The "To Go...Or Not To Go? That Is The Question" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting in my lounge chair reading the morning newspaper when I said to my wife who was sitting nearby, "Listen to this!  The airlines are beginning to issue statements as to how they will handle flight reservations due to the coronavirus.  One of the airlines listed in the article I just read was American.  They already suspended flights to China, South Korea and Italy, but will not charge anyone who needs to change flights or delay travel due to the coronavirus."  Now, that may make it easier for us if we find that our flight to Sint Maarten may be canceled due to Sint Maarten not allowing flights from the United States to land at their airport to try and help prevent the spread of the virus to their country.  We made arrangements about a year ago to return in the spring to our favorite destination in the Caribbean, but have now become concerned about our chances of missing our trip this spring.  Seems that a few other airlines are following the same procedures that American is taking.  But, for Carol and I, the flight is just one part of our problem.  I called our travel agent who helped us plan our flight and asked about the insurance we purchased when we bought our flight tickets.  She checked with the company and told us that the airlines had reported to them that they would transfer flights or allow us to change our reservation to another time without a penalty.  If not, they would cover the cost as part of the policy we purchased.  The final part of our problem is the rental on St. Martin that we made a partial payment on about a year ago.  So, I emailed the travel agent whom we have dealt with for the past 20 years and has helped us change our reservations in the past without any charge.  I explained our problem to her and she in turn told us that it is too early to worry about anything yet.  She is an optimist to say the least.  But, she is also a very caring person and has done so much for us in the past from changing our location when she found the owners of the rental we were scheduled to stay in decided they wanted the couple of weeks we had planned on staying there.  She got us a very nice place with a better location for the same price we had planned to pay for the first location.  Also found my car key fob in the safe of the rental we stayed in last year and mailed it to me free of charge.  You can't ask for a better agent!  But, this coronavirus has us worried, no matter what others may say about it.  Do we really want to visit a location 1,500 miles away that may have a number of infected people?  Are their medical facilities capable of handling a large number of infected residents and visitors?  Would Carol and I, being just visitors to their home, be treated as they would their own residents if we became ill?  Today's paper did say that the this virus, much like many others, does not survive in warm climates and I must admit, the island is warm year round.  Could it not last long on the island had it surfaced at all?  Have you noticed all the question marks I have been using?  We will hate to miss our trip to our favorite location, but should we take the chance the virus creates for us?  We just don't know.  I guess it will be a waiting game and at least we know we will not lose any money because of those who we have worked with for many years. I guess it could be like committing suicide to take the chance not knowing the answers to many of our questions.  So, we will play the waiting game, hoping that all will be well, but knowing the chances of that happening are rather slim.  It was another extraoridary day in the life of an ordinary guy.