Tom and all who took the time to read and post on this thread.

Another of my long winded rants so either move on or read - your call.

With the advent of 2024 this year will definitely mark our fiftieth year of at least once yearly (and often years of multiple trips….) making the trek to SXM with no regrets. Along the way we’ve tried many other vacation spots but none has done it for us the way Sint Maarten does but that said, I don’t think it’s just us. There has to be a reason so many West Coasters make the arduous trip to SXM. as opposed to the easier flight to the Hawaiian islands. We’ve gone there twice but never again given the long flights there and what I consider to be the better Caribbean locals.

In 1983 we took our daughters to the island for their first visit and paid $359.00 per person round trip nonstop from JFK at Easter/Spring-break time here in CT, a vary high demand time of year. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen normal prices like that but that’s a sign of the times. Cigarettes are no longer $4.00 a carton either.

I’ve always belly-ached about the traffic and roads on the island. We were there in the early seventies when they were building the road over the hill into town; we were on island to see several ‘new bridges’ - now old - floated into place and we were departing the island the day the causeway span was brought into the lagoon and got to briefly see it happening as we took off for home, so we have seen improvements but very little in the area of mass traffic. Aruba has a great system and I’ve been suggestion since 1995 SXM needs to take note. Nope! Not happening.

The airport is what it is - what more can I say? But we did get to use one of the new jetways on Nov, 15, the first day they were put into service and it is a huge improvement. The arrival situation will get better but just not soon enough to make most of us happy and still we come.

The garbage situation on island just continues to get worse instead of better, IMHO, and seemingly, so does the politics but that’s beyond a visitors sphere of interest

But unlike so many others, I do object to the added service charge on restaurant checks as it leaves too much room for encouraging less than wonderful service. Not always but often enough to be annoying. We will usually tip 18 to 20 percent for typical service and more for exceptional treatment but I strongly object to the restaurant owner dictating to me what the gratuity should be. Personally speaking, I’d far rather see the Dutch side following the lead of their French counterparts and raise their prices accordingly to cover all the costs of dining including gratuities, which also would allow for them to pay their waitstaff a more reasonable wage. At that point, exceptional service could be rewarded. Or not, at the discretion of the diner. This would put an end to a lot of the tipping questions and the ‘stories’ so many are told.

But all of that said, I still love SXM and all it has to offer - the good, the bad and the ugly I lost a four week timeshare that I loved but found an even better place to stay at BSV, and so many restaurants we loved have closed but been replaced by others we also enjoy.

Life goes on and so we will continue to visit the island for as long as we’re able, knowing full well that islanders and those who had already come to know the island in the fifties and sixties probably felt much the same way about those of us who first came in the seventies and eighties. And those now coming will never know what a heaven on earth SXM once was to us old-timers.

Food for thought………..can’t wait for April to come.

And for all who had the patience and perseverance to read this far….Happy New Year, one and all.