First bit of the Puerto Rico Trip

Where to start?? Friday morning we headed down to Puerto Rico for a reconnaissance trip for our wedding in August. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were relaxation days, but did involve scoping out the hotels, food options, and fun things to do. Monday and Tuesday were then filled with meetings with the wedding planner, potential florists, potential cake bakers, potential photographers, hair stylists and such until we left for the airport at 12:30.

Our first item confirmed was that you do not need anything other than your drivers license to get to Puerto Rico. Regardless of what many, many sources indicated, some people were still suspect. Question resolved however.

A cab ride from the airport is going to cost about $25 per cab. Not outlandish, but not inexpensive either.

When staying at the Hilton Caribe hotel, it takes 30 minutes to walk into town, but it's a walk with a view of the ocean on a sidewalk. A cab ride will cost you $12 to cover that distance. If you want to go all the way to the El Convento hotel, it's $16 or another 10 minutes walking.

Check in time at the Hilton Caribe is 4:00, later than most hotels. Oddly, checkout time is still noon.

Food is expensive in most of Old San Juan, think tourist trap pricing. Many places have a hamburger for $15. Pretty insane. There's a Subway not too far from the Hilton and there's a Shell gas station where you can buy some things for a reasonable price. Rum for instance, in a small bottle is only $4-$5. A big bottle of rum anywhere on the island that makes all of the rum, is at least $12. I was disappointed by that bit of knowledge.

Now for some pictures:

One of the pools and swim up bar at the Hilton Caribe. The water was very nice!

Here's a panoramic view from a dock behind the Hilton. To the right is where you can swim in the ocean if you prefer that to the pool.

A close up of the swim up bar. $8 for a rum and coke....and it's not even big!!

The view from our first room. We were upgraded from this room to an even better one!!

This was the living room of the pre-upgraded suite. To the left in the picture is a six person dining room table.

One of the bathrooms and the bedroom in the pre-upgrade suite. Pretty sweet huh? Pun intended.

As a teaser, here's a view from the upgraded suite on the 20th floor. The other suite was on the 6th floor. More on the upgrade tomorrow!