Please Register / Login to take part in discussions about the Virgin Islands.
Hello from Illinois,
I have been reading this message board for a while now, only until we had received the contract for my husbands job has it become a serious one. I was hoping someone local might be able to answer some specific questions about way of life,expenses etc. We are VERY conservative people, in the past year my husband sold a business and took off in his truck with only some clothes and tools for his trade.Within 2 weeks he had a job ,a bank account and a place to call home. Settled in Naples Fl which is very different from our Illinois living. Now opportunity has come up and we have signed this contract to live on St.John. I have seen many positives and some negatives about island living. My main concern is going to be the ability to find living arrangements and also to make ends meet conservatively.
I'm sure the new employer will be helping out with all the questions and getting all settled in when he gets there.I'm only going to be visiting until I can move perm in June. He will be there Dec 1st. They are giving us 2 weeks of housing to find our own, a vehicle to use for the first 6mo. and wages very comparable to what he is making now. Moving expenses and incentives etc... sounds great... but I wanna know MORE.....only because just recently Im seeing some neg stuff out there. I DONT really wanna know because this is going to be an adventure for us, no kids no big commitments etc... BUT a part of me is saying maybe just a little knowledge would go a longer ways...
Mainly what I have seen is that the biggest answer is -"depends on your lifestyle" well if I were to answer this question, it would be that we are minimalist. Meaning we are not concerned with having a "very nice" place to live. Items of value or possessions. He has been renting rooms from people for over a year now , wow that's been an adventure! But the only way to make having 2 households work with no big commitments.
I would like it if someone could become my pal for another month until we get things lined out... will you help me???
Camie
Go to this site's sister relocation site at www.vimovingcenter.com where you will find tons of information on COL, housing, settling in, moving stories from others who've done exactly the same as you - plus a lot more answers to questions that you probably never even thought of. There's a lot of informative reading there along with an active forum if you can't find a particular answer. Good luck!
Thank you, Ive been reading there, this is where Im coming up with the scarry stories... I'll continue to read tho. 🙂 maybe Im too late on my research.... guess we can take it as the wind blows.....
Adventure1 wrote:
Thank you, Ive been reading there, this is where Im coming up with the scarry stories... I'll continue to read tho. 🙂 maybe Im too late on my research.... guess we can take it as the wind blows.....
OK - my point in sending you over there is that everything you need is there unlike on this site which is geared towards visitors and their questions. Of course there are scary stories as everyone has a different perspective on living here and island living isn't for everyone. However, gaining different perspectives is what it's all about and the vimovingcenter contains everything a prospective relocator could possible need between the general advice and the forum discussions. Good luck!
Hi Adventure1,
Where are you from in Illinois? My husband is a builder/developer in the Galena area but we live 20 minutes away on the Iowa side of the Mississippi for the schools for our children. We bought a condo over 3 years ago in STT and totally renovated it ourselves over 3 months with the family, what a job! We travel down frequently and will be back again in January.
Good luck in your endeavours!
Molly
South Central Illinois closer to St Louis,Mo for the most part.
Molly, could you PM me , I really was looking to speak to someone who has been visiting/living on the islands and could just give me an insiders view on some things, Id rather communicate on a more personal level than for all the world to see my silly questions I have...:)
Thanks
If this post is in the wrong place feel free to remove it. For some reason I cannot gain access to the movingcenter message boards no matter how many times I have signed up. I dont exist. And the username I use here doesnt work over there.
Adventure1,
When I signed up for each board I had to have a completely different but somewhat similar user name (Molly vs. IAMolly) and password and then just stay logged on to my computer. Many of those on the relocation board also visit this board as well. Off to run errands but will send you a PM later about my views and adventures on the island.
Molly
