Happy Monday!

I just returned from a short trip to Puerto Rico! This was my first time traveling overseas and to an island so I wanted to give my honest feedback on the trip, what I experienced and any recommendations that I have for anyone who is curious about a trip to Puerto Rico.

It’s February and in the Midwest it’s cold and gray. My boyfriend and I wanted to plan a short getaway to kind of get away from the cold and just have a few days to relax and forget about the stresses of life. When we were doing our research we found that Florida and Hawaii were both not warm enough for what we wanted to experience so we decided to keep looking. Since we would be traveling with a child, we wanted to go somewhere that we didn’t need a passport for - so Puerto Rico was the choice!

The trip was planned from February 15 - 19 giving us 4 nights and 3 days on the island. It doesn’t seem like much but we are used to maximizing our PTO and trying to squeeze in as many trips throughout the year as possible.

We decided to fly Southwest. The main choice behind this airline was due to us having a voucher that would expire this year and we’re also reward members. We enjoy flying Southwest because we get free carry-ons and 1 checked bag making it less stressful to figure out baggage. We also enjoy the planes more than other airlines. PLUS - the flight from Indiana to Puerto Rico was so easy! We flew out of Indianapolis to Orlando, stayed on the plane and flew to Puerto Rico. The overall flight time was around 4.5 hours.

February 15

We flew out of Indianapolis at 5p and with the layover and drive to our AirBnB, we arrived around 1am. We were obviously exhausted when we got to our destination so immediately went right to sleep. I’ll be honest, it was a rough night’s sleep. The Airbnb that we were staying in had a very loud air conditioner (although we were thankful for the AC), we weren’t used to the noise and therefore didn’t sleep great.

February 16

Our first full day in Puerto Rico was planned for sight seeing and beach time. We booked an Airbnb that was steps away from the beach. We walked out the first morning and took in the ocean view. Nothing beats the sound of the waves. There was light rainfall (Puerto Rico gets multiple quick patches of rain throughout the day).

We quickly ran to the water and were pleasantly surprised at just how warm it was. The water must have been about 70 degrees and was so nice! We enjoyed playing in the waves before deciding to walk along the shore to do some exploring. Quickly, my son found a sand dollar and some pretty cool shells that we brought back as mementos.

After a dip in the ocean, we headed to a local grocery store to grab some groceries so that we were eating out for every meal. Our general rule of thumb is to try to eat breakfast and lunch at our Airbnb and then eat out for dinners. We quickly learned that Puerto Rico does not provide bags at any store. Be prepared when you are going shopping. We were able to find most things that we would at home, with the exception of a wide variety of coffee. I am the only coffee drinker so I settled for a Puerto Rican ground coffee and I’ll admit, it wasn’t too bad!

*Side note, Puerto Rico does use the metric system. Things such as milk and gas are in liters.

This was one of the first trips that my boyfriend did all of the planning. Normal my control freak side has to have a say in all of the planning but I let him take the reigns on this trip and it was actually pretty fun being surprised for most of it.

When we returned with our groceries, we ate some quick lunch and then decided to jump in our rental car and drive up to Fajardo to check out other beaches and the sights. Fajardo was about a 20 minute drive from our Airbnb. I do recommend a rental car because most places on the island are a quick drive away. Also, brush up on your Spanish. Everything is in Spanish, there are some places with English translations but you’ll want to know some basic Spanish for getting around. I took French for 4 years so I was no help but luckily my boyfriend knew some Spanish. Hopefully I’ll be more helpful on a trip to Europe.

Fajardo was really cute. It’s a small beachside town that has a nice clean beach, rows of bars and restaurants and a marina that had a BUNCH of boats on it. We drove up the coast a bit and stopped at another beach where we saw some dogs (homeless dogs, cats, chickens and horses roam the island). We took some sunset photos on this beach.

After snapping some photographs of this gorgeous beach, we headed back towards our Airbnb and stopped at a local seafood restaurant for dinner. Luckily, there was no wait and we were seated right away. My boyfriend ordered fish tacos, my son ordered a burger and I ordered salmon with sweet plantains. I was not a fan of the sweet plantains but the salmon was so good!

February 17

Our second full day in Puerto Rico was so much fun! We had an early start because we planned a snorkeling trip at 8a. We planned our trip through the Salty Dog in the Marina at Fajardo and so glad that we did. The crew was absolutely amazing. They provide lunch and as much rum as your little heart desires. I didn’t have much to drink on the boat ride out to the snorkeling spot because I was trying to get acclimated to the rocking of the boat. The wind was pretty intense that day, therefore the waves were also intense. The boat ride was about an hour. We arrived at a remote island where we explored for about 1.5 hours. My boyfriend and son enjoyed playing the waves. I relaxed in some shade by the beach. I’m obviously a ginger so I try to be careful with the sun on beach vacations. One bad burn can ruin the entire trip. So I make sure to always bring plenty of sunscreen and enjoy the shade when I can.

