Day 1 in Puerto Rico

Last night Melissa and Jonathan came over around 8:30pm. I helped them pack their garment bag. It is really amazing how much stuff I can fit into a garment bag (two pairs of Brian’s shoes, 2 pairs of dress shoes for me, Brian’s tux, Brian’s dress pants and shirts, and 7 dresses for me). I did about the same for Melissa. That is how I keep the other suitcase weight under 50lb. (It was 47lb at the airport this morning).

We basically packed last night and tried to get some sleep although Melissa and Brian were up past midnight. However 3:45am came very fast. That is what time we were up for the airport. I told everyone that we needed to leave by 4:40am so we were at the airport around 5am. Well that did not happen. When I set the time, I do not give any leeway. (For example, when I set an alarm in the morning, I set it for the time I need to get up not a time where I can hit the snooze button several times).

Melissa was running about ten minutes late and Brian was another five minutes later than that. Then we were driving down our street and Melissa saw a skunk and Brian went in reverse so Melissa could see it better (she states she has never saw a wild skunk before???). I just wanted to get to the airport! I was a little stressed about it but it worked out. When we got to the Park N Fly place there was a van waiting for us. At the airport, there was no line at the Delta bag drop. We waited in security for about 15 minutes but we got to the gate with a little less than an hour before take off.

The flight to Atlanta was a little more than an hour. I decided to read the book “The Time Traveler’s Wife”. It is rather good so far. At the Atlanta airport, we landed in terminal D and our next flight was in terminal A. There is a train that takes you between terminals but I made everyone walk. Melissa was loving me at this point! I keep telling her it is good exercise but I don’t think she likes it very much.

We only had 45 minutes until our flight took off once we arrived to terminal A. Melissa and Jonathan decided to grab lunch somewhere. They were boarding everyone before they got back. Again that stressed me out a little bit so I went looking for them. They made it in time to board the plane.

Our plane to Puerto Rico was awesome. It was probably the best plane we have ever been on in terms of entertainment. It was a large plane (8 people across total 2-4-2). Each person had there own TV that had movies on demand (like 12-15 of them), TV shows, and games. It was really great. I watched “He is Just Not that into You”. It was okay. Brian watched ‘Push” because it took place in Hong Kong and he is getting excited for our next vacation (Asia). We also read some and the 3+ hour flight seemed to go by really quick. After nearly 30 hours travel time for Australia, this seems like nothing.

Once in San Juan Puerto Rico we got our luggage. It came really fast. Then we got a taxi to our hotel: Hampton Inn. It is a nice hotel and we have free internet which makes us happy. We were all hungry so we walked around and found a Mexican restaurant for lunch/dinner. It was really good. I had a Puerto Rican Burrito which was a fried banana with chicken, rice and beans. Yummy! Brian had fajitas which were also good. After lunch, we all walked to the beach about ¼ mile away. It was a beautiful beach.

Melissa and Jonathan went back to the hotel to relax. We wanted to enjoy the day more so we changed into our swimsuits and went back to the beach. Brian and I walked the entire beach which was at least 3-4 miles. It was a beautiful evening. Then we went for ice cream! Our vacations would not be the same if we did not get ice cream.


It has been a great day. We are tired (especially Brian since he stayed up last night) so we are going to get some sleep tonight, sleep-in in the morning, and then go to the cruise port and check out the old downtown area before we sail away.