Since the people reading this are all family (for now), I’ve decided to share our trip information.
We are planning to leave around 3 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, dropping the dogs off at Rocking K Kennel in Adamsville on the way. I booked a Park and Fly package at the Doubletree Inn Pittsburgh Airport. They have 24 hour shuttle service to and from the airport and free parking for up to 14 days. I usually book our hotels through hotels.com, but decided to call directly to make sure parking would be available. It’s only $99 plus tax–we’d definitely spend as much or more on parking at the airport. Since our flight is at 7 a.m., spending the night seemed like a no-brainer. I mean, who wants to drive to the airport at 3 a.m.?
Our first flight is American Airlines #2093 which leaves Pittsburgh at 7 a.m. (started at 6:45, then 6:50, and now 7) and arrives in Charlotte, N.C., at 8:33. We leave for Charlotte at 9:50 a.m. and arrive in San Juan at 1:23 p.m. If you sit on the left side of the plane, you should be able to see the forts (El Morro and San Cristobal) as you are flying over Old San Juan and preparing to land. By sheer luck, we’re sitting on the left side and hopefully I’ll be able to take some aerial photos of the forts. Puerto Rico is on Atlantic Standard time, but because they don’t use daylight savings time, it will still be the same as home which makes life easier.
Our reservations for our two nights in San Juan are at the Gallery Inn, 204 Norzagaray. This hotel was created from six interconnecting townhouses and only has 25 rooms. There are 19 different “gardens” and five art studios scattered throughout the mansion. I admit this hotel wasn’t my first choice (El Convento was), but it was half the price of El Convento and looks really interesting and historical. It’s on the street that connects the two forts, so it’s a great location and a good rating on hotels.com.
I’ve planned a walking tour for our first night–“Tales of Old San Juan” through Legends of Puerto Rico from 6-8 p.m. Since we really don’t know much (or anything really) about San Juan or Puerto Rico in general, I thought this give us a nice overview before we started exploring on our own.
For Saturday, I was a wonderful wife and thought “What would Dennis really like to do today?” I thought about ALL the cooking shows he watches and thought “He’ll REALLY like a food tour!” So, I booked the 3 p.m. Flavors of San Juan “Old San Juan Food Tour.” On this tour you go to up to five different restaurants and sample ten different foods and drinks. Since I want to try mofongo, but not order an entire plate of it, this seemed like a good choice. We’ll also visit the forts on Saturday and explore the city.
Sunday is the day we cruise–more on that in my next post!