USVI questions

[creekland]

We're in the "contemplate where we might want to spend Feb 2015" stage of empty nesting and I have a couple of USVI questions if anyone has been there.  (I know SOME of you out there must have been there at some point!)

 

What's internet service like?

 

What's phone service like?

 

In order for us to afford living in a more southern location in Feb, hubby needs to keep working.  To do that, he needs to have good internet + phone access... so he can work on projects and e-mail them back to clients.  Skype can be beneficial too.

 

We're trying to figure out if we can consider spots in the Caribbean or if we need to stick with FL (good, but...ho hum) or HI (terrific, but 6 hours behind EDT).  I thought the territories might be our best bet.  I could be way off on that!  Any insight?

[Lanny]

I cannot help you with information specific to the USVI (I was there years ago) but I believe you need to be specific about where you would be using the Internet and phone. If you are in a private home or office there, my guess (and I am assuming this) is that the service would be very good. I know people who live in P.R. and in the Dominican Republic, but I don't know anyone in the USVI.  If you are staying in a hotel or timeshare, the service could vary, wildly, in quality.

 

Here's the optimistic news for you: They are probably connected, as we are, via Undersea Cable, to Miami/South Florida. We have ADSL service in our rural home (5 Mbps) and I have run tests, to servers in South Florida and in Atlanta, where the download/upload  speed is actually faster than it is to the test server of our ISP in Cali, Colombia...   The speed to those test servers in the USA is usually about 4.8 Mbps.

 

Regarding phone service, at the end of March, we received a "magicJack Plus 2014".  We have a U.S. phone number that people can call us on and I believe we can call 99% of the phone numbers in the USA free (exceptions I understand are people with very rural phone companies that have high inter connect fees).  The quality of the calls is excellent.  The only "issue" I see with the magicJack is that if we lose power or ADSL, it takes awhile for the phone connected to the magicJack to have a dial tone again.  

[creekland]

I cannot help you with information specific to the USVI (I was there years ago) but I believe you need to be specific about where you would be using the Internet and phone. If you are in a private home or office there, my guess (and I am assuming this) is that the service would be very good. I know people who live in P.R. and in the Dominican Republic, but I don't know anyone in the USVI.  If you are staying in a hotel or timeshare, the service could vary, wildly, in quality.

 

Here's the optimistic news for you: They are probably connected, as we are, via Undersea Cable, to Miami/South Florida. We have ADSL service in our rural home (5 Mbps) and I have run tests, to servers in South Florida and in Atlanta, where the download/upload  speed is actually faster than it is to the test server of our ISP in Cali, Colombia...   The speed to those test servers in the USA is usually about 4.8 Mbps.

 

Regarding phone service, at the end of March, we received a "magicJack Plus 2014".  We have a U.S. phone number that people can call us on and I believe we can call 99% of the phone numbers in the USA free (exceptions I understand are people with very rural phone companies that have high inter connect fees).  The quality of the calls is excellent.  The only "issue" I see with the magicJack is that if we lose power or ADSL, it takes awhile for the phone connected to the magicJack to have a dial tone again.  

 

That sounds VERY promising - thanks Lanny!  Now I'm actually wondering if places like the DR could work too.

 

We'd likely be renting a condo, apt, or house.  I'm gathering asking about the internet for each place we'd consider would be essential, but it definitely sounds like it could happen.

 

We have passports and the "work" hubby is doing is for clients he already has.  He wouldn't be doing "local" work, so wouldn't need typical permission for that - which is a good thing considering it's difficult to get.  We're not going anywhere expecting either of us to "get a job."  We just want to avoid a month of winter and explore new places in the process.

 

[FaithManor]

We are looking at that as well. But, it will depend on if ds can log into his online college courses from there and work around the few times that he must be on campus. One month is our goal, for all of us. This was a really difficult winter in a lot of respects than just the weather, and we'd just like to look forward to a mid-winter break and change of scenery. A lot depends on whether or not the rocket team can start their season early and have qualifying flights in the air and recorded before we leave. It is our hope.

