I live in New York and on top of below freezing temperatures, we are privileged to be in a lake effect snow band region as well! Because I hate the cold and snow and suffer from SAD, I start getting panicky once Thanksgiving is near. That's when I start hitting the travel sights hard in search of that elusive inexpensive airfare to somewhere very warm where I can spend my afternoons in playing in the ocean waves and soaking up (and burning up!) in the wonderful Caribbean sun. My affordable family destination of choice every February is Puerto Rico. For those of us living on the east coast, we are lucky enough to have an abundance of major airports and a fairly short flight to beautiful turquoise waters and an average daily temperature in the low 80's.
I've found that Spirit airlines offers very good deals into San Juan. If you join their paid $9 fare club membership ($60 annual fee), you are entitled to the $9 per segment flights they frequently offer. If you live In Florida and get lucky, you might be able to snag yourself a $9 flight into San Juan and a $9 flight back (taxes and fees not included). Since we live in NY, we have to fly into FL and then catch a connecting flight into San Juan from there. I just booked my family a trip in February for $144 round-trip per person which included all taxes and fees. Now, to get this fantastic (and cheapest rate I've ever found going into San Juan in February), I had to book the flight out a few days before the kid's winter recess from school begins (they are not upset about having to miss three days of school so no need to feel sorry for them!). We also have to make a 2 1/2 hour drive to the nearest airport Spirit flies into but this definitely beats the 4 1/2 hour trek we had to make last year to catch our flight! We also have an awful departure time of 1:55am. 1:55am seems to be the only time that Spirit flies out of that airport regardless of the destination. We will then have a 5 hour, 45 minute layover in Fort Lauderdale with very little or more likely, no sleep but we do get into San Juan by 2:12pm which is better than arriving after midnight last year. Our flight home 8 nights later departs in the early evening but doesn't arrive back in NY until 12:30am with a 2 1/2 hour drive home so the flight definitely isn'y without inconvenience but where else can you go for $144 to escape the cold that's as wonderful as Puerto Rico? If you're desperate enough, you'll tough it out and then forget all about it while you're lying on the beach with the sun shining down on you, forgetting all about all the snow and cold that you left behind.
I've found minivan rentals as low as $200/week if you book really early but you can often find good deals on car rentals if you go through your airline. They usually show you hotel and car rental offers as you are checking out online. This year, I went through BJ's wholesale club and even though it was a few dollars more than going through Hotwire etc., you don't have to pay for the entire rental up front, you can cancel right up until the day before.
Even though we fly into San Juan, I would not recommend staying there. It's great for a day trip, take the kids to the forts and maybe do some souveneir shopping but I much prefer heading east and staying right on the beach. For as low as $700 - $800 for the week, you can rent a condo right on the beach in Luquillo. The sooner you book something the better because this area seems to be getting more popular every year and accommodations can become scarce if you book a flight at the last minute. The public beach at Luquillo is beautiful and has lifeguards in case you feel more comfortable swimming there with young kids. We always opt to just swim at the beach right outside the condo. It has some pretty big waves at times so take caution with younger kids but many of the condos there have their own pools if the younger ones are more comfortable there. Many also have small playgrounds, basketball courts etc. so there is plenty to do.
In front of the public beach are the kiosks where I always get plates of rice & beans (arroz y habichuelas) and several bags of cocnut candy patties which I have just the worst addiction to. I'm too embarrassed to admit how many pounds I eat during my stay; it's pathetic... They also have many fried beef, fish, chicken, pork etc. items along with other popular local foods and the food is really inexpensive and SO good!
We always take at least one day trip to one of the tiny islands of the coast of Puerto Rico to either Culebra or Vieques. Culebra's big draw is the absolutely stunning Flamenco Beach http://culebra-island.com/CulebraIsland/Points_of_Interest/points_of_interest.htm . You can catch the ferry out of nearby Fajardo (about a 15 minute drive from Luquillo) for $4 round trip to either island. Vieques also has some very nice beaches but it's not the beaches but the biobay there that attracts people. In order to experience this truly amazing phenomenon, you must stay overnight on Vieques because the last ferry back to Fajardo departs before dark and the biobay experience takes place in the dark. You can check it out here:
http://www.biobay.com/
If you need a break from the sun, head over the the rainforest where you can take a hike to an icy cold waterfall (feels wonderful after hiking through the sticky rainforest!). Here is more information on the rain forest: http://www.elyunque.com/ There is also a gift shop in the base of the tower here where my boys enjoyed buying small leather wallets with Coquí frogs stamped into them. The Coqui is a small 'singing' tree tree frog found all over Puerto Rico.
