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Exploring Puerto Rico: Journey to a Tropical Paradise & Unveiling It's Hidden Treasures...
- Stephanie Blanc
- Aug 5
- 16 min read
Updated: Sep 20
Hey guys! Have you ever traveled somewhere that seemed to give you the right dosage of vitamin sea that you didn't even know you needed?! Well, that seemed to be the case for me, personally, when I traveled to Puerto Rico for the second time.
I mentioned the fact that it was the second time because there is so much to discover on this beautiful island that I didn't get a chance to untap during my initial visit.
If I am 100% completely honest, my first trip happened with a couple of my besties and was on the tail-end of me reeling in the emotions of a lost loved one who was very near & dear to my heart. Their untimely passing literally changed my whole outlook on life & my own personal life in general.
Needless to say, my mind was far from present or on vacay mode, and I didn't get to thoroughly enjoy myself as much as I would have liked because my mind was completely elsewhere. Albeit, its always nice to lay out and relax on the beach...I was definitely still deeply in the throes of grief, and in the process of realizing that life would no longer be the same without them.
I say all this to say, that sometimes it is OK to say no when your gut feels uneasy. At the time, I somehow felt obliged to go and not let my friends down. And also, just maybe, I wanted to believe that it would help me get my mind off of things and walk towards a step in the right direction with regards to healing. Plus, I promised that I would live my life to the fullest in his honor. But, once again (because this wasn't my first rodeo experiencing loss), I quickly learned that grief isn't linear nor about quickly "healing," but more-so learning how to navigate the ever-changing journey.
Often, I equate grief to a phrase I saw years ago describing it as having a heavy load on your back that you learn to shift from one shoulder to the other. Some days, the load feels a bit heavier to carry than other days and vice versa. If you're currently grieving a loss and want to discover tips on navigating the journey, then make sure to read my blog in which I interview a dear friend of mine, Alyssa Prete, who is a Licensed Psychotherapist, Mental Health Counselor, & Koru Mindfulness Teacher, and provides us with tips to help cope.
Obviously though, you came to this blog post to learn about my adventures in Puerto Rico (!!!), so my apologies in advance if my intro sounded a bit somber, BUT, it was important for me to preface this post by explaining the dynamic of why my 2nd trip experience outweighed my 1st, so that you thoroughly understand the context of where I'm coming from, and you too can appreciate PR in all its glory! Also, sidenote, I wanted to exemplify that you never know what someone might be going through, and I wanted to provide support to anyone out there, who can make use of these tips or needs some words of encouragement if they're going through the same notions.
My second trip to Puerto Rico solidified a full circle moment for me. This time, I was able to rest, relax, and spiritually recharge, all while fully embrace having fun! And, yes, also live my life to the fullest in his honor.
Now, to shift the focus on why you came here in the first place...My Puerto Rico vacation!!!! Honestly, guys, you can kind-of say that planning my PR trip was pretty spontaneous. Simply put, ya girl was TIYAD with life's day-to-day responsibilities, and I wanted to book a flight to ANY place that provided me with some much needed R&R, along with some fun adventures! And, I wanted to do this quickly, and on the premise of not having to worry about my passport being renewed in time for my trip...So, Puerto Rico came up in my searches!
"From the moment my feet touched the sand, I felt as though I was getting a foot massage. The climate...The crashing of the waves...The view...It was all just so perfect & relaxing, & felt like where I needed to be!"
And so, when I dove deep into what Puerto Rico had to offer, it was a no brainer that it was an ideal option to get some sun, sand, all with a piña colada in hand, which if ya didn't know is the coined signature cocktail originating from Puerto Rico! I'll speak more on that later...FYI: I booked this trip during the time where a U.S. driver's license was still considered an acceptable form of ID for for traveling to Puerto Rico, however rules changed shortly after. Recently, the new mandate for U.S. travel, requires a U.S. citizen to carry a REAL ID or an another acceptable form of ID (aka a passport) to travel abroad, both domestically & internationally, which is a real bummer! But, hey, I don't make the rules! But, enough of my rambling with the technical stuff, and let's dive into my trip!
My Quick Guide To Puerto Rico
Photo Credit: Austyn Visuals
Love these Puerto Rico vacay-inspired looks? Tap here to see my outfit details!