 

We've only just begun our research. Puerto Rico is on the list. We'll see what happens. Jamaica is another. I've been before and would love to take my family. But, this all has to work around a very busy senior year for ds.

 

I'm wondering if you could contact a couple of real estate agents from USVI and ask them about the quality of internet connections.

[creekland]

 

I'm wondering if you could contact a couple of real estate agents from USVI and ask them about the quality of internet connections.

 

At the moment, we're still in the basic brainstorming stage.  We know we want to go.  We're narrowing down some choices, and neither of us know much about the Caribbean other than the names/locations of islands and it looks gorgeous.  We've done both HI and FL before and definitely preferred HI to FL (except logistically), but somewhere new could very well trump both.

 

Before we can move beyond this stage we need to see how some medical stuff I need to get done goes and what my future "needs" are there.  :sad:  I like to hope for the best.  ;)

 

I'll admit to thinking it could be lots of fun if we ended up on the same island... :thumbup1:

 

[FaithManor]

Creekland, I like to hope for the best for you too, and pray about that often. I desperately hope you'll be in the Caribbean this winter even if dh and I aren't! :)

[Lanny]

That sounds VERY promising - thanks Lanny!  Now I'm actually wondering if places like the DR could work too.

 

We'd likely be renting a condo, apt, or house.  I'm gathering asking about the internet for each place we'd consider would be essential, but it definitely sounds like it could happen.

 

We have passports and the "work" hubby is doing is for clients he already has.  He wouldn't be doing "local" work, so wouldn't need typical permission for that - which is a good thing considering it's difficult to get.  We're not going anywhere expecting either of us to "get a job."  We just want to avoid a month of winter and explore new places in the process.

 

 

I assume DR ("Republica Dominicana") and many other places, including Colombia, would work fine for you. My belief is that if I lived in the USA, February would be a month I would prefer not to be there, unless I wanted to ski. I believe you will find anywhere in the main part of the Caribbean will be very expensive at that time of the peak Winter tourist season. I refer to Jamaica, DR, PR, USVI, etc., etc. as the Main part.  Colombian islands like San Andres and Providencia are probably unknown in the USA, but I'm not sure about the quality of the Internet service there and they will probably  be pretty full in February.  At Christmas and during Holy Week there are so many people there the islands are probably sinking from the weight of the people...

 

Probably any place with a lot of people will have direct Undersea Cables to the USA and that will provide excellent Internet service.

 

As long as you keep a "low profile" and the local authorities don't know your DH is working while there, there won't be any problems. Working, on a Tourist Visa, is prohibited, everywhere.

 

You could come down here (Cali is about 3 hours 30 minutes, wheels up to wheels down, from Miami, 1565 miles) and we usually have high temperatures of approximately 86 degrees and low temperatures in the  60's.  Or, to our Caribbean Coast. Cartagena or Santa Marta for example. I'm not sure about the Internet service there, but I assume it would be fine. Colombia is advanced, with regard to Telecommunications.  Cali was one of the first cities in the world with WiMAX service. 

 

This the URL for Colombian government tourist information in English:

http://www.colombia.travel/en/

They expect 4 million tourists will visit Colombia this year.

 

For many reasons, sadly, I *strongly* suggest that you do not include Venezuela in the places you consider. A beautiful country, with many wonderful people, but not good for Americans at this time.

 

Wherever you go, I hope you will have a great time!

[Lanny]

<snip>

Before we can move beyond this stage we need to see how some medical stuff I need to get done goes and what my future "needs" are there.  :sad:  I like to hope for the best.  ;)

<snip>

 

 

I read this post after my previous reply to you. That may change your thinking, considerably. Add Cali to the list of places you consider. We have one of the best hospitals in South America here and the doctors there are super. DD was born there. If you might need medical care, that might be something to consider, among many other things. 