In case you're wondering about safety, we have never felt "unsafe" anywhere in Puerto Rico. Most of the condominium buildings are gated and have 24 hour security. There is secured paid parking for the ferry with an attendant and although there are guard towers at the local strip mall, I've never seen a gaurd in or around them and no need for them either.
Speaking of shopping, you'll find all the normal chain restaurants and fast food that we're accustomed to at home. There are also super Walmarts and Sam's clubs, ToysRus, Sears, Gamestop (we always seem the need to buy more video games every vacation...), GAP, Children's Place and more. While we do shop at the local grocery stores, I've found that the super Walmart's carry more of the foods that we'd buy at home versus more local foods and higher priced "American" foods at the local grocery stores.
Since we rent a condo, we do our grocery shopping when we get there and make all of our meals which really cuts down on expenses. If we are going to be taking a road trip, we will pack a coolor (most condos do have one for you to use) with sandwiches, snacks and drinks to avoid a pricey fast food stop.
To save on luggage fees, check to see what the airlines allow you to take for free. Jet Blue still allows you one free bag per person while some will only allow a carry-on (please make sure you follow the size guidelines so you do not make enemies during the flight trying to cram your obviously oversized bag into a very small space, leaving no room for everyone else's bags that will fit while holding up the entire line with mom's like myself carrying two heavy bags along with a heavy, whining, squirming toddler! - sorry; rant over!). I hit up luggage clearances and bought a few nice, well made peices that fell within the airline guidelines size-wise so that we would only have to pay for one suitcase between 7 people. Everyone was allowed one carry-on and one small, personal item such as a purse etc. that will fit under your seat. Unfortunately, Spirit Airlines has now done away with the free carry-on item. You are still allowed one personal item that will fit under your seat but anything that you want to go in an overhead compartment must now be paid for. Since we have 7 people flying, we still get the 7 personal items which will inlcude my laptop, my camera bag, the diaper bag and then we still have four bags left to carry toys, video games and snacks.
Now that the traditional "complimetary drink" is a thing of the past, we make sure each person has an inexpensive, large water bottle (usually a leftover Gatorade bottle we buy in 6-packs for the trip to the airport). I also stock up on a variety of individual drink mix packets before the trip. Not only are they cheap and lightweight, but you can always fill them up as needed once you get through security at the airport. We keep a few spares packed in the bag that we fill right before we board the plane. Between the dryness of the cabin and the potential for getting delayed on the tarmac, it's a good idea to have extra to keep the kids well hydrated and happy. It also helps to have lots and lots of snacks. Please check TSA guidelines before you stock your snack bag since certain items are not allowed and will be tossed at security. I do like to bring crackers and cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheesesticks, granola bars, Italian rolls, sandwiches, Pringles (the can keeps chips from being crushed!), chewy candies for take-offs and landings and whatever special treats the boys have picked out. I think we travel with more food than I've ever seen anyone ever take on an airplane but plenty of video games, food and drink makes for a much happier flight for all involved and again, in case of longs delays where you might be stuck on the plane longer than expected, you won't go hungry!
If I have tempted you at all with a trip out of the cold, get to those search engines now and grab what flights are left and maybe I'll see you there!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
My Very First Family Vacation and the Start of My Travel Obsession!
I was 19, had a 7 month-old baby and a husband in the navy deployed in Mediterranean for six months.
Fearing my son would forget who his father was, I haphazardly planned a trip for the two of us to meet up with his father who was going to be pulling into port in Marseille, France.
Armed with two PanAm tickets (right after the bombing of PanAm flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland...that sure made for a scary flight!), a very large and heavy suitcase, one large and clunky baby stroller and one chunky 7 month-old, off we went.
