The Trip Begins...Good-Bye Winter! (December 6 & 7)

When flying, our trips always begin a day early. This accomplishes two things...it keeps my stress level down by not trying to drive the three hours to Minneapolis on the day of our flight...and...it gives us the opportunity to visit grandkids! Getting a head start is even more important when traveling in winter due to the possibility of snow and bad driving conditions. And yep...we had snow that day. (The view looking out my door.)

Fortunately the roads were great and the fresh snow made the drive a little more scenic.

The next morning the temperature was 17º below zero (with a MUCH lower windchill) as we drove from our son's house to MSP. I’ll admit that I was just a little nervous that we would return to find a car that wouldn’t start. 

Check in at MSP was a breeze and the flight…with a layover in Atlanta…went smoothly. 

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale around 6 pm and when we stepped out of the terminal to get a taxi it was almost a 100º increase from what we left in Minneapolis. Ahhhhhh…wonderful!

By being Hilton Honors members, we were able to get what I considered a pretty good deal on the Embassy Suites hotel on 17th Street...our home for the next two nights. 

When we checked into the hotel, I waited maybe 2 minutes at the most, but yet the gal at the desk apologized over and over for making me wait. For my “trouble” she gave me a gift bag containing bottled waters and several snacks PLUS a code for free internet (normally $10/day.) The daily free manager’s reception was still in progress so she offered to keep our bags while we grabbed some snacks and a drink. The snacks were just that…goldfish crackers, chips, salsa, etc. and the drink of the day was a Bahama Mama. Not enough to call it a meal, but hey…it was free!

Kent and Laurel had arrived earlier that afternoon and we joined them in their suite and watched a little football. The two-room suites were nice and provided plenty of room for the four of us to hang out together.

Our rooms were on the 11th floor and from the tiny balcony off the bedroom you could get a partial view of the port although it wasn't large enough for any furniture. There was also a door at the end of the hallway that lead outdoors to a concrete “balcony” where we could go to get a better view of the ships in port. 

Although we hadn't eaten dinner, none of us really felt like going to a restaurant, so instead we walked across the street to the Harbor Shops and grabbed a frozen sandwich from the Publix grocery store and took it back to the hotel. The suite had both a refrigerator and microwave…and even a Keurig coffee maker (although the K-cups were still hotel quality coffee.) After leaving the frigid cold temps of Minnesota I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to enjoy a walk in the warm evening air.

Saturday, January 21 - Leaving on a Jet Plane

I never rest easy the night before a trip. My son lives about 20 minutes from the airport, but I imagined every sort of problem that could make us late for our 7:45 am flight. I was up before the alarm, rushed to get ready and then waited…a bit impatiently…at the door with my coat on wishing my husband and son would move a bit faster.

As we started to leave, I noticed my shoes sitting by the door…the shoes that I planned to wear on the plane. I looked down at my feet and realized that I was wearing one of the roommate’s shoes instead of my own!! After all of my nagging about the guys moving too slow I sheepishly sat down and changed my shoes and we were on our way.

The drive to the airport was smooth…at 5:30 am on a Saturday there was very little traffic. After going through airport security and getting my “free mammogram” (ie body scan) I grabbed some Caribou Coffee (yum!) and some muffins. By the time we had eaten, it was time to board. Of course I had to take one last gulp of my coffee that spilled down the front of my white shirt. :(

The flight took about 5 ½ hours to get to San Juan…the longest I had ever flown at one time. To help survive the boredom, I had loaded up my iPad with movies, TV shows, audio books, Kindle books, magazines, games, etc. I don’t enjoy flying and being cramped up on a plane for that many hours was not something I was looking forward to.

But…thanks to these nifty, neat-o video monitors that Delta put in the seat backs, the time just flew by. Watch a movie, play some games and voila…the trip is over!

The screens had a map that showed the location of the plane and information on the speed, etc. so it was fun to watch our progress getting to San Juan. Compared to the air temperature at 37,000 feet, Minnesota seemed absolutely balmy!

I had read about great Priceline deals that people were getting on San Juan hotels but after a few weeks of bidding I had nothing. My preference would have been the Sheraton Hotel in Old San Juan but they have a two-night minimum. I am a bargain hunter at heart but also didn’t want to end up in a crummy hotel just to get a good price. For some reason there just weren’t any good deals to be had on the weekend of January 21st in San Juan!! At $150 I finally “won” the Intercontinental Resort Hotel.