[creekland]

I assume DR ("Republica Dominicana") and many other places, including Colombia, would work fine for you. My belief is that if I lived in the USA, February would be a month I would prefer not to be there, unless I wanted to ski. I believe you will find anywhere in the main part of the Caribbean will be very expensive at that time of the peak Winter tourist season. I refer to Jamaica, DR, PR, USVI, etc., etc. as the Main part.  Colombian islands like San Andres and Providencia are probably unknown in the USA, but I'm not sure about the quality of the Internet service there and they will probably  be pretty full in February.  At Christmas and during Holy Week there are so many people there the islands are probably sinking from the weight of the people...

 

Probably any place with a lot of people will have direct Undersea Cables to the USA and that will provide excellent Internet service.

 

As long as you keep a "low profile" and the local authorities don't know your DH is working while there, there won't be any problems. Working, on a Tourist Visa, is prohibited, everywhere.

 

You could come down here (Cali is about 3 hours 30 minutes, wheels up to wheels down, from Miami, 1565 miles) and we usually have high temperatures of approximately 86 degrees and low temperatures in the  60's.  Or, to our Caribbean Coast. Cartagena or Santa Marta for example. I'm not sure about the Internet service there, but I assume it would be fine. Colombia is advanced, with regard to Telecommunications.  Cali was one of the first cities in the world with WiMAX service. 

 

This the URL for Colombian government tourist information in English:

http://www.colombia.travel/en/

They expect 4 million tourists will visit Colombia this year.

 

For many reasons, sadly, I *strongly* suggest that you do not include Venezuela in the places you consider. A beautiful country, with many wonderful people, but not good for Americans at this time.

 

Wherever you go, I hope you will have a great time!

 

Well, his "working" would be very akin to a novelist bringing all of their materials somewhere and "working" on it.  I don't think it's illegal, but if we thought it were, we'd stick with the territories I suppose.  Hubby has done projects (from home) on all continents except South America and Antarctica (doubt he will ever get that last one!), but right now all of his projects are local except for one in SC (still in the states).  He branched out more when the economy was tight.  It isn't at the moment, so local jobs keep him working, and of course, are easier to do.

 

Waterfront is an important criteria for us.  Hubby loves sailing and we both love great water vistas.  We don't get that at our farm here in PA (our pond doesn't count!), so "need" it when we travel. 

 

So, waterfront, warm, internet, and phone... that leaves many places to consider!  Cost will be a factor, so I might have to look at the Caribbean to see if it still fits what I have in mind (both HI and FL fit cost-wise, but I suspect they could be less due to plenty of "supply" for their demand).

 

I'm undecided about countries without English as their primary language.  I could still do fine with French or similar, but hubby doesn't speak it at all.  Neither of us do more than basic Spanish.  When we go somewhere for a month, I'd prefer to speak/understand the native language, but I know in many (tourist type) areas it's not an absolute necessity, so I don't know how much weight to put on that.

[FaithManor]

You know, it never occured to me that consulting while on a vacation in a foreign locale could be a legal issue. Dh is pretty much on call for GM 24/7 and no matter where we vacation, he ends up on the phone for his job.

 

Lanny, how big of a problem is this? His manager is not likely to call the week we are in Iceland, but anything is possible if there is trouble in their IT department. I'm wondering how easy it would be for them to enforce such a rule. He would be on his phone and laptop hooked up to the internet in the hotel but not doing anything that necessarily looked like work to the casual observer.

[J-rap]

I hope it works out for you!  We loved getting away this past winter to CR.  (And for what it's worth, the internet worked fine and my husband was even able to keep up his daily appointments via Skype.)

[creekland]

I hope it works out for you!  We loved getting away this past winter to CR.  (And for what it's worth, the internet worked fine and my husband was even able to keep up his daily appointments via Skype.)

