To all who just moved to the VI

Hey, I did a moving story last September...told about my shipping experience of the container and how the board helped me with all the info I needed.

Trade, you Sage and Wonderful one. If you can show this non computer savvy, mid age pontificator how to post on the story board I will spin tales of mirth,joy, gratefulness, uncertainty and how to spend large amounts of $$$$. But with the help of many it worked for me and mine. { so far }. Thank you again.

Marlene, it doesn't seem to be up in the archives of Moving Stories (under "What To Expect" at the top of the site.) Is it somewhere else?

Hey Trade,

It was nice of you to start this thread. I have not made a permanent move . . . I wish I could. But I did just buy a house on STX and am planning multiple stays this year. Obviously, I am relatively new to this forum . . just closed on the house in March . . . but it does seem like lots of posters are making permanent moves.

So, I am curious . . . do you see this kind of activity every year about this time or is 2008 different for some reason?

SunOrSki

I am going to start a blog about my move... detailing everything that happens.

I never paid any attention to the time or when it seems people want to move here but I always have a problem with timing down here since the weather is so similar year round.

We do get a little burst of activity this time of year because school just got out, so people with kids tend to move now. Also college students who just graduated might be looking for a little adventure before they settle into a "real" job. Some will be permanent moves, but a whole lot won't.

Oops Trade. I didn't know about the story feature. I thought you were talking about posting here. Sorry

I will copy my story and place it in the Moving Stories.

Marlene, I think Islander may have to do that but I'm not really sure.

I'd also think it would be great if there was some way to do a "Where are they now?" update to some of the older stories. Still here and going strong? or... chose to depart for whatever reasons.

Great info either way. Thanks to all the newbies for thier posts... very entertaining!

One of the best posts ever by someone leaving island was posted three years ago by someone with the screen name *Gasp*. https://www.vimovingcenter.com/talk/read.php?4,30275,30275#msg-30275

It should be "required reading". Excellent thread from all who contributed to it - no warnings, no bitterness, no "I told you so".

Thank you for bringing this post back up. A MUST READ!!!

Very good thread, Joanne. It's funny how when some of us try to warn about the differences we're often told we're negative or trying to keep people from moving here. Gasp put it quite well.

I think all of this advice for us planning a move there is great. I know that no one is being negative, just trying to make sure that we're aware of these issues before we get there and then go "what the heck have I done" and then feel trapped. I think its good to be aware of the bad along with the good, everywhere, no matter where you live has its positives and negatives. There is no perfect place. I do travel health care so I go to a new place every 3 months or so and work and live, some places are definitely not for me, like California, I will never go back there for any amount of money. Other than Cali, I'd go back to lots of places, but in my case its more of whether i like my temp job enough to make it perm, its not usually the town or area that would make my decision. I can find the good anywhere and be tolerant of the negative and go with the flow. I do think it would be harder to live in the islands if you were a snob or uptight or materialistic, I'd suggest those people go to California to live....lol. More people need to stop and smell the flowers on a daily basis and not get so hung up on things or being in a hurry. Who knows, I may get there and decide its not for me in less than a year, but I won't know until I try.
Keep the advice coming to us wannabes.....lol..its much appreciated.

Very good thread, Joanne. It's funny how when some of us try to warn about the differences we're often told we're negative or trying to keep people from moving here. Gasp put it quite well.

A lot of the posts here have lacked insight, honesty, and usefulness in general and honestly it's frustrating. That thread was a great read and just about the only down-to-earth thread I've yet to read, so excuse me if I feel frustrated for finding it difficult to get any honest advice around here.

It's also frustrating when I have a hard time finding posters around here giving any positive feedback about the islands. I mean, there must be some reason why people stay in the United States Virgin Islands.

Here are some of the things I gathered from that thread and lurking around the boards:

1) You will find it difficult to come from a professional career and find something satisfactory on the fly.
2) The islands will test your grit and determine whether or not you are truly a city person incapable of adapting (I mean that in the nicest terms)
3) Arrogance will be met with horrible customer service. An appropriate good morning/afternoon/evening will be received with much warmer customer service.
4) A vehicle is an absolute must considering the varying terrain and city design unfriendly to pedestrians.
5) Service-based companies that provide cable/internet/etc will take their time getting to you.
6) Adapting to island life will be very difficult coming from an established life - especially with kids.