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WHAT MODE OF TRANSPORTATION
Yes, I know...I know...DUH moment! But y'all know how I like to give you guys all the nitty gritty details of how it all went down. Of course, the obvious means of transportation to Puerto Rico include air travel and boat. I've never been a fan of flying, but it's normally, my preferred method of long distance travel for obvious reasons. I do recall really taking a liking to San Juan during my first visit. So, I booked a flight to San Juan again, which (if ya didn't know) is the capital of Puerto Rico. We flew out from New York's JFK airport at about 6:00am and landed at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, at approximately 10:45am. It was about a 6 minute ride from the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport to our hotel, which I go into more detail below. As for the day-to-day travel, we Uber'd everywhere, however, it is really easy to rent a car and travel on your own. I just didn't want to be bothered honestly. Especially, when I'm traveling out of the country and not too familiar with the terrain.
WHERE TO STAY
If you've followed my blog for a while, then you'd already know ya girl is a little bougie when it comes to her home-away-from-home during vacay. Gimme ALLLLL the luxury & creature comforts...So, after some intense-thorough research, I landed on Royal Sonesta San Juan, which is nestled on Isla Verde beach. Fun fact, Luis Munoz Marin International Airport was originally called Isla Verde International Airport. The name was changed in 1985 to honor Luis Muñoz Marín who became the first democratically elected governor of Puerto Rico.
"And, as I lounged out on my beach chair and lathered on some sunblock oil, with my pina colada in hand...All I could say was AHHH...Now THIS is the moment I've been yearning for!"
Upon arrival to the hotel, we paid an extra fee for early-check-in because it was quite hot when we landed, and we were still rocking our winter attire. I don't recall the exact amount, but it was anywhere from $100-150. Usually, I use my sweet New York charm (haha!!) to bypass the early-check-in costs, but they weren't budging (I slightly recall them discounting it a little though, but I could be wrong; The front desk receptionist was really nice though). Obviously, we hate a surcharge, but I totally get why (ya know the whole "we gotta get the room cleaned and ready" schpiel) because it was quite early in the day (Let's just say, check-in was at 4pm & we got their at 11ish, so we were pushing our luck for sure haha!!), and they gotta make their money somehow! Haha!! Anyway, like I said, I got over my initial shock of the price, and just gave in because I was just more focused on getting myself together to enjoy as much beach time as possible. Remember, I always say if I'm staying somewhere tropical, I better be stationed either on a beach, or within a 5-minute walk from one?!?
So, ultimately, the first day was mainly beach bumming. And, I must say that I love Isla Verde Beach! Btw...English Translation: "Green island" beach. From the moment my feet touched the sand, I felt as though I was getting a foot massage. The climate...The waves crashing...The view...It was all just so perfect & relaxing, and felt like where I needed to be! And, even though there was a decent number of people on the beach, I still felt as though I had most of it to myself. I don't know how to really explain it, but it felt just like my own little private oasis. It was just awesome, and I thoroughly enjoyed ordering muchas piña coladas from my beach chair!
The hotel rooms were clean & comfy. The bathroom was a decent size and fully updated with glass shower doors (don't ask me why, but I always appreciate a glass shower door cause the shower curtains give me the heebie jeebies eek!!). The cons...the rooms were a bit on the tighter side, and we were a bit bamboozled with the "balcony." I'm a total sucker for always booking a balcony when traveling, but let's just say this "balcony" barely had enough space for my 2 small feet (I'm size 6.5 by the way, so you can only imagine how tiny this balcony was! haha!! I can laugh about it now, but I was slightly irritated at the time haha!!).
The food from ordering hotel room service was MEH, but no one really orders room service unless you have late night or early morning cravings like I do haha!! You're in Puerto Rico, so you're gonna wanna eat out where the locals do. My overall hotel rating: 4/5
WHAT TO DO
If you've been following me for a while on social media, then you probably already have an inkling that ya girl loves to put together a full-blown itinerary filled with a slew of activities when traveling! With Puerto Rico, you'll realize that there is plenty to do for the most adventurous person to the most chill & laid-back individual. Personally, I try to incorporate a little bit of thrill mixed with some more laid-back activities, and I already just shared with you how beach-bumming was one of our primary activities, and so fun & relaxing!
Stephanie strolling the streets of Old San Juan. These affordable white sunglasses from Amazon give the feel of high-quality & I'm OBSESSED!; Tap here for link to the Pink Clutch.
If you're anything like me, then you appreciate old world charm, and that's what you get when visiting Old San Juan. I love places that do everything to preserve the historical authenticity of old buildings and statues, and this town prides itself in doing so.
I received a complimentary Old San Juan history tour while booking my ticket via Jetblue, but unfortunately, I underestimated how far it was from our mixology class and only was only able to catch like 10 minutes of it. Needless to say, I still went back to stroll the streets of San Juan, shop, and explore. The bright, beautiful, picturesque colors, are the perfect backdrop to this lovely city, and definitely Instagram-worthy if that's your thing!
