juju b

hello
I just need a little advice, i am thinking of having a different experience & thought about moving to Barbados for a year!
Fancied the island life with just wearing flip flop, T shirt & shorts!!
But after a bit of research on various forums on the subject, i found out that Barbados is fairly expensive island to live in!(ie: car, rent, food etc...)
I was thinking of just renting a small beach bungalow & buy a scooter & live the life of Bajans & feed myself with the local food! A simple life for a year! Am i way off there or just dreaming ???

Thanks for any reply.

Juju

Orangepants

Enjoy the dream!

Serendipidy

JuJu wats stopping you - a beach bungalow is probably one of the more expensive options so maybe reconsider the dream to something more affordable?

One consideration is that you will probably not be entitled to a year on the island - u will be lucky to be allowed to stay for 6 months

pgtips

You really believe this is the life of most bajans, lazing at the beach with their scooters ? Most bajans do not live on the beach, too much sand flies and the sand erosion does so much damage to properties right on the beach.

Most live more inland in small towns and villages. Most go to work in the week, yeh regular 9-5's like other countries in the world, kids go to school, church on Sunday, shopping weekend, etc. Yeh the hustle and bustle exist for most bajans.

The ones you see on the beach all day are either working or beach bums !!!

What you describe is having an extended beach holiday.

Sunniebgi

sorry.. don't mean to burst your bubble.. but that's my dream too... and I live here.

sure.. come on down.. but you may find, as stated before, that you are given a max of 6mths to stay.. initially 28days likely.. than you will be making frequent trips to immigration to renew that stay. Beach bungalows aren't cheap, so come with deep pockets. and likely neither is the scooter.. Flip Flops will set you back something like 25.00usd, if you are lucky to find a pair, so bring plenty..

We aren't trying to be mean.. just realistic.. and I don't want to scare you away from Barbados.. but as the highest ranking 3rd world country, we operate at 1st world. Good infrastructure (electric, phone, water) and we work hard.. We have to as a tourist destination.. We can't slack off..

Good luck.

juju b

Thank you all for your helpfull advice.
I hope i didn't offend anyone by talking about the "bajan life style" of course everyone needs to work but i was looking for a more "relax way" of living for a year, without the mondaine & stressfull every day life that you get in a big city.

Cheers
Juju b

pgtips

can you afford to live, pay bills, rent, food, transport, etc for a year without working ? If the answer is yes and you can get an extended visitor visa for this amount of time, go for it, you only live once so try and fulfil your dreams

neal brown

come on down sounds like a million dollar baby we will love to have you to boost the economy if you get a beach house for under $5000 USD a week consider your self lucky.You can PM me for further details.

Ikon

Juju, I don't want to be negative but the comments people have made about this being an expensive island are pretty accurate.

That said, I think you can take encouragement from the fact that people come here for different reasons and a great number of retired people spend a few months out here each year, so what you're aiming to do isn't impossible. You will need a bit of ca$h or an income from home behind you first though! I'd recommend checking cariblist.com for an idea of what properties rent for, as this will obviously be your largest outgoing and will give you an idea of whether or not you'll be able to do what you want to do.

You might want to give some consideration to whether Barbados is the island you're looking for - it's more developed than some of the smaller islands, and a lot busier. If you're really looking for somewhere quiet and simple, where you can stay on the beach, there are other islands that might fit the brief better.

I think most of the ex-pats using this board have come to Barbados to work and live rather than take an extended holiday, so our priorities and experiences might not make it easy to answer your questions. As I said, starting off with cariblist.com will give you an idea of rent which I imagine is your main concern.

Good luck!

juju b

Thank you so much for your great advice that seems very "real" & acurate.
Indeed i just want to escape the busyness of a city & have "that experience" of living a simple way of life.
Of course all this comes at a price (sadly!) & if Barbados is an expensive island to live in then your advice of looking elsewhere to a smaller island might be a good alternative.
Thanks for the link for the rent prices as it is the 1st step to take before anything.

Cheers
Juju

neal brown

I think you should come and give it a try,none of us know what you have on the bank,and by these comments everyone here is judging you.I know people that have large divorce settlements and there are lots of people that come to Barbados for a year and still have money we dont know your status,my advise will be to come for 3 months and see how it goes if you like it and can afford it give it a go.

juju b

Your comment made me smile
I'm neither rich or divorced !!!
i just wanted to see how easy or for that matter how difficult it is to move to Barbados just simply to try something different for a year!

Thanks again for your comment.

Juju