I can understand how island life could be so frustrating for many. I also think it only takes one or two fundamental personal necessities to ruin your entire experience. For instance, I got the feeling that med. insurance and career opportunities were the two fundamentals that were destroying GASP's experience. The inability for those two fundamentals to be satiated sort of gave her attitude about everything else a turn for the worst.

I have done a seemingly endless amount of research and in the process some of the stars in my eyes have been extinguished so to speak. I KNEW before I started researching that island life was going to have it's quirks. But at the same time I haven't started my career and don't have children. Money won't be an issue and I know that in my heart of hearts what makes me happy. I have done a lot of spiritual exploration and self-discovery in my time on this earth. I have learned a lot through the years and one thing I know about myself is that superficial things aren't necessary for my happiness or well-being.

I think it's safe to say that many of the people who move or want to move know little about what they are getting themselves into. A lot of people's reasons for moving may or may not be well thought out or foolish but on the same token there is a lot to be learned in making a move like this. Everybody in this world takes different paths during their journey of life. Some people unknowingly need things to be happy. They need objects, status, comfort, THINGS. Happiness for these people come from the outside rather than the inside. It's ok either way, and some may go their entire life without actually truly knowing themselves.

I really hope I'm not coming off the wrong way. It's just that one thing that makes somebody happy doesn't necessarily make another happy. It's not always about where you're going - it's how you get there. I don't know whether or not the VI is for me. I couldn't possibly know - even with a PMV (which honestly will probably only entice me further). It's the same thing about the Navy - I can sit here and bitch and moan about the horrible things I went through in the military but in the end nobody will ever know how they will like the military until they go. Some people like turning wrenches in 105* engine rooms sweating all day. Some people like hanging off of the side of the ship painting all day - or at least can find solace in the rest of their experience.

But we will have 2-3 years to decide if the VI is for us or not. And we are aware that it may not be. But we are still coming to finish out our degrees in nursing, marine biology & computer science. We won't struggle for money while we are in school and if the islands are for us, I don't think we will have trouble finding work in Nursing and Teaching. If the islands aren't for us we will return to the mainland with our degrees and move on.

Sorry about the horribly long post; I actually trimmed quite a bit of my stream-of-consciousness writing down.

"lot of the posts here have lacked insight, honesty, and usefulness in general and honestly it's frustrating. That thread was a great read and just about the only down-to-earth thread I've yet to read, so excuse me if I feel frustrated for finding it difficult to get any honest advice around here.

It's also frustrating when I have a hard time finding posters around here giving any positive feedback about the islands. I mean, there must be some reason why people stay in the United States Virgin Islands."

All any of us post here are our experiences & observations. I can't imagine how much more insight, honesty & usefulness there can be when WE'VE LIVED IT. If you're frustrated not hearing pie in the sky, life's a bowl of cherries, kumbaya in every thread that's really a shame. It's also the reality. Any idiot knows we have beautiful beaches & glorious weather most of the time but that's not what day to day life is about. Have you ever been here?

I've said many, many times here what I had to learn the hard way: the person moving here has to adapt. These islands have their ways & change is very slow & often just doesn't happen. Daily life can be frustrating with the battles that need to be fought with inefficient local government offices, etc. It's the way it is & it's often what drives people out of here within a year after spending a lot of money to make a move here. It's not just transplants who get frustrated either but you learn to deal with it & if you're successful at doing that you'll like your life here. Others like Gasp miss all the stuff going on back on the Mainland on a daily basis. That's another reason people leave. You may love it here & you may not last 6 months. That's up to you. No skin off our backs either way. None of us gets a commission on you.

I assume the point of this board is not to be a Chamber of Commerce rally to URGE people to move here but rather to give honest information to the best of our ability to help out people thinking of moving. But that's just me. . .

David,

You're obviously a very bright and thoughtful young man. I am very impressed with your resourcefulness; your ability to grasp the scope of things and dig into researching the issues. You are going to be great at anything you decide to do. I think what's frustrating to you is that it's obvious to you that you've scoped out this issue of moving, and now just want some confirmation/denial of some facts... not people's opinions. But, people are still going to try to help you look at the problem... and help you question whether you've really looked at this. You also must understand that it is not always easy to articulate an idea like "things move slowly here", "it's not like mainland".

I'd suggest that you continue to ask your specific questions. You're doing a great job of gathering information, and your questions are wonderful. I think you have a great way of looking at forums in general...they work best when they share information and avoid the flaming. People are still going to try to help in the way they deem best. Continue to be polite with your questions, and Just graciously filter out (ignore) what doesn't apply. You don't need to prove yourself... you already have.