In hindsight, I guess it would have been a good idea to find accomodations and a better idea of how to get from point A (point A being Nice, France) and point B (Marseille) but this was 1989, long before home computers and internet. I knew that getting to Marseille would involve taking a train but didn't have any plans beyond that. Having never travelled anywhere significant and especially not ever with a baby, I was very ill-prepared. It never really crossed my mind that I might have difficulty managing all my luggage and baby by myself and never realized that I might have to lug these up flights of stairs and through the narrow doorways of the trains. Luckily, very kind strangers took pity on me and gave me a hand. I started to wonder what I had gotten myself into but I'd made it that far so I had to keep going!
Once I arrived via train in Marseille, I was once again helped with my luggage by a very kind business man from Texas and then a porter took over who flagged down a cab for me, took all my luggage for me (including my open bag with my wallet on top) and loaded it into the trunk of the cab even though I tried to tell him that I needed my wallet from the bag. That was the last time I ever saw that wallet and all the money I had to my name...
The Texas business man, probably realizing that I was in a bit over my head, had wisely instructed the cab driver to take me to the US consulate in Marseille. Thank goodness for his last act of kindness and wisdom before we parted ways because once I exited the cab and to my absolute horror, discovered that my wallet was gone, if I had been anywhere else and not able to speak any useful French, I (we) would have been in so, so much trouble.
Things became a bit crazy after that. I ended up in the consulate, calling home to have money wired to me, trying to figure out where to go, how to get there with no money and how to contact my husband who was still not off the ship yet.
I was put in touch with a naval officer and his wife and was taken to a nice, small hotel where they were staying. They made arrangements with the hotel manager for paying my bill later once I had the money wired to me and they also escorted me to the local police station so that I could report the theft. Things got really strange (although oddly exciting) at this point. The naval officer (I really wish I knew this kind man's name so I could properly thank him) sat out in the waiting room of the police station with my infant son, feeding him a bottle while I was escorted into the detectives private office on the ground floor of an old building. once the door was shut behind me, the detective had me take a seat and wrote down all the details of the theft. After we finished, I stood up and walked towards the door where the detective then stopped me and then to my complete dismay, wrapped his arms around me started kissing me, on the mouth, in front of an audience of street maintenace workers right outside the window who were cheering the detective on. He asked to see me that evening, he wanted to take me to dinner. I was in shock. I remember stammering on about being married and there to see my husband and then I walked out the door of his office, shaking and my legs feeling like Jello-O. The officer looked up and asked me what was wrong. After telling him what took place behind the closed doors, I was told that was common practice for French men. I have never been fond of the French men since then and have always taken pitty on their poor wives. I noticed the way they all looked at me during my stay; they seemed to be oblivious to the fact that their wives were sitting just inches away and the look on the wives faces made me very sad.
After that bit of excitement in the police station, I then had the priviledge of driving from Marseille to Nice in a tiny little French car with no car seat for my son, a ton of traffic and at what seemed to me to be very high speeds. My shrieks of fear seemed to humor the detective but he at least remained professional during our search for the train porter (who we found!). He was brought in for questioning and of course denied having any knowedge of the missing wallet. The cab driver was never found and it was thought that maybe the two of them were in cahoots. To this day, I cannot believe the great lengths this detective took to find the perpetrator. Maybe it was in hope of me taking him up on his offer of dinner, maybe they are just super dedicated to crime fighting there in Marseille; I'll never know but I appreciate the crazy memories he's left me with.
The next day, my parents wired money to me, my husband was able to get his hands on some emergency funds and get off the ship to meet us. Things were looking up and I could finally get to experience the more "normal" side of vacationing in a foreign country. I had my first experience with a bidet, I learned that the very hot water from the cappucino machine in the hotel was safe for mixing baby formula with but that you really needed to let it cool down priot to mixing it or it did very bad things to your bottles. I experienced having a beer at breakfast at the mall along with the best submarine type sandwich I had ever eaten. I wandered around Marseille soaking up all the sights, the incredible architecture, the seedier side of the city with vendors selling some sort of animal head (with sharp teeth) cooking in some sort of rotisserie. I distinctly remember watching them go around and around and every time this head turned upside down, the eyeballs would ooze out of the sockets. I was so absolutely disgusted. I could here dogs, many dogs barking incessantly in a nearby building. I learned from the vendor that these barking dogs were what I was watching go around and around on the rotisserie. My disgust made the vendor chuckle and made me move on to find something a little less exotic to eat.
