USVI-On-Line

We've always gone to STJ for 10 night/11 day vacations. I usually feel like it is long enough but sometimes wish we could stay a couple more days. Really the only thing that keeps me from wanting to stay longer is that we have cats and I hate leaving them while we're on vacation.

Right now the way airline prices are looking our usual 10 nights is not going to be an option.

The only decently priced flights mean we can either do 9 nights or 14 nights. I'd be bummed about only going for 9 nights but the thought of being gone for 14 nights makes me a little nervous to be gone for that long...but it would obviously be great.

What do you think? Is 9 nights enough? Is 14 nights too long?

Teresa Rae, We also have two cats that my wife especially hates to leave. Let's just say it's not a bad life being BT's cat. [translation: Spoiled Rotten]. That said, I refuse to go though all the ordeals involved in going to STJ and not stay for at least two weeks. Additionally, 14 days is hugely different then 10 days when you put into perspective what it means to really unwind. Two weeks allows you to really spend about 10 days actually being mellowed out in between the travel days.Heck, we even pulled off three weeks one time, but that is another story. We weren't just mellow after that one. More like jello.Anyway, so how do we deal with leaving the cats? We get a friend of ours to feed them, do the litter box detail, and to stay and play with them twice a day.Shoot, they sleep most of the time anyway! If you can pull off two whole weeks, do it. The little bundles of fur balls will still be there when you get back, though they might give you a cold shoulder for a day or so.

Osker & Gimli-" Brothers in Arms"
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12829989@N00/4358150096/" title="Oskar and Gimli, BROTHERS IN ARMS by taterjoes, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2714/435 ... d1a5_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Oskar and Gimli, BROTHERS IN ARMS"></a>

We no longer have a cat, but when we did she didn't factor into vacation decisions. We had great sitters.

We've done 5, 7, 10 and 14 days. We prefer 12-14 days, but usually opt for 10 due to vacation time restrictions. When we have done 14 days, we changed locations to mix things up. Coral Bay/Cruz Bay, BVI/STJ, etc. Although, I'm sure 2 weeks in one place would not be hard to take.

Have fun!

We started out with 8 days/7 nights starting on a day other than Saturday. (I want to avoid the STT traffic on Saturdays.) It was too short. We did not feel that we were actually "there" yet.

The next trip we changed it to 9 days/8 nights. That was much better. We felt like we had settle in and were fully on "Island Time" before we left.

The third trip was 12 days/11 nights. That was just about right. We felt like we were fully in the STJ groove and were OK with going home. That's not to say we WANTED to go home. We were OK with getting on the ferry.

The next trip in June will also be for 12 days/11 nights. By leaving home on a Friday and catching a holiday weekend (in this case July 4th, last year Memorial day), we can get 12 days with only 7 days of leave time. When one has limited paid leave, one must take advantage of every economy one can find.

The next STJ trip will include our 16 year-old granddaughter on her first VI trip. Her major goal is to become certified as an open water diver.

JIM

We started with 10 days for a few years and then last year we opted for 14 days. We originally had planned to do 7 nights Cruz Bay side and 7 nights Coral Bay side, but ended up in our "home", Coral Bay for the whole 14 days and because of a 2 week stay were able to get a nice discount!!!

My first trip (and only so far) was 8 days/7 nights; Saturday-Saturday. Certainly not long enough! It was Thursday before we actually started to relax. Our next trip, which probably won't be until spring of 2013 (2 whole years I know) will hopefully be a little longer.

The longer the better! We have been on island as long as 21 days and are still always sad to leave!

We found that having someone stay at the house while we are gone ( a friend's college age daughter) helps with the cat's attitude problems when we return. they get "wet food" as a treat when we are gone so they are usually looking for the cat-sitter after we return! I think they would help us repack and leave if they were sure it meant Lily would come back and give them the good eats!

Well I'm not much of a cat person, but are you kidding me, you can afford 14 days but only go 10 due to the cats? Don't they have memories like dogs? 1 day or 7 days, or 14....its all the same, right? That is of course assuming you've got safe care for them.

Sometimes I go get the mail and come back and our dogs act like I've been gone a year! Maybe cats are smarter than that, don't know? Are they?

I'm with you, "surfnh", when you say the dogs act the same when you go down to get the mail or leave them for a vacation. We truly believe they have no concept of time so I think leaving our 3 dogs is harder on us than it is on them. We usually go down to STT for 7 days but for the first time we are doing 10 days. We're anxious to see if we can notice any difference. I know that flying Saturday to Saturday is very tiring. This time we fly in on a Sunday and leave on a Tuesday and I'm lookin forward to less of a crowd at the airport...but then maybe not, who knows. We were able to get a morning flight out on a week day as opposed to having to always fly late afternoon when we leave on a Saturdy; that will also be very different. Getting home in the daylight as opposed to after midnight will be really great! Just my two cents...

surfnh wrote:Maybe cats are smarter than that, don't know? Are they?

I would say so, ours get depressed when we leave. They are super excited when we get home but then the smartest one gives us the cold shoulder for awhile once we're back. Mostly I worry that something could go wrong medically and that there won't be someone here to know about it.

Pets are great to have but stink for vacations. When our labs started getting old, we started using a pet sitter who came by the house like 4x/day and walked them. Then they got really old and we have an older semi-retired guy who volunteers to live in our house while we're gone, and we pay him same as a pet sitter. The pet holiday is getting more expensive than our STJ holiday!!

Well, one lab died three months ago, and I'm thinking great, dog vacation for a while, only one old hairy beast left! Then in Puerto Rico my wife adopts another dog during the holidays, and the dang thing takes over our house now.

The vicious cycle starts again!!!!

Back to the subject, for crying out loud, stay 14 days! Everyone else is totally jealous!!!

Teresa_Rae wrote:...ours get depressed when we leave. They are super excited when we get home but then the smartest one gives us the cold shoulder for awhile once we're back.

When we go away our dog is the same way. A day or so after we leave she gets depressed and doesnt eat normal until we get home. And even then she acts like she's mad at us.

I can relate to the cat worries. We have two cats now, 21 and 19. I worry whenever we go away but I've found a great person to check in on them. She stops in for an hr plus every day gets mail, papers etc besides and spends time being social with them (pets one, the others antisocial), feeds them, litter etc

They used to get checked on by a family member, but she was only able to check every couple days, and for less time. If you can find someone who can spend more time it's worthwhile. They do get MAD when we return, and show their displeasure by screeching all night long practically the first night we are back. They are much happier now with daily checkins (i can tell by how long they stay mad) and I get daily reports too, which makes me much happier too.

We've only done a 10 nights due to work conflicts, but I say go for the two weeks if you can do it and theyre healthy and have someone to check in on them.

Hey, I'm told there are small motion activated cam's you can mount in strategic spots in your house, and there are iphone app's where you can have the pic's sent directly to your iphone.

That way, as you're swilling your last painkiller at the soggy dollar, you can get a photo on your iphone when the cats start tearing up the furniture! The only bad news is you have to pay more on Jost for the iphone to receive the picture if you've got AT&T.