La Ciudad Amurallada

from Polly's Garden-http://gramafolly.blogspot.com

George Harrison's son and master sound recorder/producer George Martin uncovered a hidden guitar riff deeply embedded in the original recording of "Here Comes the Sun," one of my all-time favorite songs. Every time I hear that song, I think of a trip I took in high school to Florida, sitting by my grandparent's pool in Leisureville, soaking in the sun... the song instantly makes me feel warm and at ease.

Of course, I hear the song- and its missing riff- this morning and remember that I'll be back in the sun in a little over 30 days.  I can't wait. I started scouting the destinations that this cruise will be sailing to in anticipation of all of the sun this girl desires.

San Juan, Puerto Rico's average temperature is 79 degrees, with March being its dryest month (it only rains about 11 days/31 that month), and there is 8.8 hours/day on average of sunshine. WIN. We're only docked in Puerto Rico for 7 hours, and that's assuming we get up and get the first shuttle off the cruise ship at 7am. Not much time for a port call, but meh. And, apparently, Maureen's friend will be in Puerto Rico that day on vacation. Yay for new people (for me)! So, what do we do with our 7 whole hours on the island?

A quick Google of "La Ciudad Amurallada (the walled city)" search turns up LOTS of stores for shopping, including a Coach store with "deeper than mainland discounts." Oh boy... beyond shopping (please and thank you!) are beaches, historical churches, and many, MANY different types of food to try. Discovering Puerto Rico has a handy online guide about how to make the most of your "trip layovers" while in Puerto Rico. They give ideas for travelers who are only in the city for 2-6 hours, which fit our plans easily. The guide assumes you're coming to/from the airport, but the airport is only 8 miles away (but some websites say that the 8 miles out = 45 minutes in a taxi, at $16/one way). Here are the site's top recommendations:

• Pinones: boardwalk and food kiosks that line Rd 187 that serve



Traditional Mofong- its fun to say! Try it!




• Empanadillas- stuffed bread/pastry
• Alcapurrias-  doughy mixture of mashed up tubers and root vegetables that grow on the island surrounding a center of heavily seasoned meat. Cooks spoon the meat into the center, roll the alcapurria into a distinctive peg shape and deep fry it for several minutes. 
• Mofong: fried green plantains  which is mashed together in a pilón with broth, garlic, olive oil, and pork cracklings or bits of bacon. It is often filled with vegetables, chicken, crab, shrimp, or beef and is often served with fried meat and chicken broth soup
• Lechon: Its is cooked by skewering the entire pig, entrails removed, on a large stick and cooking it in a pit filled with charcoal. The pig is placed over the charcoal, and the stick or rod it is attached to is turned in a rotisserie action. The pig is roasted on all sides for several hours until done. The process of cooking and basting usually results in making the pork skin crisp and is a distinctive feature of the dish
• Isla Verde and Balneario Carolina beaches
• Tour old San Juan:  take a taxi to either San Cristobel Fort or El Morro Fort. Once there, take a quick tour of the fort and then head down through the streets of Old San Juan. There are great self-guided walking tours of Old San Juan, which I found (in Europe) is just my style.
• Luquillo Beach (60 minute drive out- ehhh maybe not)
• El Yunque rainforest (again, 60 minutes out) hike one of the marked trails or take a tour with one of the rainforest rangers. You can also swim at one of the waterfalls!

Of course, Royal Caribbean sets up excursions around San Juan for travelers to enjoy. The San Juan excursions offered are:

• Bacardi Rum Distillery tour ($31)
• Bioluminescent Bay Kayak Adventure ($105)
• Caguas City Tour and Botanical Garden ($80)
• Carabali ATV adventure ($126)
• Carabali Horseback Ride ($99)
• El Yunque Rainforest Hike ($45- 5 hour trip, involves hike, nature lesson, travel to/from site)
• Segway tour ($96- not gonna lie, I kind of want to drive a Segway. But not for $96)
• Old and New San Juan City Tour ($39- it's a "scenic drive" with a narrated tour. You don't get out of the vehicle)
• Old San Juan Walking Tour ($49- through San Felipe del Morrow Castle, entry to museums, etc covered)
• Rain forest nature walk ($99 for a 5 hour hike??)
• San Juan Beaches By Bike Tour ($79 for 3.5 hour bike tour. My legs would fall off.)
• Fortress of San Juan ($41)
• Zipline ($131- HELL.NO.)