We did see some wildlife. There were rocks on the shore full of snails and some big crabs. I unfortunately didn’t get any pictures as I didn’t bring any camera with me to the island.

After the island, we enjoyed lunch on the catamaran before sailing to our snorkeling spot.

I was pretty nervous to snorkel. I don’t feel like I’m a very sporty person and can be very awkward. I also have a slight fear of open waters. But, it was something that my boyfriend really wanted to do so I pushed myself outside of my comfort zone and took the plunge (literally). You had the option of swimming with a safety belt or not. I chose the safety belt. The currant was very strong because of the wind and I didn’t want to take any chances.

I absolutely loved my time snorkeling. We were able to see sea turtles and cuddle fish and many more! It was such a great experience and I’m so glad that I tried it. It was quite the workout though. We snorkeled for about 30 minutes before getting back on the boat and sailing back to the marina. If you are wanting to do any activities in Puerto Rico, I highly recommend booking them ahead of time. We found that things sell out very quickly and you can miss out on opportunities if you don't plan in advance.

The snorkeling trip was from 8a - 1p. So it took up a good chunk of the day but so worth it. After that, we decided to travel to Old San Juan and check out the city. The architecture is absolutely beautiful. The city is so full of color, music and good food! When we first arrived, we decided to check out Castillo San Felipe del Morro or El Morro.

This was probably one of my favorite stops. This huge fortress sits right on the Atlantic Ocean. It was built by the Spanish in the 1780s and has so much history to it. It has about 6 different levels and most rooms have little signs with the history of the room and what was done there. The fortress was built to protect from San Juan from attacks. The outside of the fortress has a huge courtyard where you can find people having picnics, flying kites or just enjoying the oceanside.

We walked through downtown Old San Juan looking for dinner. The whole city is painted in many different colors. It has a lot of great old Spanish architecture. Shockingly, it reminded me a lot of San Francisco.

We finally stumbled across a restaurant with outdoor seating. We had the nicest waiter and had great Mexican cuisine. Quesadillas, fish tacos and margaritas were enjoyed by all. Definitely one of the best margaritas I’ve ever had!

February 18

Our final day was one that I was actually looking forward to because we were going to visit the rainforest! El Yunque National Forest is the only rainforest in the US National Forest System. So naturally, we had to visit! We filled our hydration packs, slipped on some comfortable clothing and headed up the mountain to do some hiking.

One of the trails leads you up to Mt Britton. Mt. Britton has an elevation of 3,087 feet. The trail takes about 2 hours round trip. Be prepared for rain! The rainfall is patchy but it does come down in buckets! Luckily, there are little shelters along the trail that you can pop into if you want. Mt. Britton the tower was “built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1937-38, becoming the tallest of the Civilian Conservation Corp towers with stone masonry” (usda.gov).

We spent most of our last day in El Yunque. When we returned to our Airbnb, we played in the ocean for a bit before heading to dinner at La Parrilla. My boyfriend ordered the Paella and I ordered the shrimp and rice. We didn't know that the paella would have squid and octopus in it, of course we definitely had to try it. My boyfriend isn’t a fan of squid - I quite like it. Neither of us enjoyed the octopus. It’s a weird texture, especially with the cirri (suction cups). After dinner, it was time to clean up our Airbnb and pack for our early flight home the next morning.

Things to Know:

Both my son and I received body rashes. We aren’t sure what it was from. But I recommend traveling with hydrocortisone cream. We didn’t have any severed sunburn because we were both religiously putting on sunscreen. The only thing I can think of is that it was a bad reaction to medications we were on.
Don’t forget a towel on the catamaran! We completely forgot to pack towels and the ride back from snorkeling was quite chilly. Luckily, I remember to pack a sweater.
February was a great time to visit. The weather was perfect and we had beaches almost entirely to ourselves.
If you’re bringing home sand from the beach, be prepared to be stopped by TSA. My boyfriend has a tub of sand in his suitcase and it was flagged. After it was tested for drugs (yes, drugs) and cleared, they let us keep it.
Plan all activities ahead of time. We actually missed out on visiting the bioluminescent bay because it was sold out and we didn’t plan ahead of time. You had to plan ahead for snorkeling and entry into the rainforest as well.
If you are fair skinned like myself, be sure to prepare the intensity of the sun. I packed almost 5 bottles of sunscreen and kept travel sizes ones in my hiking backpack and purse for reapplying.