After a frantic 3200 mile cross country drive from San Francisco to Orlando these past couple weeks, we have arrived. Our attention now shifts to packing up the RV, getting it cleaned out to sit for 5 months and packing up for our island winter. After a lot of thought and playing around with our packing list, we’re going to set a goal of just checking two suitcases weighing less than 100 pounds total.
The purpose
While we consider ourselves conscious consumers, not necessarily ultra-minamilists – part of our challenge in wintering somewhere on a somewhat remote island is re-thinking what is necessary to be comfortable. We both went through massive purges about 4 years ago to scale down from two 1500+ square foot homes to a single 45 square foot living space. Along the way, we upgraded to a massive 80 square feet of living space.
And for a few months now, we’ve been feeling a bit bloated.
It’s so easy along the way to see something cool, or having something gifted, that you magically find you have room for. And before you know it – cabinets are overflowing, windows in the tow vehicle are blocked and you’re carrying more food than you could possibly consume even if you fed a small village. Of course we do mini-purges along the way, and are constantly evaluating what we carry. But let’s face it, we’ve gotten mighty comfortable in our huge 80 sq ft plus tow vehicle, and we have lots of stuff we’re just simply not utilizing.
It’s time to change that, and moving to St. John for more than an extended vacation but less then settling down, is a perfect opportunity. We want to go through the process of evaluating everything we own again for its merits as being essential or not.
The challenge
We’re putting ourselves up to the challenge of consolidating what we bring over down to just two standard sized and weighted checked bags. Our airline charges $25 for the first checked bag per person up to 50 lbs – so this will cap our baggage fee to $50. And make handling our baggage as we shuffle from car, to plane, to shuttle, to ferry to rented 4WD vehicle (with a cat) a lot easier.
Now, that doesn’t mean we won’t have carry-on bags – which will mainly contain our laptops, iPad and cat (she counts as one of our allowed carry-ons, despite having to pay extra for her). In fact, that’ll pretty much be all they will contain. So we’re not including that weight in our packing challenge. And that doesn’t mean we won’t obtain things once we’re on island. The challenge is to minimize our stuff that we bring over.
Simple, a couple swim suits.. and you’re done!
We wish it were as easy as just tossing in a couple swimsuits to pad the laptops. And, I’m sure if we really wanted to go that light, we probably could.
However, wintering in St. John is not a vacation for us. We’ll be setting up a bit of a home there, as well as our mobile office. We will be continuing to work, afterall. In fact, we now have more software development contract work on our plate than at any other time in our nomadic history, as well as two iPhone apps we’re far behind on getting out. A big appeal to this adventure is having someplace awesome to stay put for a few months as we focus on work.
Some of the logistical considerations that make packing light a challenge:
- The place we’re renting has a mattress, an uncovered couch, a dresser, two chairs, a stove, a refrigerator, washer/dryer and full bath. Nothing else. No pillows. No linens. No pots, pans or dishes.
- Our flight will be arriving just as businesses are shutting down, eliminating the flexibility of making a shopping run for our first night in. At the very least, we’ll need to bring something to use for bedding, eating and Kiki’s essentials to get us through the first day or so. And, honestly – our priority our first day on the island is getting essential internet connectivity chugging along – not ferrying back to St. Thomas to buy towels.
- With only 4500 people on the island of St. John, there are only a couple of small markets for general shopping. All major shopping is done on St. Thomas (a cross island drive and a 20 minute ferry ride away), and that is apparently even a bit sparse. Our local contacts have warned us that if we absolutely want it, you better bring it with you – or ship it over. We want to find the a nice balance between having stuff we’re familiar with, and living a bit local.
- While we can mail stuff to the island for US domestic postage rates reasonably affordably (and already have a mailing address set up there, as we won’t have mail service at our house) – it is significantly slower. As we’re already parred down fairly well, we lack redundancy of things like towels, plates, linens, etc. There’s little stuff that we would deem essential enough to ship over that we don’t need between now and when we fly over. And we’d have to ship basically now for it to arrive when we do.
- We don’t want to irresponsibility over purchase stuff. If we can reasonably pack it over with us and bring it back, it seems like a good trade-off. And will help us feel a little more at-home to be eating off our own (lightweight) plates, or sleeping in our own sheets – for example. And there are some things we’re coordinating with our friend/sub-landlord that we’ll plan to obtain on island that she’ll be able to utilize once she takes over later next year.
So.. there you have it. The goal we’re setting for ourselves. We fly over on Sunday, November 7th. Until then will be spent getting everything in order, a work related trip, getting lots done, visiting with family & friends and hopefully some sleep. The pace ahead reminds me a bit of getting ready to hit the road full time again!
It’s actually a bit exhilarating to be back in that mode.
I envy you going to the Virgin Islands for the winter! And RVing the other part of the year!
You are probably either going thru airports or flying as I write. The first couple days may be exhausting, frustrating but exhilarating (when you push past the initial transition). Wishing you good luck and fun on your new venture. We are all looking forward to cheering you on and learning along the way.
Would love to have lunch with you and Chris in early January @ Caneel (fantastic lunch buffet, cold option is best value) and trade Island Tech notes. I will “ping” you after the first of the year. I imagine your lives are a little crazy right now. Have a safe flight.
Don’t forget to enjoy STJ, Scott
Just found your site a few weeks back. Your upcoming adventure to STJ will be fascinating to follow. Thanks for letting us follow. My wife & I bought some land in the Cruz Bay area (main port you will pull into when you come over from STT) back in 1995 and have been coming down once or twice a year since with the intention of building some day.
