Old San Juan by blucolt
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my plans to travel during Christmas week, but I hadn’t actually booked anything yet. I wasn’t even sure whether I would be going to Puerto Rico or New Orleans. All I knew was that I wanted to get the heck out of the frigid arctic–er, Vermont–during my Christmas break.
I played chicken with the airlines as long as I could bear it before I caved. With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I realized I needed to make a decision. I crunched the numbers for Christmas week travel to both Puerto Rico (still way too high!) and New Orleans (cheap!). Then I tried to create an itinerary for what I would do if I traveled to New Orleans for a few days. I couldn’t fill more than a couple of days with new activities. So Puerto Rico won out. What to do about that cost, though?
Out of curiosity, I plugged in some January dates and saw that I could get airfare to San Juan from Vermont for under $400 in January (a savings of more than $300 over traveling during Christmas week). My choice was made. So I won’t be traveling during Christmas week after all, but will take a week off from work and go later in January. On the bright side, it’s a nice way to break up the long cold winter with a warm interlude in sunny Puerto Rico.
Once I confirmed my vacation days at work, I booked my airfare through Jetblue. I scored seats on flights with excellent departure and arrival times and plenty of time to catch my connecting flights for just $398. But it gets better: I had a $70 True Blue credit I applied to the tickets, so the final cost was just $328. Sweet. Might I have gotten cheaper tickets on another airline? Possibly, but I prefer to fly Jetblue when I can.
Next I scoured the ‘Net for San Juan hotel deals. The hotels I was most interested in were still more expensive than I wanted them to be. There were cheaper hotels, but most of them were getting around 40-50% negative reviews online. I’m not really comfortable with those odds. I did find a small hotel in Old San Juan that sounded great, but it wasn’t available the first two nights of my stay, when I most wanted to stay in OSJ. I happened to notice that the historic and incredibly gorgeous OSJ hotel El Convento is on Twitter, and so I connected with Osvaldo Soler, the revenue manager there (let’s just say he is good at his job!). I asked how much it would cost me to stay there, and even though the figure was more than I had budgeted, I reasoned that I’m worth it. So I will now be spending the first two nights of my stay at El Convento. I am really looking forward to it.
In addition to the “Old San Juan experience,” I also wanted the “beach resort experience” during my trip, so for the last three nights, I decided to take a chance bidding for resorts on Priceline. My first bid of $100 was immediately accepted by the Caribe Hilton, which is located on the beach between Old San Juan and Condado. It too, is a beautiful property. On average, I’m spending $171/night on hotel. Again, it’s a bit more than I’d wanted to spend, but when you consider what I’m getting for the price, it’s pretty great.
Next up: Working on my itinerary, and considering potential articles to write upon my return. I’m gathering information now and will finalize my plans after Christmas. For sure, I’ll spend at least a day in Old San Juan, do the Bacardi Rum Factory tour, and go to El Yunque rainforest. I’m arriving on the last night of the San Sebastian Street Festival (Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastian), so I’ll try to catch some of that. I want to try lots of local cuisine and sample some live music. I think I may have to do some in-depth research on the pina colada while I’m there, since it was invented in Puerto Rico. Oh, the sacrifices I make for this blog.
Photo attribution: Photo by blucolt can be found at CC BY 2.0.
on Dec 10th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Yee-Haw! I'm so excited to see the posts from your trip! I've never been to OSJ..or even to Puerto Rico…but just read a great glossy mag article about it recently and was intrigued.
Also, thanks for the breakdown of how you decided to make those choices. The “is it worth it to pay more for the better hotel” decision always stumps me depending on where I'm going.
on Dec 10th, 2009 at 10:35 am
If there's anything you want to know about (other than the food, which is a given!), let me know. I'll see if I can work it into my schedule.
I was hoping newbie travelers would get something out of my decision-making process, but if you did, too, so much the better. Glad of it!
on Dec 10th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Exciting! Old San Juan is a neat city. I particularly liked the old Spanish fort there which you can go climb around. Also the fact that all the visitors centers seem to give out free rum-based drinks.
on Dec 10th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Free rum-based drinks–my kind of city! If you have any suggestions of places to eat, etc., I'd love to hear them.
on Dec 10th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Sadly I was down there in another lifetime- on spring break in college (woohoo!) so my memory is a bit fuzzy. The number one piece of advice I could give you is don't visit during spring break.
on Dec 10th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
LOL! Aha, well, I don't think I have to worry about that.
on Dec 10th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
I'm glad to hear things worked out…even more excited to know that you'll be a solo traveler. I found your blog because I too am arriving in Puerto Rico in January to celebrate my birthday and treat myself to a well deserved vacation — yet those who I'd like to share this trip with most are either confined to their jobs, or don't have the means to pick up and go.
I look forward to hearing about more of your experiences up until that point.
on Dec 10th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Welcome to my blog, Yolanda! Is this your first solo trip? If so, I can't think of a better reason than celebrating your birthday! Have you been to Puerto Rico before?
on Dec 11th, 2009 at 12:19 am
Gray,
I'm excited for you! I haven't yet been to Puerto Rico. I look foward to your post about it upon return. It is on my travel wish list.
I enjoy the thought process behind your decision making. I think it would be interesting to post on that topic. What is your process when booking a trip. How does Priceline work? I've never used it. I look foward to hearing your stories and seeing your pics from Old San Juan.
on Dec 11th, 2009 at 4:54 am
Thanks, Paul. That was pretty much the point of these last 2 posts on my winter travel–to let the reader in on my decision-making process as it was happening. I hope it's helpful to people. If you want to use Priceline or Hotwire, the best advice I can give you is visit the forums at betterbidding.com, where you will learn everything you need to know to bid successfully and be 90% certain you won't get something you don't want.
on Dec 11th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Gray,
I'm excited for you! I haven't yet been to Puerto Rico. I look foward to your post about it upon return. It is on my travel wish list.
I enjoy the thought process behind your decision making. I think it would be interesting to post on that topic. What is your process when booking a trip. How does Priceline work? I've never used it. I look foward to hearing your stories and seeing your pics from Old San Juan.
on Dec 11th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Thanks, Paul. That was pretty much the point of these last 2 posts on my winter travel–to let the reader in on my decision-making process as it was happening. I hope it's helpful to people. If you want to use Priceline or Hotwire, the best advice I can give you is visit the forums at betterbidding.com, where you will learn everything you need to know to bid successfully and be 90% certain you won't get something you don't want.