I'm all for the walking tours, but again, I can do it for free and at my own pace-- right?  Old San Juan is about 7 blocks, but people on the interwebs say it is a LOT of ground to cover in a short period of time. It looks like San Juan will be more about exploring than sunbathing- which is fine, since the sun will still be shining when I get back on the boat at 2pm..!

Incidentals and Charges Galore

Traveling is expensive. Water is wet. The sky is blue. All are completely true and "duh" type statements. Funny how you forget the basics until it's about to bite you in the ass. Thankfully, my wonderful friend Gelli has had me on a budget plan for the last 15ish months, and I've learned to anticipate the costs of things, save up, and enjoy. This trip with Maureen was too good to pass up- and, like my mom said (which she also said before I went to Europe), "You may get to a point in your life where you *can't* travel. Do it now while you're young and can enjoy it!" So I jumped in.

Already, the trip is starting to add up:

Flight: The plane ticket to/from Jacksonville was $350. I'm flying out of Flint, which is close enough for a friend to drop me off/pick me up from, so I don't have to pay to park my car at the airport for 10 days. The flight is already up to $378 on Orbitz.com, so it's a good thing I got it when I did (and the price keeps going up). However, I'm flying Delta. They charge a checked luggage fee of  $25 each way, so that's another $50 I'll have to spend. I thought about going with one non-checked bag, but realistically- it's 10 days. I'm going to need a large bag for all of my stuff.

Gas money to/from Ft. Lauderdale: Road Trip America has an awesome site where you can enter your trip mileage, MPG of your car, estimated gas price, and be given an estimate of the trip's fuel cost. If we take Maureen's Ford Escape, that's about 28 MPG, the average fuel cost in Florida today is $3.38, and we're traveling 308 miles from Jacksonville to my grandparent's place in Boca Raton (the 480 miles from yesterday's map includes Maureen's trip from Tallahassee). We're looking at spending about $34 in fuel each way, which isn't as bad as I thought it would be... that's about $.11/mile. WHOA. Then, of course, you have to have road trip food. My suggestion (which I'm sure Maureen will be ok with!) is to stop at a grocery store like Publix (which I say wrong EVERY time I see it- without the "l"- because its funny) and grab some snacks. I'm sure Maureen will already have some snacks with her, but it's a 6 hour drive. Plus, after a flight like I have (6am-12pm, small layover), I'm going to need food and some Diet Coke that's not out of a vending machine. And I'm sure we'll be stopping at restaurants for lunch and dinner on the drive there, breakfast on the way to the ship, and lunch/dinner on the drive home... oh, and breakfast before my flight. There's 6 meals to pay for, too.

Excursions: It costs NOTHING to lay in a hammock over the white sandy beaches :-) But, there's a few things I would like to do on our land excursions. I went snorkeling on my last cruise, and I'd love to do it again. I have no desire to go on a historical walking tour of a Royal Caribbean owned island, nor do I want to rent an inflatable raft that my chunky self will just sink (hey, I'm honest). But I would like to snorkel again in Puerto Rico ($25- there's a guided tour in Haiti with a catamaran ride and stuff for $45, and a snorkeling 3-hour trip in St. Marteen for $60) and tour on my own. I'm not really one for tour groups or paying someone to walk around with me, but I think Maureen will want to do one or two of those, which is fine- I'll either join her or meet her somewhere else after the excursion. I like to have my travel guides and tour on my own.

Drinks and whatnot on the ship: While cruises are sometimes thought of as "all inclusive," that's not always the case. There are a LOT of included dining options but alcohol and specialty drinks/foods cost extra (like Ben and Jerry's, Starbucks, and Johnny Rockets). There's a "soda package" you can buy, but you can have all of the water, lemonade and iced tea your heart wants for free. The package is $7/day (so $42 for me), or I can pay $2.25 + tip per canned soft drink. I honestly don't know if I can go 8 days without a Diet Coke. It was HARD to do in Europe, but it was also cheaper to buy a Diet Coke than a bottle of water. But, I'm thinking there may be some way that Maureen and I can split the soda package... There's an internet cafe on the ship and apparently there's wifi, but it's not free. It costs $.65/minute, or you can buy an internet package. I don't plan on spending a LOT of time online, but it's nice to have access, especially since it's going to cost an arm and a leg to make a phone call... again, I think Maureen and I will split an internet package, since she's of the same mindset as I am (but she needs internet access for her presentation and for school-related stuff).