Also, you never know what you'll find. We even stumbled upon a Haitian art gallery store, which was a score! Y'all know I love finding my people in all corners of the world. We're like kindred spirits!
I had booked a hiking trail with international photographer Austyn Sprouse of Austyn Visuals to capture the overall experience. Austyn played the role of both our photographer & tourist guide. He and his girlfriend drove us to the El Yunque Rainforest, which was breathtakingly gorgeous! Fun fact: El Yunque Rainforest is the one and only tropical rainforest within the national forest system. If you like a little sneak peek of how gorgeous this rainforest is then check out my video below.
The hike was so much fun and we made it a day of activities along with getting some great shots. Austyn even took us to some secret-hidden spots to take in the most gorgeous waterfalls and have my own little photo shoot in what felt like my own private lagoon. We also ate what I think were the best empanadas I've ever had in my life, at a convenience deli located near the entrance area of the rainforest. I forgot the name of it...Sorry guys (!!!), but you'll definitely stumble upon it when you're there!
Now, to be completely honest, your girl is not typically the type to get super muddy and dirty when hiking (first time hiking in a rainforest after-all haha) and so I wasn't prepared with the right footwear (insert covering eyes emoji). So just fare warning, if you do want to book this experience, please make sure to pack the right hiking gear because ya girl was slipping and sliding everywhere, and it was extremely dangerous! No, I'm not kidding in the slightest!
If you're not into high-physical activity then maybe go on the more laid-back trails haha!! BUT, I have no regrets because I pushed myself outside of my usual comfort zone, and had a great time. So, yes, I was literally covered in mud (I'm talking Austyn had to put towels for us to get in his car haha!!), but I will forever treasure that experience. Just be more careful than I was with the right foot wear!
Once we were done hiking, it was still early enough in the day to take on more adventure. So, we checked to see if there were any zip lining activities that were still open and we booked one of them. Guys, it was one of the most fun experiences I've ever had! If you're terrified of heights, then I suggest you skip this, however, if you're interested in conquering your fears then by all means book ziplining because I think it's definitely manageable! I have a slight fear of heights I guess you can say...But I also love rollercoasters, so I'm a bit of an oddball haha!! You're not thousands of feet up in the air, but you're still definitely high up. Therefore, if you're terrified of heights, then I would suggest starting off small with the jungle gym bars at the park haha!!
Now, it had been my long time dream to learn how to go horseback riding and I didn't get a chance to do this on my first trip and was determined by any means necessary to book it the second time around! I can honestly say that it's my favorite vacation activity that I've done to-date out of all my vacation activities! And, I definitely plan on doing more horseback riding in the future because I've always been drawn to horses! They're beautiful, majestic animals, and I love their wild & carefree spirit.
I think it's a wonderful experience to do at least once in your life, so that you can cross it off your bucket list. My horse's name was Rodney and for the most part we formed a solid bond and everything was smooth-sailing until he decided to partake in some shenanigans with another horse (I think his brother haha!!) that almost got me thrown off of him. But, I forgave him and gave him the nickname "Rowdy Rodney" by the end of the trail. If you want sneak peek of exactly what I mean, then check out the 7th slide here.
As usual, I booked the horseback riding activity via TripAdvisor. The tour includes riding from the ranch for about an hour to a beach location that also has a restaurant and bar nestled at this beach house type situation. We didn't get access inside the home it was more of the backyard of the home and access to the outdoor restrooms and what look like a big tiki hut situation with an upper level to sit and enjoy the view. The lower-level had a full bar and kitchen with a full menu. The experience was beautiful you guys!
You get to relax at this tiki hut oasis and take in the breathtaking views while you enjoy your meal. Little did I know how much I would appreciate the break because I was unaware that my inner thighs would hurt so much from horseback riding. I wanna say the break was about an hour and then we rode an hour back to the ranch. So ultimately it was a 3-hour excursion and one of the best experiences of my life! I reminisce on this experience quite often. So highly, HIGHLY, recommend! My overall rating 5 out of 5.
So I was also super stoked (!!!) for our next adventure, and I'll explain a little bit of how it went from what I THOUGHT it was going to be to something slightly different. Initially, I was very excited to book a mixology tour at the Bacardi Factory, which as you may already know is famous for their popular liquor brand. Fun fact: You'll be surprised to know that the brand Bacardi actually originated in Santiago de Cuba in 1862. Founder, Don Facundo Bacardí Massó, performed numerous experiments with rum distillation and ultimately became a trailblazer in creating a smoother rum. The company later established facilities in other countries, including Puerto, and has now become the world's largest rum distillery.