Ditto Trade.

I do think that often posters planning a move to the USVI are looking for validation rather than information. I've been here for 5 years. I like it and have a good life, but I see it for what it is. On STX it's small town with nice weather, good food and beautiful beaches. I still have to do all the everyday mundane things I did in the states and I have fewer resources to do them.

Unless you are 20 with no ties or 60 with all the money in the world, moving here is a huge committment in time and money. Nobody throws all their worldly possessions in the back of a pick-up truck and drives here from Michigan. Nobody comes and lives on the beach on a diet of coconut and fish. When we say most people need $7,000 to $10,000 to make the move, we MEAN it, we're not being mean.

I am very interested in hearing your impressions after you come for a long visit.

This is all good advice and its appreciated, but its all subjective. I think you just have to live there and find out for yourself, What one doesn't like someone else might. People move all over the country everyday and still end up in places on the mainland that aren't for them. I"m from a small Illinois town and there's lots of folks who wouldn't make it there. It all depends on the person. But keep giving all the advice and answering the questions, it really is helpful.

I think for some people they just have to try. That's how I was. No one was going to disuade me. I read some of the negative stories and I even read *Gasp*'s post before I came and was a little anxious. I still came though. Hell, I had it good down there but I just missed the States. Somethings are subjective...I suppose. I mean you can look at a trip to the DMV or WAPA as an opportunity to catch up on some reading or you can look at it as frustratingly long. I know that either of those trips can be that way but I never really experienced it. Anytime I went to DMV I was out in about 30 minutes but I saw and heard people that were there forever. It's not just the transplants that get frustrated at the DMV. You'll hear cuss words you've never heard in the States, lol.

I think my feelings on STT are pretty similar to how *Gasp* felt. The VI is not for everybody and I think that some people need to find out for themselves. Eventhough it didn't work out for me, I'm very glad to have had the opportunity. I do miss some aspects of living down there but I don't regret moving to Orlando.

As a soon to be mover, and someone who has moved several times, the discussion of "quitting" the VI is of interest to me!!

Stepping back, I assuage my fear with some facts....

1. We're a mobile society. So it doesn't surprise me that people move, then decide to move again. Lotta houses for sale up here.

2. If you're young, divorced, a renter, or not particularly wealthy, you tend to move A LOT MORE than other people. This accding to the Census bureau. http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/p20-538.pdf So when discussing "who moves down and then leaves the V.I." it might help to know more about them, before lumping them in with everyone else's reasons.

3. Would seem to me that many of the people moving to the V.I. aren't coming with children... which makes changing your mind SO much easier.

4. Things have been changing in the V.I. even over the last few years I've been investigating it and visiting. Case in point: I was in Alaska last month and there's a WAL-MART at the foot of Mendenhall Glacier (not kidding). Strangest thing. The gentrification of places like Alaska and the VI will surely help some people stick around a little longer. 🙂

A lot is said about people making the mistake of moving to the USVI to "escape" or because they are not happy where they are. The assumption is that if they can not be happy in one place, moving is not going to cure that. Of course that can be true, some people are just miserable, but sometimes it is the things "back home" that you love and miss that can be your downfall. As much as people need to weigh up all the negative aspects of moving, they also need to seriously think about what they are going to miss. If you are really, really sick of something (or somewhere) it can make the transition much easier.

When I first moved to the Caribbean I was in my 20's, very adventurous, loved a challenge, tired of my easy (which I then thought = boring!) life, and absolutely sick of the cold, dark, wet, windy weather. The hardships I endured on that island make the USVI's look extremely well-run. Power cuts every day, I often had to get ready for work bathing under a hose, if you didn't go shopping on the day the supplies came in the shelves in the supermarket were almost bare. Forget about phone service - it was a 3 year waiting list to get a home phone (I found out later that if you bribed the right person, you could get it sooner!) The local Press was controlled by the Government, so the island appeared to be crime-free. However, by the time I left, everyone I knew had been the victim of either assault, robbery or burglarized.
Despite all that I was very happy, learned to live with the inconveniences, and enjoyed all the beautiful things unique to a Caribbean island.

My point is that if you are young, single, with no kids, you have absolutely nothing to lose (except money), by making a move to the USVI. Just leave most of your stuff at home until you are sure it is going to work out. Even if it doesn't work, I'm sure you will have learned some valuable lessons.

Good post Sabrina