The hotel was located in the Isla Verde section of San Juan…fairly close to the airport. When we checked in we were told that a “resort fee” would be added onto our bill. From my research, this didn’t surprise me, but I think it is a bit shady to charge this extra fee…for what? The resort fee was around $25 which was in addition to the other hotel taxes that had already been added onto the Priceline fee. So…for $200 a night what kind of room did we get? A very small one.

The bed was very comfortable, but it pretty much filled the whole room. There was a small balcony that was just large enough to stand on…but no way big enough to fit a chair. We had a city view. The hotel was filled so there was no chance of upgrading to an ocean view…but at $60 extra I wouldn’t have done it anyway.

With the two hour time difference between San Juan and Minnesota we had just enough time to sit on the beach for about 45 minutes before the sun went down. Ahhhhh…it is January and we were ON A BEACH!!

There were a lot of chain restaurants within walking distance of the Intercontinental…but I could eat at a Burger King or Red Lobster back home…I wanted something a little more “local”. I knew there was a restaurant called the Metropol not too far away so we turned left as we went out of the hotel and started walking. We walked along the fairly busy street for 10 minutes or so and eventually found the restaurant.

It wasn’t too busy when we first arrived, but it started filling up quickly. Our waiter was very friendly and recommended the smoked chicken which Bob ordered ($16.99). I asked about the mofongo. I saw it listed on the menu but the waiter said I didn’t want that because it was just plantains and nothing else. He said they would make it for me with shrimp and garlic sauce and that is what I should order…so I did ($18.99). If I understood correctly, the mofongo is made from plantains that are first fried…and then mashed. It was an interesting taste and pretty good…but now that I’ve tried it I probably wouldn’t order it again.

On the other hand…Bob said his smoked chicken was the best he had ever eaten. It came with rice, sweet potatoes, plantains and a bowl of black beans. 

The restaurant is located right next door to a cock fighting arena…we could hear the crowing as we walked by. We just assumed that Bob’s dinner was the loser.

Walking back to the hotel was so enjoyable…the warm night, the bustle of the city…and we were on VACATION!

Back at the hotel we changed into our swimsuits and headed to the hot tub. The grounds of the hotel are beautifully landscaped and it was almost magical hearing the chirping crickets in the foliage. The joke was on us…we figured out the “night sounds” were actually a recording coming through hidden speakers in the flowers! Whatever…it was still a beautiful evening!

Let's Go on a Southern Caribbean Cruise!

Friday, January 20 – Minneapolis Here we Come!

This cruise started out with our good friends, Jim & Kim, traveling with Jim's sister & brother-in-law, Nancy and Lowell. The two couples had been married just a week apart and the cruise was to celebrate the joint 30 year anniversaries. When Kim mentioned casually that "wouldn't it be fun if we could join them"...the words were barely out of her mouth and we had the cruise booked! Bob and I would be having our 35th wedding anniversary in May so we would be celebrating too...just a little early!

Although we had taken five previous cruises, this would be the first time to do a southern Caribbean route and the first time ever to take a vacation in January. Our other cruises had all been in the summer. As a teacher, traveling in January was a bit tricky, but I was able to make it work. Jim and Kim had been on one 3-day cruise several years ago, but Lowell and Nancy were first time cruisers. Right away my cruise obsession kicked in and by default, I became the planner of the group. 

The cruise others booked their cruise through a travel agent which included booking the air through Carnival and arriving in San Juan on the day the cruise left. I booked our flights myself and we went down a day early knowing that flying in the winter can often mean delays.

Although the winter was a relative mild one, the day we left, we got snow. The first leg of our trip was to make the three hour drive to Minneapolis on Friday night after work. We have two sons that live in the Twin Cities and the home of our number one son (age-wise at least!) was our destination for the night. My son owns his own home, but has three roommates who share the house and help take the sting out of his mortgage payments. He graciously let us have his bedroom and he took the couch for the night.

The photo is a bit blurry but if you look close you will see the temp was reading 7º….brrrr. 

Living on the frigid, landlocked prairie you can understand why we were so excited to be heading to the Caribbean!!