 

Were you on big water when you were in CR?  (Fishing for recommendations of places... ;)  )

 

[J-rap]

Were you on big water when you were in CR?  (Fishing for recommendations of places... ;)  )

 

 

We were in the capital most of the time so inland, but I know there are some lovely places on the coast!

 

Let me "fish around" a little and if I come up with any places in particular to recommend, I'll let you know.  ;)

 

[FaithManor]

Bumping to see if anyone else has recommendations.

[creekland]

Bumping to see if anyone else has recommendations.

 

I won't get a chance to price anything to see if they're still "in play" until this weekend at the earliest, and we won't be making decisions for at least a month, so if anyone out there has suggestions, I'd definitely love to see them added.  ;)

 

[FaithManor]

Creekland, I looked at a lovely house on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. The view of the lake was fantastic, utilities included. It looked like the perfect getaway for us. It was about $1000.00 for the month, if we were moving there were going to rent for a year, only $700.00. Dh just needs reliable internet and phone so I'm researching that. I don't know...we may need to stay closer in to a major city. But, this wild, remote, peaceful abode looked like heaven on earth to me! :)

 

We can't book a thing until November. I can investigate and settle on locations that will work, but it comes down to whether or not the rocket team can get their qualification flights in really early, and ds has all of his college APs done. FASFA can be submitted online as well as our taxes which Dh would do on Jan.30 before we leave anyway so we could probably get FASFA done too. We'd need to divert our mail to my mom's and have her contact us if he got any college mail that we needed to take care of ASAP. Then I'd need to load up school work to take since I can't give the kids a month off in the middle of the school year. But, we would work through Thanksgiving and Christmas break to help us be less rushed with it.

 

I keep hoping!

[creekland]

Creekland, I looked at a lovely house on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.

 

We have looked at that area a little (via House Hunters International), but have decided we ultimately want big salt water views...

 

Since we're soon to be at the empty nesting stage, our schedule has freed up a ton - all except that pesky medical bit that might become a player.  Hopefully, it won't.

 

I think the best part of empty nesting - or at least being done with the K-12 age - is having a free schedule.  Homeschooling was great, but there were still sports and DE classes and other ECs.  Now those have all moved on to the college boys (or beyond).  We'll make sure we're around for breaks - or can bring them to us - but that's a huge change.

 

I feel fortunate that hubby's job is somewhat portable!  Since my school job is not, I'll need to find something to occupy my time, but I'm confident I can do that.  ;)  I can still work at school when I'm home too.  It's sort of the best of both worlds.

[FaithManor]

I agree that it's lovely when the job is flexible. We aren't empty nesting yet, youngest has four years unless we graduate him early which we could easily do, but his academic maturity runs ahead of his emotional so not ideal. We've talked about homeschooling him abroad his last year or at least for part of a year. But, if we can keep DE courses to the first semester of each year for the remaining kids, and take a break from rocket team each winter, then a month somewhere else each year for the next four should be doable because DH works on a global account in a home office and rarely drives to "campus" at GM. They kind of don't care where he sits most of the time. A month in another part of the world would not bother them at all so I'm very grateful.

 

Dh is a little concerned about a whole month out the first time. He feels like we need to have a 10 day trial run for the first year and see how it works for him. I just found a really good deal for the five of us...San Juan, on the beach, pool, lots of amenities, and not too far from the airport if DH had something go wrong and work and really needed to get home ASAP. $760.00 per person for ten days including airfare. Couldn't believe it. Love Expedia for short trips. So, I'm trying to convince him that this might be a good first time option.

 

The added bonus is that with dd and hubby, dear nephew and wife, all being dual income, no kids (I hate to call them dinks, LOL) right now, they could afford this and could join us. Dh would have to work during the day, but the rest of us could play together while he's working, and he could join in at night which just sounds like a little piece of heaven as I sit her staring out the window at a cold, wet day...as if our area of Michigan needed more cold and rain, ugh.

