It’s always good to have a trip to SXM in the planning stages and even better to have two on the books, which is where I thought we were. However, life has a way of throwing you curves and you just have to deal with them.

On Thursday we were forced to cancel our April trip. It was a miserable decision to have to make but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. This would have been a significant trip for us marking our fiftieth consecutive year of visiting our favorite island. But the good news - we do have November on the books.

Now, for the rest of the story. Tracy Mascarin of Beachside Villas was wonderful. She called me back almost immediately after receiving my phone message and worked out our arrangements to our mutual satisfaction. I had just sent my final payment the week before. But she handled everything beautifully. It truly pays to deal with reputable people and the Mascarins certainly are. Over the years I’ve dealt with some who weren’t as honorable or understanding.

Lesley Bruce of Kenny’s car Rental and Jeannie Gee were both sympathetic and understanding as was our local limo driver.

Jet Blue? Not so much! But we finally got it done and received full refunds to our points and travel bank. FYI, I tried to cancel on line and got almost through the process and hit a system error. Twice! Finally in frustration I called JB who said if I asked them to do it - there was a $25.00 fee per person per ticket to have them do it but the attitude of the agent pi$$ed me off so I hung up and tried unsuccessfully one more time. In desperation I called JB again and got a pleasant reservationist who did the job, no charge. She also told me the other JB agent had the option to not charge for canceling but he was being a bugger! Shame on him!

So to all of you visiting SXM in early April, and particularly the lucky ones who end up in #14 BSV, I wish you a wonderful stay. Enjoy your time. And OURS!! 😊😊