Moving to BGI in a few months
 

O/H has a job, so we will be moving with the 2 kids (4 & 2), have been looking at the other threads as my 2 go to a Montessori right now, but am guessing we'll only be able to put the 4yr old into school???

Any tips on what we should bring with us, that are costly or hard to get on the island? I know it can't be too luxurious as we'll pay big $$$ on duty.

Do many of you do many trips to the UK/US to stock up on clothes, nicities etc or can you get by on the island ok?

We are hoping to do a quick trip at the end of this month for a look see, any advice on what we should build into the trip?

Cheers
RS

Re: Moving to BGI in a few months
 

Wow... Congrats. Life on the isle is slowly getting back to normal following the Cricket World Cup...

I don't know a whole lot about the Montessori schools. However Montessori.org lists the contact info. It says it had 3 Students in 2001. I hope it has grown since.
http://www.montessori.org/schools/se...ados&keywords=
Barbados has about 120+ Public schools across the island though.

I would recommend you pack FILM... (In Bar-Bajan accent they sometimes call it "Flims"). Film is good if you want to document the family while you're overseas... Film usually keeps for a while but it is pretty pricey on the island. Developing it back in the UK will usually save you some money too unless-- of course you're bringing a digital camera then you can forget all of the above. :-)

Bug repellent or Bug spray is something else that it doesn't hurt to pack from home. Both are pretty pricey on the island, esp. for the brand name ones e.g. (RAID). One bargain brand bug killer that we have locally called "Baygon" seems like the Mosquitoes are now immune to it so don't waste your money on it. Also the Government will announce the nights- when they do the drives around the island to do annual fumigating during the summer to keep the Mosquito population down but some extra bug repellent doesn't hurt too.

Also extra suntan lotion is good to have. Barbados is at 13 degrees north of the equator and as you probably know the sun goes from between points over the equator (on Dec 21st) all the way up to 15 degrees north (on June 21st). So the sun will pass right over Barbados between Dec&Jun and Jun&Dec at least twice.

Also take one final look at the rules on Barbados Customs and Taxes. The Government just put up a website. http://www.customs.gov.bb/

VAT in Barbados is 15%(Barbados dollars) which is a rate of 7.5%(in US$) since the Barbados dollar is pegged to the US$ at US$1=BDS$2 just divide all prices by 2 to know the price in US$.

Lastly with Tony Blair retiring soon don't be surprised if you see him pushing his grocery cart around stores Barbados. :-)

For that matter nothing should really surprise you around this place...

Prince Harry tucks into Barbados rum
Thursday, April 5, 2007
http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/article....5&in_page_id=7

Re: Moving to BGI in a few months
 

T-11th - thanks for getting back with the info.

Cheers