much further on St Croix.

How to plan your trip -- it depends on how long you can spend here, the longer the better. A week is so short that it is hard to get out of vacation mode. Minus two days for travel, you really have only five days for a week's visit. So the first suggestion would be to spend at least two weeks if you can, or even a month.

Ms411 has great suggestions. The more you can imagine what your daily routine might look like, the better you will be able to picture living here full-time.

Good luck and let us know how your visit goes!

Veronica, have you read all the information available on the pull-down menus top of this page? As I recall they go into quite a lot of detail about what to do on a PMV. You also should read up on the subject of that, "life at a slower pace" which so many prospective newcomers seem to expect but which turns out to be not quite as they anticipated!

I too am not sure what you mean by that $2000 a month budget. That'll get swallowed up so fast just on rent and associated costs. Good luck!

Hi Veronice, prospective from a new comer to STX. A few things to know. It is hot here all the time so plan on sweating a lot and running air in your house can be very expensive. The pace here is slow ( which I love ) so do not be in a hurry for anything....bank,store etc. I have been here alone for 6 weeks and it can get lonely and even boring at times because there are things I want to see and do but not by myself, my family will be joining soon so I am looking forward to getting out there more. Cars are not hard to find here. There is a fb page you can join that has many forums, St croix auto trader I think ( anybody else want to chime in there if that is wrong ) I hope you will love it here as much as I do, Good luck

Looking for a place to stay on your visit either this board or airbnb.com will put you more in touch with how life is here than if you book a resort through a travel website & has the advantage of costing less.
Will your cellphone work at all here? If not a pay as you go phone from Sprint or ATT will be pretty much necessary.
See if you can find someone to show you where people live instead of the tourist stuff.

If there isn't already(?), maybe we should start a "non-belongers" social group for all the newcomers to stx that don't really know anyone.

If there isn't already(?), maybe we should start a "non-belongers" social group for all the newcomers to stx that don't really know anyone.

Seems a bit isolationist to me. For many of us, one of the joys of living here hinges around the diversity of people. The islands have always been a melting pot of ethnicity, cultures and creeds, young and old, old timers and newbies. I learned more in the first few months here working and being around "bahn-heres" and longtime residents than I would ever have learned sticking to any fellow newbies!

I'm conflicted about the newbie group. On the one hand, it would help you meet people and develop a social group. On the other hand, it might contribute to the shocking level of segregation that's already present on island. I'd say form the group, but be sure to do what you can to immerse yourself in the culture and not just camp out on the East End. Welcome!

Thank you all for your input! I still cannot believe I'm doing this, and feeling a little overwhelmed. It doesn't help that my family and friends think I'm insane, and keep asking "why are you leaving such a stable life, just go on a 2 week vacation! You have a job and a life here!" Gotta love the Midwest!

I think St. Croix is the best option for me. I'm going to book my trip on airbnb.com, and will post again with dates, in the hopes I can meet a few locals while I'm there to pick your brains (dinner and drinks on me for those willing spend 3 hours answering all of my annoying questions).

I can't wait!!

What are your interests? One of the best ways to meet people is to participate in an activity or event with people on island who share your interests. There should be a list of organizations on http://www.stcroixsource.com, because there is one on Stthomassource. Find out when and where they meet and show up.

I belong to St Croix Hiking Association though I live on St Thomas. Great group of people, and they put up with my craziness very well. 🙂

I joined St Croix Environmental Association (SEA) a few years ago so I could go on their sea turtle watches. Another great group. May join again this year if I don't get a chance to see turtle nestings in Barbados with Hiking Association!