Now, of course my luck would have it that it was closed for renovations during the time we were there. As you can imagine I was extremely bummed (!!!), BUT to my surprise, I was able to find another distillery who also offered classes, and so, I jumped at the opportunity to book!
Not only was it a factory, it was also a restaurant and it offered walking tours of the factory and the home of the original owners of the factory which was located on site. Everything was kept in its original condition, and you know I revel in that kind-of stuff! So, it was fun to walk through those homes and learn a bit of history of how the factory came to be and how it's popularity skyrocketed throughout many years.
WHAT TO EAT
Sadly, I feel like I dropped the ball with the food part of my journey. Who is she?! I know...I know...That's not like me at all! But, the truth is, this trip had so much going on activity-wise that we barely had time to eat cause we beach bummed for quite a bit and kept ordering food from our beach chairs haha!!
"Remember, I said that a good portion of my vacays require me being a beach bum."
Fun story: I've never heard of Church's Chicken until my trip to Puerto Rico! Apparently, it's a franchise y'all, but I've never heard of it haha!! Now I kind-of broke my own rule by eating at a fast food chain on vacation (Normally, I don't do this!!), but in our defense, it was the day we landed, lots of restaurants were close, and honestly 1st day of travel is always the most exhausting. Anyway, onto the food. The chicken was BANGIN' y'all! Haha!! We ordered a lot of fried chicken & BISCUIT and ate ALL of it. Surprisingly, this was actually one of our better meals during throughout our trip. My overall food rating: 4/5.
This was one of the fancier restaurants we ate at, and was extremely crowded with a super long wait, so we ended up eating at the bar. The food was just GOOD, but not great. My overall food & drink rating: 3.85/5.
Honestly, I've never been in & out of a restaurant so fast in my life (covering eyes emoji haha!!)! I feel bad and hate to say it, but it was a complete DUB! This restaurant was highly recommended by one of the locals, and let's just say we definitely have vastly different taste palettes haha!! The restaurant's ambiance was moody & cute for the vibes, but that's all it was giving for me, unfortunately. To be fair, we only had 2 things from the menu, but the distaste of the food was enough for us to walk away and go to another restaurant immediately :-/.
We ordered the fried cheese thinking it would be similar to the idea of mozzarella sticks, but it wasn't, which was OK because I loveee cheese, but chile it left A LOT to be desired. They also gave us complimentary soup prior to us making our orders (I said free food?! SCORE!!!), but the soup was extremely salty and inedible for me and I can handle salt (no wonder it was given as "complimentary." So, ultimately, we didn't have the best experience with Casita Miramar. My overall food rating: 1/5.
Ahhhh...Guys, like I said, I really wanna say I was floored by how good the food was, by at least one of the places. But, as mentioned previously, I think I just lucked out and chose some spots that were more MEH & MID. Anway, this was another recommendation from a local. It was actually our Uber driver. She was mad cool and showed mad love to Haiti, which is always a plus! So she said we could trust her taste buds haha!! Now just FYI, (words from our Uber driver) this restaurant was located more in the hood area), so it doesn't have a website or anything like that, which I didn't mind at all. The restaurant itself is cool. The food was OK, which is cool, but again, not GREAT. I really wanted to be WOW'D you guys!! Haha!! Anyway...My overall food rating: 3.85/5
WHAT TO AVOID
As with traveling anywhere, you'll want to just stay vigilant and make smart decisions. Avoid falling for tourist traps, and steer clear of the obvious...Like admitting to anyone that you're traveling alone, whether it is true or not! Also, as with anywhere, there are certain areas and neighborhoods that are pretty notorious for not being the most welcoming, so do your research and don't make foolish decisions.
If you're renting your own car and driving off the beaten-path, make sure to charge up your phones with backup chargers. Screenshot directions to and from where you're going. Try going with someone who knows their way around if you can, or someone who is just good with navigating. Purchase a map as a plan B. Always, have a first aid kit in the car, especially, if you're going hiking or other more physical activities.
Well, there you have it guys! My story of my adventurous trip to Puerto Rico! Ultimately, it was a wonderful experience, and I hope this post helped to inspire you to book yourself a trip there as well! If you're planning on going to Puerto Rico, then grab my Ultimate Planner that has an entire travel planning section to make your trip & life a whole lot easier!
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