[Truscifi]

I don't have any suggestions, I'm just reading along and dreaming about being in the same position with older kids and a flexible schedule while I watch my toddler play. Lol.

[FaithManor]

 

I don't have any suggestions, I'm just reading along and dreaming about being in the same position with older kids and a flexible schedule while I watch my toddler play. Lol.

Well, if you had asked me when I had a 9 year old and 3 boys under the age of 3.5 if we would ever have a chance to do anything like this, I would have given you a look that said, "You must have a hole in your head!" :D Their young years went fast and yet slow all at once. Now that one is married and graduating from college, one is a high school senior this August and applying to college, one is year behind that and already doing a serious college search, and the fourth is only 14 and begging to make his first college visit...sigh...it's hurtling by like a comet past earth and I can actually imagine that we need to plan for a life beyond the bounds of being full time parents.

 

DD is a joy as a young adult and I have no doubt my boys will be as well. However, I think that job wise they are going to end up spread out quite a bit and well, we've got to think ahead and that seems SOOOOO fun right now. We both agreed to begin our travels even on a small scale now so the boys can have the benefit of seeing new places now that we can afford it, and then we both think it will grow.

 

The toughest thing will be what happens when the last one leaves. We've been 4-H leaders for a while and lead a competitive rocketry team for four straight years. We'll have eight in that endeavor alone when the last graduates. It's been a big part of our lives and I can't imagine not doing it, and yet, by the same token, I think we'll need to consider a change of pace and the possibility of freeing ourselves up a bit. It's hard to figure how this will all play out and what we will keep doing and what we will give up, but I do know that dh and I have terrible, horrible, wanderlust and if we don't feed it, we are going to be very unhappy individuals.

 

My parents have been travelers and they took us many places when were kids. Since I've been out of the house they've been to Togo, West Africa three times, Holland, Mexico, and Haiti. France is on the list next since my sister is there now. Dh's dad spent three months wandering Europe after he got out of his tour in the Army and his family moved frequently just because they liked to see new places. I blame all of this on our parents! :)

 

But, I think for us it's all in the early, early investigatory phase. Creekland, with one married, one in college and traveling too, and one getting ready to leave for college is a bit closer to the reality of feeding the wandering beast than we are.

 

That said, we have a week in Iceland coming up in only 38 days! :hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:

[creekland]

I don't have any suggestions, I'm just reading along and dreaming about being in the same position with older kids and a flexible schedule while I watch my toddler play. Lol.

 

(Shuffling feet and looking down...) Well, we started traveling when our kids were young... no regrets either.  We couldn't take a month off at that time, but we took two weeks and several smaller trips.  The boys grew up traveling and all three love it. ;)

 

[FaithManor]

When I say "begin our travels", I should indicate that this means international, larger scale trips. The kids have been traveling since they were babies. In terms of their formative memories, they remember Chicago museum trips on the Amtrak, camping trips in Ontario, Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge excursions from grandpa and grandma's house, that kind of thing.

 

This will be a bigger deal...international travel off, longer distances, and very different cultures.

 

 

[Caribbean Queen]

Phone service is very good.  A company called Choice has very reliable cell phones at great prices.  You can get a landline with Innovative. I don't recommend Sprint or getting a phone from Radio Shack. 

 

You won't get internet access 100% of the time.  Choice internet service works over 90% of the time for me.  They just built another tower near my house.  Before that, it worked less than half the time. 

 

I'm not sure if Skype is available in the USVI.

[creekland]

When I say "begin our travels", I should indicate that this means international, larger scale trips. The kids have been traveling since they were babies. In terms of their formative memories, they remember Chicago museum trips on the Amtrak, camping trips in Ontario, Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge excursions from grandpa and grandma's house, that kind of thing.

 

This will be a bigger deal...international travel off, longer distances, and very different cultures.