Eventually, my husband had to return to the ship and my flight home wasn't for several more days. The naval officer who'd helped me out when I first arrived had to leave as well and his very sweet and wonderful wife offered to take me exploring a bit before my flight home. We boarded another train and made our way down the coast to Cannes. She had spent time in the area before and showed me the spot where Princess Grace died after crashing her car, she took us to the beach (which happened to be a nude beach) but the only one who was nude on that cold February day was my son during a quick diaper change! She took me into the most opulant buildings and restaurants I have ever seen and encouraged me to try new foods I never would have tried on my own. She was such an amazing woman and she will never know how very grateful I am for all that she and her husband did for me and how they contributed to the most interesting and special of all my vacation stories (and I've had quite a few!).
You'd think after all that had happened to me during that trip, including missing my connecting flight home,being awake for over 24 hours and sleep deprived, walking around muttering to myself with people staring at me like I was crazy and having to carry my son everywhere because his stroller was checked in baggage, that I'd never want to go anywhere (at least overseas) again. That happens to be far from the truth. That trip left me with such strong feelings of excitement and wonder and I am always seeking new ways to capture just a bit of that to share with my boys. That has led on some pretty intersting journies which I will share with you later. People are always amazed at the things we do with our boys and ask how we manage to do all these things that they'd be terrified to attempt and I'll retell the tale of my first trip and tell them that if I can survive that all alone with an infant, I can survive about anything and that I'll always find special memories to keep with me forever even if things don't go quite as planned.
Fearing my son would forget who his father was, I haphazardly planned a trip for the two of us to meet up with his father who was going to be pulling into port in Marseille, France.
Armed with two PanAm tickets (right after the bombing of PanAm flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland...that sure made for a scary flight!), a very large and heavy suitcase, one large and clunky baby stroller and one chunky 7 month-old, off we went.
In hindsight, I guess it would have been a good idea to find accomodations and a better idea of how to get from point A (point A being Nice, France) and point B (Marseille) but this was 1989, long before home computers and internet. I knew that getting to Marseille would involve taking a train but didn't have any plans beyond that. Having never travelled anywhere significant and especially not ever with a baby, I was very ill-prepared. It never really crossed my mind that I might have difficulty managing all my luggage and baby by myself and never realized that I might have to lug these up flights of stairs and through the narrow doorways of the trains. Luckily, very kind strangers took pity on me and gave me a hand. I started to wonder what I had gotten myself into but I'd made it that far so I had to keep going!
Once I arrived via train in Marseille, I was once again helped with my luggage by a very kind business man from Texas and then a porter took over who flagged down a cab for me, took all my luggage for me (including my open bag with my wallet on top) and loaded it into the trunk of the cab even though I tried to tell him that I needed my wallet from the bag. That was the last time I ever saw that wallet and all the money I had to my name...
The Texas business man, probably realizing that I was in a bit over my head, had wisely instructed the cab driver to take me to the US consulate in Marseille. Thank goodness for his last act of kindness and wisdom before we parted ways because once I exited the cab and to my absolute horror, discovered that my wallet was gone, if I had been anywhere else and not able to speak any useful French, I (we) would have been in so, so much trouble.
Things became a bit crazy after that. I ended up in the consulate, calling home to have money wired to me, trying to figure out where to go, how to get there with no money and how to contact my husband who was still not off the ship yet.