Hotel room in Jacksonville after trip: It didn't make a lot of sense to book a flight on the day the cruise ends, as we have no idea when we'll make it back to Jacksonville. Plus, it didn't make sense to go from Ft. Lauderdale to Tallahassee, then Tallahassee to Jacksonville (then Maureen drive home), so we're splitting a room in J-town. That should cost about $60, or $30/person.

I'm already at $322, and that's without purchasing a SINGLE thing on the boat besides a soda cup (let me tell you, mama's gonna want a drink by the pool. Or two.) Wow.

Thankfully, I've been able to cut a few corners. Maureen and I are splitting gas (I would assume...?) to/from the cruise line. We'll be splitting the hotel room in Jacksonville, too, before I fly home. My parent split the plane fare with me. We're staying with my grandparents' place the night before the cruise and leaving the car with them (instead of paying a $15/day fee at the Royal Caribbean dock). And, I have to remember, the cruise part is FREE for me. So whatever final amount I come to, it's still $800-$1000 less than it could have been.

I want to be able to relax and not worry about being broke on the trip, so I'll worry and plan now :-)

FINALLY going on vacation again!

It feels like it has been FOREVER since I went on vacation. I mean, I've been... wait. Nope. Nowhere. Not a single trip since going to Europe in 2010. Not even up north for the summer-- but for a good reason. I had no vacation days left after Europe to go in 2010, and in 2011, my sister had my baby niece- so my "vacation" was coming home to see the perfect little nugget. I'm ok with that tradeoff.

Fortunately, my best friend, Maureen (the France expert) received an exciting job offer. She will be a lecturer aboard cruise ships, and her first job is in March. One of the perks is getting to take a "travel companion" with her on these "jobs," and guess who her first companion is? OHHH YEAH! We are setting sail on an 8-night Eastern Caribbean cruise. WIN!

We will be traveling on Royal Caribbean's "Navigator of the Seas" and stopping in (Philipsberg)St. Maarten, (Basseteree) St. Kitts, and (San Juan) Puerto Rico, (Labadee) Haiti. And, as an added perk, we are leaving out of Ft. Lauderdale- meaning I get to see my grandparents before and after our trip. They have graciously agreed to house us the night before the trip and take us to/from the boat dock. Did you know that it is $15/DAY to park your car at the Royal Caribbean lot? My grandparents will be saving us almost $100 in parking alone. I love them.

Part of this trip's fun is the drive that Maureen and I get to make to and from the ship. She is picking me up in Jacksonville, FL and we are driving from Jacksonville to Ft. Lauderdale. After the cruise, we are driving back to Jacksonville, where we will stay the night and I will fly home- and she will drive back to Tallahassee.

The trip doesn't start for another 37 days, but I'm already excited to go. I've started my list of stuff to pack and decided (begrudgingly) to check a bag on the flights. Silly Delta charges $25 for each checked bag each way, but Southwest's (bags fly free!) fares were more expensive than Delta's, even including the extra $50 to check the luggage. Pathetic. That's like Royal Caribbean charging us to park- just silly. But, I'll deal.

Let's talk about the ship aneminities, shall we? Because, while we're making interesting port stops, we're on this bad boy for 8 days- with 4 of them completely at sea. The ship has

• a rock-climbing wall, 
• a basketball court, 
• an ice-skating rink 
• in-line skating track, 
• a five-story theatre, 
• a casino, 
• a miniature golf course,
• a three-story dining room,  
• spa with over 100 treatments
• 4 swimming pools
• an "Adults Only" retreat
• 6 whirpools
• fitness center
• numerous bars (one is an "English Pub," a sports bar, champagne bar, wine bar and others)
• library and internet cafe
• a Johnny Rockets restaurant
• A Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream parlor

Holy crap, the list goes on and on...! 

That's it for now. In the next few days, I'm sure I'll review what I'm packing, what the tipping/payment policies are on some of these places on the ship- there is a LOT of cruise pricing resources out there, the destinations and excursions, the car ride (Maureen is "musically challenged" so I must have the ipod  ready), and, maybe a little about what Maureen is actually DOING on the ship. Me? I'll be by the pool, soaking up the sun and drinking a rum and diet coke (it's low WW points!).