USVI-On-Line

HI California Girl

I adore cats! If i lived on stj i would take care of the cats at all the feeding stations!! and work at the animal shelter.

YEP to escape Michigan winters. we have been going thru hell here....freeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzing cold. I would have to be back by June cause i cannot handle the humidity and heat of stj in the summer!! I know I am a wimp. It kinda sounds like a plan only if the kids would cooperate. I never stop dreaming and planning..who knows if might happen. and then I would be in .!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RickG wrote: I divested that spouse; she was an under performing asset.

Harsh!

Beep bee bee bee beep….long beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep… ba beep ba beep…sell the beep beep house get a bartending job and head to St. John. Oh yeah honey, we’re getting another 6 inches of beep beep ba beepin snow today….wtf!

Those are the words my wife hears when I walk in from the cold. She knows I absolutely hate winter and can’t take it anymore. She knows I want to just pack it up and go. She knows that it wouldn’t be a problem to do that. She knows it is what I want.

Or is it?

What would life be without having something to look forward to?

I think many of us have fantasized about living in such a beautiful place, but reality is that when you live there, it just wouldn't be as special anymore. Like someone else posted, you would still have to get up everyday for work, and do everything that you do at home. We have all the time in the world when we are vacation, which makes the island time so fun, but that all goes away no matter where you live when you have to live your life day to day, handling all the responsibilities that come with it.

If I was rich as hell, and didn't have to work, I could see spending a LOT more time down there. But still, I want St John to remain special, and just visiting once and a while will always keep it that way. Just my .02.

While we were there last week, we sat at the Lime Inn's ficus bar and talked with a couple of guys whose wives own gift shops on island. I kept telling them to persuade my husband to move there.
I would move in a heartbeat but private schools are double what they cost here in Boston. Sending the kids off to HS on STT on a Ferry makes me a little crazy too. My husband is a LOT more realistic than I am. I seriously hate winter and always have. In the 2009 STJ map had a bunch of reasons to live on STJ--My favorite was " Because your too cool to retire to Florida". Yeah that's for sure!

I followed the love of my life here, and believe me when the move was not just a fantasy any longer it hit me hard, I found that I didn't really want the dream to come true.

My ex co-workers invisioned me on the beach with fruity umbrella drinks everyday and oh what a great tan I would have. The reality is, no we aren't on vacation everyday, we have jobs, bills and hardly any time for the beach. Island life is tough and a huge adjustment, you can't just get in the car drive down the road to the movies or a museum or even Home Depot, all of that involves a ferry ride, be it the car barge or the people ferry.

Having said all that, the upside is I have so many wonderful people in my life now. Being a small community we depend on each other differently then in the States. When we lived stateside I didn't even know my neighbors name. While preparing for Omar everyone helped each other, without even having to ask, it was just a given. We just bounced from house to house until everyone was secure.

I do miss being stateside, I don't miss the cold and I do miss some of the conveniences. Would I do it again? Yes, I have to say I would. Has St. John lost some of the vacation charm it had, yes, but it was replaced by a whole different charm, it's home, and there's no place like home.

I'm with mb, if I could vacation for 4-6 weeks in the dead of winter, I'm good. I don't want my favorite rock to be home, it couldn't be, no family there! But, I would love to spend more vacation time there! And when I'm there I do want to be on the beach, or out having cocktails, not behind the bar listening to all the fun my patrons are having while I'm at work! And yeah, we are too cool to retire to Florida.

My husband is always joking that we will ditch our real life and move to STJ. In reality, there is no way he could handle real life on the island, he is too spoiled. I am too but in a different way. I would have an easier time with the things he would find hardest to take.

In our dreams, we are like many others. A house to visit whenever we wanted for as long as we wanted.

DH and I have been looking for a "vacation investment" and do not like the timeshare concept. We seriously considered purchasing a condo at Secret Harbour in STT that we could visit each winter until retirement, which hopefully is within the next 5-8 years. So yes, we're looking, but more as a vacation home than year-round living.

He does love St John as much as I do, his concern is how we make a living.



I guess I should feel lucky we get to go once or twice a year...

do they need teachers there?

Anthony wrote:

RickG wrote: I divested that spouse; she was an under performing asset.

Harsh!

Agreed, but it was one of those RickG lines that made us laugh.

We both have the same dream of retiring to STJ one day. We talk about it quite often.

My family doesn't get it. I'd move there if I was single and had a lot of money so I could send for my kids to come and see me.

Sea-nile, I think we need to buy an SOTB house and then we can visit as many times as we want and rent it out when we're not there. We need a financial planner (not to mention a winning powerball ticket). Reality is so over-rated. Ali~

How bout a house for all the girls--have you read "The Red Tent"?

We can have a "Red Villa"---our husbands won't even miss us.

They might even be glad to be rid of us one week a month.

Any takers?

Never met RickG, but damn his comments crack me up!!! We were just talking about this last night!! (well, almost every night!!) We have a boat at Dale Hollow in TN and plan to get a vacation home there and hopefully retire there, but WHEN we hit the lottery we are getting a vacation home on STJ and live there December, January and February and the rest of the year in TN. Nice plan, now where's that lottery ticket!!