Puerto Rico – Day 1
Mom celebrated her 60th birthday on December 17th,
and she’s been planning what to do for about a year and a half now. Earlier options included going
to Williamsburg , Virginia ,
San Francisco ,
and other locations. However, she
eventually came back around to one of her first ideas, Puerto
Rico . To celebrate, Chris
and I joined her in PR, along with my brother Jim and my sister-in-law Leigh.
We all started our travels on Saturday, December 14th,
Chris and I from Phoenix and Jim, Leigh, and Mom
from Tampa . Mom, Jim, and Leigh ate breakfast at Cigar
City Brewery in the airport; Jim’s included beer, while Mom and Leigh’s
included bloody mary’s and screwdrivers.
Mmm...beer
Amy and Chris ate second breakfast in airport at Barrio Café
(mmm…chorizo…) and picked up sandwiches to go at Le Grand Orange for lunch on the
plane.
There may be a theme developing here...
After an uneventful flight to east coast, Chris and I killed
a few hours in the Orlando
Airport watching the
Army-Navy game and eating dinner food at Outback.
Chris: “I’ll have a Bloomin’ Onion.”
Waitress: “Just for you?”
Chris: “Yes. And a
beer.”
Crikey! That guy just ate a whole Bloomin' Onion on his own!
Mom, Jim, and Leigh arrived in San Juan after a calm flight...
San Juan from the plane...
...then proceeded to pick up the rental
car. The car was in Jim’s name which was
obviously a good move, as this exchange shows…
Clerk: “Did you know your license is expired?”
Jim: “Shit.”
For my readers who don’t live in the Sunshine State, Florida
driver’s licenses expire on your birthday, and Jim’s birthday is on June 29th. Do that math, if you wish. The car went in Leigh’s name instead.
Lady P, our mobile home for the week.
Our casa for the trip was a home away stay place in a condo
on Calle de La Luna, through a company called Vida Urbana. This worked out absolutely great; the folks
at Vida Urbana (particularly Irma, who we worked with throughout the
reservation process and while we were in PR) were outstanding, the location was
excellent (it was within 15 minutes - walking – of everything in Old San Juan
and the street was nice and quiet), and we all had plenty of space (three
bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen, living room, and balcony).
The front room
Kitchen and hallway leading to the bedrooms
Chris and my room
Jim and Leigh's room
Since Jim, Leigh, and Mom arrived first, they had the
unenviable task of getting from the airport to the condo and navigating in a foreign place. The group
called Irma to let her know they were on their way and get some directions:
Irma (in her gorgeous PR accent): “Turn right on this
street.”
Jim: “But Irma, that’s the wrong way on a one way
street.”
Irma: “But it is the only way to go!”*
After parking the car in a reasonable location, Jim, Leigh,
and Mom got settled then headed out to eat dinner at Verde Mesa, near the
bay. Allegedly, it was good.
Old San Juan street parking
A few hours later, Chris and I flew in, and Mom and Jim picked
them up at the airport. At the San Juan
airport, you have to wait outside these huge glass windows to pick up your
friends and family flying in, so you get to watch them come down to baggage
claim, then stare as they make their way across the baggage claim area and out
to meet you. It looks like this:
Except more humid
After finally eating our brains gathering us and our
luggage, we hopped into the car and then sat for 30 minutes in a traffic jam
inside the airport parking garage.
Before we left, Chris and I watched a show on the Esquire Network called
The Getaway featuring San Juan . One of the comments in the show was, “if
you’re not in traffic, you’re not in San
Juan ,” and we found it to be exceptionally true
throughout our stay. Adding to the
normal traffic issues, apparently, Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum were in town,
filming 22 Jump Street , which made things even
worse in this area.
Eventually, we made it home to the condo and into bed, ready
to explore the island the next morning.
Adios!
Amy
PS – Since we have roughly 8,000 pictures (and even more
stories) from this great trip, I’ll be spacing out the entries over a few
weeks. Stay tuned for more!
* This became our de facto motto for the trip. “Why are we going this way?” “But it is the only way to go!” We may make family t-shirts...
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