Sad

[parafins]

I drop in from time to time. I visit the "news" websites more often, and visit here more in the winter when my soul is begging to get out of Michigan winters and to be placed on sugar soft sand with the heat of the sun upon me with a nice reef close by... I must stop this behavior as I want to go back now. St. john seem busier this year when I visited in July. A little different than my last trip back in 2011.

[Connie]

I still consider myself a newbie. Last year was the first time we actually stayed on STJ. Going back Nov. 1.

I'm so excited that my brother may be going with us. He really doesn't anywhere, but he needs this. I have told him about the beaches, about snorkeling, I have told him everything I know. He is really good to us....and that's a long story.

We told him we would pay for his airfare, the jeep rental and a place to stay. He really doesn't understand how great a trip this would be for him. His wife said he was crazy if he didn't go. What's there anything to think about?

We printed out a passport application and told him where he could go to get a passport. We want to take him to Jost too.

What is wrong with my Bro? He is probably the most kindest, funny, helpful and hemp head I've seen. Btw, he's 65.

[philbetm]

I am really enjoying reading everyone's post !!! Now I'm not feeling as SAD as before ! Thanks all .....Sherry

[kklay]

Connie - is his wife not going? Perhaps that is why he doesn't seem excited about the trip.

[Connie]

Kk.....it's a complicated situation. I don't think she really cares if he goes. We also are not close to his wife. My brother is a special person, so that's why we are waiting for his answer.

[papabou]

connie & kk,

may i butt in?

i've known few people in my life who were not mizmerized by things under clear water or expansive water views. st john has some of best of both as you well know.

connie continue to encourage your brother to come along. wife and i were his age when we made my/our st john discovery 12 yrs ago.

doing with wife and/or friends is great. but what really makes any trip super for me is being with people really enjoying the things i enjoy so much. that i've done on many ocassions without her but with her encouragement since each trip is one she doesn't have to make! but beware you may create an addict who will drive you crazy asking about plans for next trip.

papabou

[Connie]

Papa....still waiting for answer from my Bro, but other people said they would take us up on the same offer.

[Pete (Mr. Marcia)]

As Marcia said, we've moved on to other destinations. But, I do check in on this forum from time to time just to see what's going on.

There certainly were quite a few kerfuffles on this forum back in the day. I'm not sure if I miss that or not.

[Robin in NC]

Interesting that this was posted just when I've been entertaining these same thoughts. We haven't been back on island since 2009 thanks to the way the sluggish economy has affected us, but we're planning to come back next year, so I started checking in here. I used to enjoy this board so much, it's good to see some of the names I recognize still posting. I think the trip reports I wrote after my trips have been some of the most fun writing I've ever done. Thank you all for keeping this site alive...

[Anthony]

There certainly were quite a few kerfuffles on this forum back in the day. I'm not sure if I miss that or not.

Right? Lol

[Marcia (Mrs. Pete)]

If there are any old AOL forum members still following, I just want to let you know that I'll be wearing white shoes this coming weekend, even though it's after Labor Day.

[jmq]

First off, thank you Anthony for running the site for all these years, and I am glad I had the pleasure of meeting you in Florence in 2011. Maybe we should meet again in Jersey some time LOL

It’s funny how one of these wistful posts pops up every so often, and there are many many reasons this forum isn’t and can’t be the same as it was. Perhaps notable that one of the reasons some of the more frequent posters may have stepped away to other platforms were observations by other members that the forum got too clique-y i.e. the questions, comments and trip reports that got the most responses were submitted by those who sit at the “cool kids' table”.

Many others may view that as the primary charm of the old days - when the experts/long timers interacted with STJ newbies in a non-judgmental way, and being amused (vs. feeling “left out”) when the most frequent contributors bantered with each other. Oh well - que sera sera

[XOXO]

JMQ, you were always the voice of reason here.

I do miss the "clique". I am forever grateful to the people on this board who I met when I was planning our first trip to St. John. As wonderful as St. John is, I don't think our trips were made much better because of the help I received here.

I will be going back in December and looking forward to it.

Hello to all of the old posters and welcome to the new who will hopefully receive as much help as I did.

[silverheels]

I haven't left this board. Visit it every day. Have met some wonderful people through this board. Still going to St. John every year and staying at a variety of places now that we no longer have our condo or boat on island. I do not post regularly because there is usually nothing new about our visits and I'm not into writing trip reports. But I do enjoy reading some of the great reports and seeing the pictures posted. Visiting this board daily gives me that St. John fix that I need. Lots of the original posters have moved over to Facebook.
This past summer my sister and I got to meet up with and go to a wedding of one of the original AOL message board posters. We get together every year. Those AOL days were hilarious and some even got into trouble with the powers to be. Happy Days well spent on this board and in ST John.

[Drumbiker]

Funny I log on here for the first time since my wife and I got married at Hawksnest in 2009 and see this post. The names are still familiar, and I haven't posted since my trip report. We've travelled the world since then - Europe, Asia, more Carribean, and are finally coming back - and bringing family. We've told them over and over that of all the places we've travelled - STJ is one of the few places we'd return. We've booked our airfare for 6 next May, and just started searching for a villa - Cruz Bay side. Hearing about all this "change" scares me a little. Hope my favorite place lives up to all the hype my family has heard for the last 7'years!

Is Pia still around? Never forget her greeting us at the ferry dock!