I was put in touch with a naval officer and his wife and was taken to a nice, small hotel where they were staying. They made arrangements with the hotel manager for paying my bill later once I had the money wired to me and they also escorted me to the local police station so that I could report the theft. Things got really strange (although oddly exciting) at this point. The naval officer (I really wish I knew this kind man's name so I could properly thank him) sat out in the waiting room of the police station with my infant son, feeding him a bottle while I was escorted into the detectives private office on the ground floor of an old building. once the door was shut behind me, the detective had me take a seat and wrote down all the details of the theft. After we finished, I stood up and walked towards the door where the detective then stopped me and then to my complete dismay, wrapped his arms around me started kissing me, on the mouth, in front of an audience of street maintenace workers right outside the window who were cheering the detective on. He asked to see me that evening, he wanted to take me to dinner. I was in shock. I remember stammering on about being married and there to see my husband and then I walked out the door of his office, shaking and my legs feeling like Jello-O. The officer looked up and asked me what was wrong. After telling him what took place behind the closed doors, I was told that was common practice for French men. I have never been fond of the French men since then and have always taken pitty on their poor wives. I noticed the way they all looked at me during my stay; they seemed to be oblivious to the fact that their wives were sitting just inches away and the look on the wives faces made me very sad.
After that bit of excitement in the police station, I then had the priviledge of driving from Marseille to Nice in a tiny little French car with no car seat for my son, a ton of traffic and at what seemed to me to be very high speeds. My shrieks of fear seemed to humor the detective but he at least remained professional during our search for the train porter (who we found!). He was brought in for questioning and of course denied having any knowedge of the missing wallet. The cab driver was never found and it was thought that maybe the two of them were in cahoots. To this day, I cannot believe the great lengths this detective took to find the perpetrator. Maybe it was in hope of me taking him up on his offer of dinner, maybe they are just super dedicated to crime fighting there in Marseille; I'll never know but I appreciate the crazy memories he's left me with.
The next day, my parents wired money to me, my husband was able to get his hands on some emergency funds and get off the ship to meet us. Things were looking up and I could finally get to experience the more "normal" side of vacationing in a foreign country. I had my first experience with a bidet, I learned that the very hot water from the cappucino machine in the hotel was safe for mixing baby formula with but that you really needed to let it cool down priot to mixing it or it did very bad things to your bottles. I experienced having a beer at breakfast at the mall along with the best submarine type sandwich I had ever eaten. I wandered around Marseille soaking up all the sights, the incredible architecture, the seedier side of the city with vendors selling some sort of animal head (with sharp teeth) cooking in some sort of rotisserie. I distinctly remember watching them go around and around and every time this head turned upside down, the eyeballs would ooze out of the sockets. I was so absolutely disgusted. I could here dogs, many dogs barking incessantly in a nearby building. I learned from the vendor that these barking dogs were what I was watching go around and around on the rotisserie. My disgust made the vendor chuckle and made me move on to find something a little less exotic to eat.
Eventually, my husband had to return to the ship and my flight home wasn't for several more days. The naval officer who'd helped me out when I first arrived had to leave as well and his very sweet and wonderful wife offered to take me exploring a bit before my flight home. We boarded another train and made our way down the coast to Cannes. She had spent time in the area before and showed me the spot where Princess Grace died after crashing her car, she took us to the beach (which happened to be a nude beach) but the only one who was nude on that cold February day was my son during a quick diaper change! She took me into the most opulant buildings and restaurants I have ever seen and encouraged me to try new foods I never would have tried on my own. She was such an amazing woman and she will never know how very grateful I am for all that she and her husband did for me and how they contributed to the most interesting and special of all my vacation stories (and I've had quite a few!).
You'd think after all that had happened to me during that trip, including missing my connecting flight home,being awake for over 24 hours and sleep deprived, walking around muttering to myself with people staring at me like I was crazy and having to carry my son everywhere because his stroller was checked in baggage, that I'd never want to go anywhere (at least overseas) again. That happens to be far from the truth. That trip left me with such strong feelings of excitement and wonder and I am always seeking new ways to capture just a bit of that to share with my boys. That has led on some pretty intersting journies which I will share with you later. People are always amazed at the things we do with our boys and ask how we manage to do all these things that they'd be terrified to attempt and I'll retell the tale of my first trip and tell them that if I can survive that all alone with an infant, I can survive about anything and that I'll always find special memories to keep with me forever even if things don't go quite as planned.
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