Puerta de San Juan by khowaga1

In a couple of days, I will be trading my winter coat and boots for flip flops and shorts, and my bowl of hot soup for a frosty pina colada in tropical San Juan, Puerto Rico.  Sounds like a great tradeoff to me!  I promised to take you inside my planning process for my trips, so let’s catch you up, shall we?

When last I wrote about it, I had booked my airfare and hotels. Then I went into information-gathering and itinerary-creation mode. My first order of business was to find a good map of San Juan, which is easier said than done.  It seems that practically overnight, I have become Mr. Magoo’s middle-aged daughter and find it nearly impossible to read the tiny, tiny print on maps any more.  I finally had to cobble together some maps I created on Google (after magnifying them a few times).  If you know of a company that makes large print maps, please let me know before my trip to Europe in the fall.  Thanks.

For the past few months, I’ve been regularly reading TripAdvisor’s San Juan forum as well as Puerto Rican blogs Visit the Coqui and Puerto Rico Day Trips.  Recently, I went back and rewatched the GoGalavanting ladies’ video of their trip to Puerto Rico.  Kim and Maren make it look like so much fun (except for the lost luggage)!  I also reread the Traveling Mamas’ posts of their trip to San Juan last year.  For kicks, I’ve been randomly reading blogs via a Google blogs search for any mention of San Juan, Puerto Rico.  This search turned up the most hilarious article, Kicking Back in Puerto Rico by Jonathan Goldstein.  I’ve been gathering names of good restaurants in San Juan via TripAdvisor and Twitter.

Mercado Street by the queen of subtle

I have not booked anything else for my trip–not dinner reservations, nor my trip to El Yunque rainforest.  I figure I’ll do those things once I get there.   The other thing that will have to wait until I get there:  buying bug repellent.  I had no idea where to buy bug repellent in Vermont in the winter time and wasn’t able to get myself organized early enough to order it online.

I printed my trip notes and scrutinized by budget spreadsheet; if I do everything I think I will, I may be over budget by $120.  I also bought a new moleskine journal. As God is my witness, I vow to take better notes during this trip than ever before!  And I’ve been listening to my Spanish language lessons on the way to and from work every day, trying to get ready to practice on unsuspecting Puerto Ricans.  I apologize in advance for butchering the pronunciation and speaking….absurdly…slowly.  It takes a few seconds for my brain to pull up each word I need for a complete sentence.

I still can’t quite figure out how safe it is to be a female solo traveler wandering around Puerto Rico.  Everyone I have spoken to in person has wrinkled up their noses at the mention of San Juan and warned me about how sketchy it is.  But most of what I have read online indicates that it’s safe as long as you practice the same common sense you would in any big city (though reading the story about the pregnant tourist who was kidnapped and murdered in 2009 did give me pause).  Ultimately, I’m not too concerned.  Bad things can happen anywhere, even in Vermont.

I started packing last weekend.  Since the Weather Channel tells me the temperatures in San Juan range between 75 and 85 Fahrenheit each day, I started going through my closets for summery skirts and dresses–and realized I had nothing appropriate.  It’s the middle of winter in Vermont, so there’s nowhere to buy any, and I didn’t have time to order anything online.  Then I remembered what happens to me in Vegas every year:  I pack for the warm weather and then freeze my butt off because they keep the a/c cranked everywhere.  I’m hoping the same holds true in Puerto Rico, because I’ve decided to bring long slacks for my evening wear.

At the Caribe Hilton by Snap Man

I wanted to squeeze everything into a carry-on, but I need two outfits a day (casual for walking and sweating in the heat of the day and dressy for going out at night).  No way I could fit all that in my dinky little carry-on.  Note to self:  Buy a bigger carry-on.  Especially since the airlines have raised checked baggage fees again.  At least I convinced myself to bring 2 fewer pairs of shoes and only two pairs of shorts.  Hey, it’s progress.

I will be tweeting updates occasionally about what I am doing in San Juan while I am there, and you can follow along on Twitter, even if you’re not a member.  Just click on the Twitter icon in the right sidebar of my website.  I also hope to update my Facebook fan page if you’d rather follow along there.  Just click on the Facebook icon in the right sidebar.

Having the kind of fair skin that burns at the slightest mention of sunlight, I have no hopes of coming home with a tan, but I do hope to come home with a lot of great photos and information to share with you so you can start dreaming and planning for your solo vacation to Puerto Rico as well. Stay tuned!

Photo attribution: The Caribe Hilton pool by Snap Man, courtesy Creative Commons; Mercado Street by the queen of subtle, courtesy Creative Commons; Puerta de San Juan by khowaga1, courtesy of Creative Commons.