 

Similar here.  Mine started "overseas/very different cultures" at age 13.  We started taking a min of 3 weeks and max of 2 months off when they were 11, 9, and 7 years of age, but so far, all of the longer trips have been in either the US or Canada.  This is the first time we're toying with overseas (assuming HI doesn't count for overseas!) for that - mainly due to "work" needs.  We can't afford to "just" vacation with longer time periods.  If we could, I would!

 

Unfortunately though... medical issues might still come into play too.  Today's appt came with "good" news that some minor things aren't wrong.  :glare:  (Minor things would have been easy to fix.)

 

I would be willing to try salt water and salt water vistas for cures, but there's more to be figured out first.  I'll admit to hoping for the "easy" fix.

 

[creekland]

They just built another tower near my house.

 

Must NOT be envious! Must NOT be envious... ;)

 

Thanks for the info.  Skype might not be needed.  He just needs "something" in case he has to contact clients with questions/advice.

 

[Caribbean Queen]

Must NOT be envious! Must NOT be envious... ;)

.

Hee hee. 

[Katy]

St Johns is our dream retirement.  No clue how fast the internet might be - perhaps ask each place you might stay?

 

 

Any one know what the homeschooling laws are in the USVI?

[creekland]

I looked at a few places in St Johns last night.  There are a few in our price range that look like they could work quite nicely, though most are definitely higher than we were planning on, so it is more expensive in general.  All mentioned having WiFi, so it seems like that won't be an issue.  It's a gorgeous area!  USVI remains an option. 

 

Then there have been some local folks who have told me to check out BVI...

[FaithManor]

I keep eyeing the place I found in San Juan. I really wanted to go to Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica, or USVI. But, for a first time excursion that will include DH needing to be on conference calls four hours per day and the reasonable price, it sounds pretty nice. I think I'm especially drawn to this trip because I know that dd and hubby, nephew and wife, could afford a week on this trip. We'd love to have them all along.

[MBM]

You can get some more answers from posters on the Forum Caribbean board. I'm pretty sure some of them live there.

 

We got a good deal on both airfare and hotel for Grand Cayman over Christmas -- booked Cayman Islands Air and staying at Turtle Inn and Reef Resort (neither are on 7-mile Beach). My husband mentioned that the deals were even better a month or two later. Grand Cayman has some cool things: bio-luminescent night time sea kayak tour, stingray city, starfish beach and snorkeling/scuba. Just throwing that out there in case you might be interested.

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147365-d647093-r138807456-Cayman_Kayaks_Private_Tours-Grand_Cayman_Cayman_Islands.html

 

I read that there have been some outbreaks of the chikungunya virus on some islands which is spread by mosquitoes. It causes fever and joint pain. My husband is a mosquito magnet so we'll be packing something for him, maybe a giant net he can wear. lol.

[creekland]

Both BVI and PR have affordable, nice-looking options, so it appears like we'll have plentiful options for "new" experiences even if some get rented between now and when we can truly make a decision.

 

Grand Cayman does have some nice things we'd love to do (esp diving), but for a whole month, I'm not sure we'd be as happy there.  One reason we like HI better than FL is the mountain view and hiking options...

 

Caicos is similar - very pretty, but...

 

We'll see.

[creekland]

Just as an update - esp for those who might be interested in similar things themselves - we ended up deciding on heading to the beach outside of Freeport in the Bahamas.  It certainly was a compromise as it doesn't have everything we were looking for (esp mountains!), but the price sure couldn't be beat - and we appear to have great ocean views, a beach, WiFi, and there are things to do in the area.

 

I was a little concerned that the price was/is "too good," but the owner has been listed with HomeAway since 2005, so... hopefully all will be ok.  If nothing else, we paid by credit card (only 50% down), so should be protected. ;)

 

After next March I can let anyone know if we recommend the exact condo/place - or not.  Either way it should be an adventure...