Escape to Puerto Rico...With a 1 Year Old

Our flight from Fort Lauderdale was only a little over two hours, but we spent the entire day traveling.  We got to the airport two hours before our flight was supposed to leave, to find out it had been delayed over three hours.  They gave us a voucher for $20, so we had lunch on JetBlue, but it really wasn’t enough, looking back at the disaster that ensued.  E was so excited about all the people coming and going, so she skipped her morning nap in lieu of checking it all out.  She fell asleep due to pure exhaustion right when we were going through security, and woke up right when we were finally boarding the plane, a mere 45 minutes. 

Uh-oh.  She was alright the entire flight, but the last twenty minutes was a disaster.  There were some nasty looks and glares, but there was nothing I could do to appease my girl.  Obviously these people don’t remember what it’s like, or don’t have kids.  During that twenty minutes I wanted to scream, run across the ceiling, and tear my hair out.  Luckily, none of that was possible.

It was an hour wait for our rental car, and then another two and a half hour drive.  Oops.  E did rather well, but both husband and E were a bit frustrated with me at the end of the day.  We pulled into our rental at almost ten at night.  What I thought was going to be a two hour flight and one hour drive turned out to be much, much more.  Thank goodness my people are loving when it comes down to the end of the day.

Our rental was great.  We were right on the beach, with views, and also had a pool to enjoy in the complex.  I explored the area all week with four different jogging routes, each of which were beautiful and included ocean front views.  We ate in for dinner most meals, but took lunch with us as we explored some of the western part of the island.  Our place was a fifteen minute walk to Jobos Beach, and a twenty minute walk the other direction to Shacks Beach.  Jobos Beach was perfect for a one year old.  We really liked the Isabela area, and enjoyed a few local restaurants like One-Ten Thai, Ola Lolas, and El Carey Café.  Oh, I miss those places, and look forward to going back some day.  We had delicious Thai food, amazing burgers at Ola Lolas, and mouth watering sandwiches and smoothies at El Carey Café.  Our rental was so relaxing, and E loved the views from the fourth floor balcony.  Our favorite excursions were to a little colonial town in the hills, San German, where we had lunch at a little Mexican restaurant, and wandering the coast around Rincon. 

Throughout our journey, there was a mix of American tourists and locals.  The locals were really sweet, especially to little E.  Ola Lolas was owned by American retirees from Michigan.  It’s located on the road down to Shacks Beach, and makes for a nice jogging path.  It’s possible to jog from Shacks Beach along the sand towards Jobos Beach, and it is a really beautiful run.  The week we spent in Isabela was filled with relaxation, while offering the charm of a small beach community, which we loved. 

 

Photos: 1) View of Jobos Beach from the beach in front of our rental  2) Ele splashing in Jobos Beach  

3) San German church  4) Ele on our rental's balcony (amazing view!)  5) Shacks Beach

Planning Puerto Rico

We ended up deciding on the Fort Lauderdale beach cottage.  We like the idea of being closer to the city, which gives us more flexibility in making day trips around Southern Florida.  We’re excited about checking out Florida.  I know it’s crazy to go in the summer, but it’s our vacation window, and so we’ll take it!  We will be celebrating our fifth anniversary there, too!

For our next leg, we’re off to Puerto Rico.  I spent a lot of time sifting through different vacation properties.  The end of our time in Puerto Rico will be spent at Wyndham’s Rio Mar Beach Resort and Spa, a beautiful hotel with a AAA four diamond rating.  I’m using almost half of the points I won from the Women on Their Way travel blog contest to stay at the resort for three nights (90,000 Wyndham Rewards points of my 200,000).  We are super excited about staying there, so we made that our last three nights.  That left us a full week to find a vacation rental. 

Here are the two we deeply considered.  The Rio Mar resort is on the northeast part of the island, close to San Juan, so we will explore that part of the island and El Yunque rain forest while we stay there.  Because of that, I looked for an entirely different area of the island to make our base for the week.  I looked at Fajardo, on the east coast, a couple of places on the southern coast, but I kept going to properties that were on the west coast in Aquadilla, or the northwest, in Isabela.  Here are the two properties that were available during the week we needed.  We went back and forth on them several times while deciding.

Option 1:  Aguadilla 2 bedroom condo with ocean views, beautiful pool, free parking, wi-fi, children’s playground, and a 3 minute drive to the beach.

http://www.vrbo.com/227874

We really liked the size of this unit, not to mention the amazing views.  We usually stay at more budget friendly places, but I looked at this week as the highlight, big budget item of our year, so I justified spending more money than usual.  We really like this one because Ele would have her own room.  It seems silly, as she is in a crib, but it would be nice to close her off at bed time and have the run of the place without sneaking around her or moving her. 

Option 2:  Isabella 1 bedroom condo with ocean views, pool, free parking, wi-fi, and it’s on the beach, but it’s a 15 minute or 20 minute walk to beaches that are safe for children. 

http://www.vrbo.com/360091

We couldn’t get over the balconies and views from this unit.  It’s right on the beach, which is really appealing, as vacation is the only chance for this type of view or experience to happen!  The down side is that Ele will have to go to sleep in our room, and then we’ll have to either sleep with her in there, or transport her after we’re ready to go to bed to the living room.  The thing we kept coming back to when debating the two units are the amazing views from the balcony, even better than the Aguadilla unit.  There’s really comfortable furniture on the balcony, and a grill, so we can also have meals out there.  It’s more expensive, though.

When it came down to it, I was going over the options with my dad, and I realized that we will not be able to stay in a unit like that the next time we go to Puerto Rico, unless it is just Rick and I.  We hope to grow our family soon, so we could potentially stay at the Aquadilla unit with more kids in tow.  With that realization, we opted for an amazing week on the beach, option 2.  I am super excited about our Puerto Rico vacation.  Now I just need to research what to do to keep my 1 year old bug bite free!  We also need to rent a car, still. 

***This picture isn't our exact unit, but the views are similar.  Click on the vrbo link to see the unit.

Photos:  1) Wyndham Rio Mar Beach Resort and Spa  2) Wyndham Rio Mar  3) Aquadilla balcony view  4) Isabela condo complex  5) Isabela balcony view

http://www.haudimar.com/apartments.html 

http://www.womenontheirway.com/about/