Time for another vacation! The last trip I took was my Royal Caribbean cruise to Haiti. Now I want to share my most recent trip which was a 7-night Virgin Voyages cruise. I’m excited to share my cruise experiences but before we get to that, I spent a couple of days in San Juan.

The fact that the cruise was leaving out of San Juan, Puerto Rico was one of the reasons why I chose this itinerary. The other reason is that it was around my mom’s birthday. This trip was a birthday celebration for her, and she’d said Puerto Rico was her favorite place. I thought, “Why not take a cruise out of her favorite place?”

So, we booked the trip, and we were set.

After a hectic run out of the TSA line to get my mom’s water bottle that she left at the check-in desk and a 3.5-hour flight, we landed in San Juan. Little did we know that back in Atlanta around this time, Sir Richard Branson was giving some other lucky Delta passengers heading to Puerto Rico a free Virgin Voyages cruise. My dad shared the article with me the day after. As you could imagine, I was punching the air a little bit. If only we’d caught a later flight! But it’s okay. What’s meant to be will be.

When we landed, I’d turned off airplane mode and saw the roaming icon and thought I was getting charged for it. I put my phone back on airplane mode so fast. Later, I realized it was domestic roaming since we were in Puerto Rico. Depending on your phone company there shouldn’t be a charge.

The Global Entry Interview 

Getting off the plane, we had wheelchair assistance for Mom. Our Global Entry appointments were at 1:30pm and I thought an hour between then and landing would give us enough time. That hour went by fast.

I didn’t know how to get to the enrollment center from baggage claim and the guy who was pushing Mom’s wheelchair didn’t know either! He didn’t even know what I was talking about. And before you start, it wasn’t even a language barrier, he just didn’t know. He looked to be in his late teens/early 20s so I’m going to assume he was new.

After a difficult Google search due to frequent Wi-Fi disconnections, I finally found how to get there. If you have a Global Entry appointment landing in Puerto Rico, go to the far-right end of the baggage claim area and out the double doors. The enrollment center will be on the right.

We had to us the intercom to get into the room because the door was locked. I quickly told them I had appointment so they could let us in. The waiting area was outside and it was HOT.

There were two cubicles opened so Mom and I could interview at the same time. The questions were straight forward: name, address, occupation; basically, things you filled out on the application. They take your fingerprints, your picture and you’re pretty much done. Both of our interviewers were nice and cool.  Mine kept apologizing because he was tired. He said he was up all night working a different shift.

Tips for Global Entry

My interviewer confirmed TSA PreCheck was included and told me things about Global Entry:

• Mainly used when coming back into the states though some other countries have it.
• You can download the app so when it’s time to use it, you take your photo, fill out the questions and proceed to the Global Entry line. You can do this on the plane as you land. If you’re traveling with a group of friends or family, if everyone has Global Entry, you can add them to your filing.
• If you buy anything while in the other country and bring it back with you, you must declare it. If you don’t declare it, your Global Entry may be revoked. Keep track of what you buy.
• You get a Global Entry card, but you really only need the physical card if you’re traveling by foot to Canada or Mexico (if you’re right next to either border)
  • If you travel by car to either place, you’d have to register your vehicle (or whatever vehicle you’re driving) with SENTRI.

We got our approval emails a couple hours later. This gave us the ability to add our PASSID’s to our return flight so we could use TSA PreCheck when we fly back home.

Getting to Our Hotel

After our interview, we tried getting an Uber which was a few door sections down from baggage claim but every time we got a driver they’d cancel immediately. I don’t know if it was an app issue, Wi-Fi issues or something else. One of the drivers we got was right next to us as a taxi. I started walking to him and then it canceled again. Luckily, he’d already got where I was going from the Uber app, so he drove us. He said he’d charge the rate I saw on Uber which was $13 (that maybe been the reason people were canceling because it wasn’t the surcharge rate).

His taxi didn’t have a form of card payment, so we paid and tipped him in cash once we arrived at our hotel. This is why it’s important to bring at least $75-$100 cash when traveling.

Hyatt House San Juan

Our hotel was Hyatt House San Juan. It was very nice on the inside. Spacious lobby, decent breakfast area. It’s next to Longhorn’s and Olive Garden and walking distance from Distrito T-Mobile (about 12 minutes) but they do have a shuttle that runs from 10AM to 6PM every 20 minutes that takes you to the Condado beach, old San Juan, and the Distrito T-Mobile.

Our room wasn’t ready yet when we got there, but they offered to store our bags. Since it was so hot and we had on sweats, we changed before giving our bags to concierge.

By the time we finished changing and had decided on where to go, the room was ready. Norma, the receptionist, helped us to get our room ready sooner. Throughout our stay she was very nice and patient.

Instead of heading out like we planned, we got settled in our room. I was actually glad we could go to the room to rest for a bit.

Mom wanted to clean the room herself after watching a few Reels of someone who cleans their hotel room on the first day every trip. By the time she was done, it was 4:30pm.

Food and Activities

The original plan for our first day in Puerto Rico was to go to the Miramar Food Truck Park and maybe an art museum, but I didn’t feel like waiting for a 10 to 20-minute Uber (especially after the complications I had at the airport). Plus, the museums all closed at 5pm.

We ended up taking the shuttle to the Distrito T-Mobile, the last stop before our hotel and the one next to us, Hyatt Place. It went to all the stops first, which was helpful for us since we’d be using it the next day.

We reached the Distrito at 5 something so we knew we had to walk back later.

Distrito T-Mobile

The Distrito T-Mobile is like a small outdoor mall with shops, eateries, a movie theater, and a music hall. It’s kind of like Disney Springs/Downtown Disney or if you’re from Atlanta it’s exactly like The Battery just a little smaller (and no baseball stadium).

We ate at Arena Medalla, a sports bar with games. It had mostly typical American fare like burgers, onion rings, and ribs with some local eats like chicken chicharrónes, which is essentially just fried chicken. Their upstairs area is where their games and $25 karaoke rooms (up to 5 people) are located. Bigger karaoke rooms cost a little more.

For our dinner, Mom got ranch wings (wings tossed in ranch sauce) with onion rings. I got a burger with pepper jack and bacon with chicken chicharrónes for an appetizer. They had cocktails, but we didn’t try any. The food was good, I especially liked the chicharrónes.

After dinner, we briefly walked around the rest of the Distrito before heading back to the hotel. We wanted to walk back before it got dark.

The Rest of the Evening

When we were back in our hotel room, Mom realized she didn’t have her insulin. I remembered her taking it with us from her house, but it wasn’t in her bag. We didn’t know if they took the bag of medicine out at TSA for inspection and never put it back in or if she left it in her car before putting it in her carry-on. Thankfully, it was the latter, but we didn’t find out until we got back.

We tried seeing if we could get an emergency prescription filled at a pharmacy there but it’s a specialty brand. We weren’t sure it would arrive in time if at all.

She decided she’d just have to watch what she ate and manage her blood sugar. I was a little stressed because this was her birthday trip, and I didn’t want anything to happen to her or have anything mess up her trip. Spoiler alert: she ends up being fine. It was such a scare, though!

That was day one in Puerto Rico! Day two we’re heading to Casa Bacardi. If you’re curious about how that goes, be sure to check back next week.

How would you spend your first day in Puerto Rico? Let me know in the comments!