I will be on island from 1/10 through 1/18 camping on our lot. We get a very strong 3G signal due to our line of sight with STT in the Cruz Bay area. This upcoming trip is a “proof of concept” to see if I could function with just 3G to my ATT air card in my laptop & iPhone. I am bringing a 14W flexible solar roll and a 100W Tekkeon battery to learn more about PV solar with light electronics. The build process on STJ can take over a year and I want to see if I can run my Home Office out of a construction site for a week or so each month in a year+ long build.
Your “off grid” knowledge will be very helpful with power outages / challanges. You may want to consider some deep charge 12V batteries from STT for your back up. Most people use gas or diesel generators. With your know how, the batteries may be an easier solution.
You may also want to consider shipping down (USPS flat rate box) some basic hand tools. Things seem to wear out faster on island and a basic set of screw drivers, Chanel Locks, wrenches, etc go a long way. As you probably already know for the VI’s, the USPS flat rate boxes let you pack as much weight as you can into a given size box, perfect for heavy metal tools.
Please don’t forget to pack some extra time to explore. I know you will be working, but STJ has so much fun just off the beaten path if you are willing to explore a little. Please let me know if I can help in any way.
Thx, Scott
Hey Scott.. thanks for stopping in! We’re excited about our adventure there, and are shipping down a couple flat rate boxes. Does indeed seem to be the way to go. Not shipping much down in the way of tools, don’t use them now – not sure what we’d use them for there? (We’re not mechanical types). Our rental comes with a property manager who takes care of such things. We’ll also investigate the current generator setup at the unit to see how we can reasonably scale it for our temporary needs while there. With only being there 5 months, it’s a balance to strike between making it usable for us, but not going overboard as we’re not trying to make a permanent home there.
Should you wish to meet up while you’re on island, give us a holler!
– Cherie
I also would love to see your packing list once you have finished it. A recent post of yours discussing the labels put on your way of life was quite thought provoking. I would label you as fortunate, flexible and prepared. Fortunate to have found one another and to have a way to make a living no matter where you are. Flexible enough to be able to live well on wheels, on an island, on the sea or wherever life takes you. Prepared enough to take on the next great adventure. I look forward to your thoughts of island life! LG
Many people buy an RV at a distance from them and fly out to bring it home. They have a similar challenge in bringing enough to set up housekeeping without going over baggage limitations. Once you get it all together I would love to see your packing list to see how you dealt with the challenges.
good luck with your challenge, its nice you travel with your cat that is cute. i will be coming back to check your progress
If you are not familiar with it, take a look at onebag.com. On it, he recommends many things for lightweight travel that would seem ideal–such as the MSR “Packtowl” that is super-small, yet absorbs about nine times its weight in water. Those would seem to be able to get you by at least until you can supplement with things you have mailed. There are many other things on his suggested packing list that would help greatly in achieving your goal, I believe.
If you don’t have either a sleeping bag liner or “sleep sack” (such as hostels require)–that, too, may make bedding simpler by far, and something you could carry with you with little penalty for weight or space.
Also–does your airline permit a carry-on bag plus a personal item? If so, that would significantly expand your ability to carry things that would be of great use.
I recently went on a six-week trip back to the States, and had only a carry-on, a laptop messenger bag, and a Scott eVest for the things that would not fit in the other two…no checked bag at all going over. Of course, I didn’t have to contend with cooking or linens. I did, however, have to contend with a rather bulky CPAP machine, hose, and mask.
Good luck with your project–I’m sure you can do it with comfort and style and a *lot* of advance planning!
Yes.. we are familiar with onebag.com. Part of our challenge, as noted, is to avoid re-purchasing stuff we already own and to achieve this goal while bringing over our existing stuff. However, as we already travel/live light in a small mobile space, much of our stuff is already classed for this sort of packing.
And yes.. again, as noted, our challenge does not include our carry-on items – which will contain our laptops and our cat.
When I move countries I often bring two 50 lb bags and a backpack style carry-on of electronics which always seems to be around 40 lbs. I find the baggage fees are generally much cheaper than buying stuff I’ll likely want to have once I arrive. But, that of course depends on the country. And, while it’s a bit of a hassle transporting all the luggage it’s only a one time event every so often.
Yup, that’s kinda what we were figuring. Although, this will be two 50 lbs bags (plus carry-ons) between *two* people and a cat.
Good to hear that you’ve made the long trip to FL safely and are in the midst of preps to head to USVI! Looking forward to reading about how the pack goes and your future adventures in the islands.
Instead of towels, you might consider sarongs. They dry quickly, pack small, and are triple-duty: beach towels/bath sheets/clothing (wrap, skirt, dress). Also, check out outdoor stores for light-weight camp/pack towels; we’ve found they work well for the kitchen/around the trailer.
Already ahead of ya, and sarongs are a staple in our wardrobe – so that would meet our challenge of trying to not buy new stuff just to bring over. Right now, we’re also considering bringing over some of my hand dyed silk belly dance veils that will be our initial sheets, that will also serve as wraps/skirts AND wall decorations/curtains/privacy doors. They weigh nothing, take up hardly any room, are gorgeous, are ours and will serve multi-purposes. Perfect
And we already have a full size REI microfiber towel that we have had on the pack list from the start – you’re right, they’re great for around the trailer, and will be great as our initial combo bath/beach towel.
I love this challenge that you guys are up against and I look forward to seeing what you ending taking and what you decide to live without.