It’s been six years since I purchased News of St. John. It’s pretty amazing how quickly the years go by. During this time, I have rarely taken time off from the site, as I know so many of you look forward to reading about the daily happenings here on island each morning. Over the years, I have taken you all with me when I traveled to various places. I have written stories from Puerto Rico, Nevis, Spain and France. I even wrote a story from my hospital bed when Dalton was mere hours old.
Two years ago, I purchased tickets to Italy. I gifted the tickets to my boyfriend for his birthday, but, selfishly, they were really for me too. We were so excited for the trip. We tried to learn small Italian phrases and practiced drinking great Italian wines at Waterfront Bistro. That trip was scheduled for Sept. 14, 2017. Needless to say, it never happened. Our world was destroyed September 6th, and the last thing we wanted to do at the time was vacation. So we immediately cancelled our trip.
Last fall, I stumbled on an incredible fare to Rome, just $625 roundtrip. Without hesitation and without giving much thought to the logistics of traveling overseas with an infant, I clicked the Buy button. I think I waited a good week before I told my boyfriend that he and I would be taking a 10-month-old to Italy. Clearly this wasn’t even a factor for our initial trip. 🙂
Dalton turned 10 months old today, and tomorrow we leave for Rome. I have to say, he’s a pretty lucky kid. We’re also lucky to have a great friend staying at our home while we’re away, caring for our amazing island dogs.
I originally planned to keep the site up and running during our vacation. I sourced numerous stories over the past few days. I have taken countless photos and GoPro videos that I intended to share with all of you. But as I walked to the ferry dock in St. Thomas yesterday, it dawned on me. I need to take a break.
Since Dalton was born, I’ve worked nearly seven days a week. I never really took a maternity leave, because I am so committed to this site and to all of you. I’ve decided that I am going to take the next few weeks off to enjoy Italy and to enjoy time with my family. I hope you all understand.
During my break, you can get your St. John fix through our webcam page. (I understand that mine is still down. We switched routers, and I have had difficulty reconnecting it since. I hope to have it fixed for you before I leave.) You can see all of our island’s webcams here. We will continue to sell St. Johnopoly, and will ship orders out once a week. Click here to purchase your copy.
I thank you all for your loyalty and for your love of St. John. Thank you for allowing me to do what I love, and thank you for allowing me to take this much-needed break. Much love to you all. -Jenn (and Dalton) xoxo
Purchase St. Johnopoly Today!
St. Johnopoly is now available and shipping! If you would like to purchase a copy, please click the Buy Now button below. That will bring you to a secure PayPal site. Games cost $50 plus shipping. Shipping is automatically calculated based on location. (Shipping is a tad pricier than we’d like, but the post office determines the rates, not us. 🙂 ) Games ship every Saturday.
Only a limited number of games are available, and all sales are final.
You deserve a great vacation..have fun and relax…
Safe Travels! We will be here when you get back.
Good for you, Jenn! Have a great trip. You will love Rome. Be sure to see the Trevi Fountain. Thanks for the pictures of Dalton. He is a doll. Love and Blessings to all of you.
Italy is so Amazing!! You will fall in love. Enjoy your beautiful family and a much deserved time off. Sending Love and safe travels from Michigan!!
Have a great trip – well deserved! I will miss your stories!
Chris
Have fun. I will miss my island fix but you deserve this. Also I ordered my game pretty early on. Any idea when it may ship. It can wait until you get back. Just wondering. Debby Elkins ❤️
Yours was delivered today, so it’s home waiting for you! 🙂
I apologize for the delay. We had a batch of 19 labels that mistakenly were not printed. You were in the batch.
Enjoy your well deserved break.We look forward to your return.
Thanks for letting us know. We would have been worried!! 🙂 Have a wonderful trip to Rome. Truly an amazing place!! Safe travels!
Have a great time in the Eternal City…my second favorite place to go…guess what’s the first!
Jenn…………..Safe travels and have a wonderful and well deserved vacation!
Yes…………we will be here whenever you return. 🙂
PS: Dalton is adorable………those eyes!!
Jenn
I have been following your site for about a year. I really appreciate the insight you share with us! I’m coming to St John in October… I can hardly wait since this be my first visit. I hope you have a great trip! Enjoy your family time!
You go girl!!! We always traveled with our kids. Luke’s first trip with us was to Tortola when he was 4 months and our oldest was 6. It was a little extra work but so rewarding to have them with us. Besides I could not part with either of them and now that they are grown they still want to hang out with us.
Enjoy every minute of your vacation. IMO it is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Ciao!!!
PS- what a beautiful boy!!! Those eyes!!!!
Good for you Jenn! Have a fabulous trip filled with lifelong memories.
Kate and I wish you a fun exciting and safe visit to Italy. We’ll miss our daily St John fix, but look forward to some pics and maybe videos of Italy upon your return. Enjoy the adventure.
On second thought—your vacation should be just for you and your family—-as John Mayer said “No More 3 x 5s”. Enjoy and have a jug of vino de casa.
Enjoy your time off, we will all be here when you return.
Have a wonderful trip!!!!
Jenn – have a wonderful trip. It was so interesting for us to walk where others had thousands of years ago.
Jenn, everyone deserves a vacation and a break. Enjoy yourself and your family! We will all still be here when you return.
Happy Travels
Jasmine
You as our wonderful tour guide in March 2018 … plus your gift of the fabulous ‘blog’, well, you deserve this vacation even more than most of us who love & find “Love City” for our vacations. ENJOY!
10th St. John visit for us coming up in March 2020 .. ADDICTED!!
Enjoy your travels.
Viaggi sicuri e goditi alcuni dei migliori vini della terra. Divertiti! Ciao
Say it isn’t true!! A break?!?!? You’re not allowed to!!!!!!!
Haha -just kidding. A very well-deserved break! You’ve been here for us through everything. Please go relax and enjoy Italy! We will rough it for a while without all of the wonderful posts, but St. John will go on!
Wow – our 2 most favorite places in the world…… Italy and St John. You are going to have a blast!!! Enjoy the time off – much deserved, and we will all be here when you get back!
Jenn, Have a great time on your vacation! Thank you for letting us know. As I read your news every morning with my coffee, I would have been concerned about your absence of reporting. Thanks for all that you do, we’ll all be here when you return! Enjoy!
Refresh is perhaps one of the most important things you can do for yourself. Good on you for doing this. Make memories and come back with a new perspective.
Italians lOVE babies, They will welcome you anywhere with open arms.
Have a great time.
You are awesome Jenn. Safe travels.
Have a great trip. Italy is terrific. And that baby is lovely.
All of us Mike’s, who like St. John should get together and have a big Mike party. I think that I will now be known as Wellfleet Mike for ID purposes. I am the real Michael Ford not the other Michael Ford mentioned above.
Have fun in Italy Jenn and may the Jumbies watch over you
What a wonderful idea to go to Italy! Hope you’ll have a great vacation – much deserved! We’ll miss your voice though. Will try the webcams while travelling to and fro work – not sure it will be the same…
Jenn…we hope you enjoy your time away to spend with family. Unplug, soak it all in, drink wine, eat the best food in the world, and savor every moment. You deserve time for yourself. We love your blog, and your loyal readers will be here when you return! By the way, your baby is ADORABLE!! Love those eyes!