Puerto Rico Trip Day 1: Arrival

For the first installment of my notes about our trip, I figured the best place to start was at the beginning! We left home very early in the morning for the girls' first plane trip. While the trip went pretty smoothly, it was "very boring" according to Pumpkin and Sweet Pea, and very long. Here are the tips and tricks we learned to help our flights go more smoothly.

• the girls slept in their clothes the night before
• we packed lollipops to help with pressure changes during takeoff and landing
• we brought Dramamine and ginger candies, which proved very helpful
• we allowed plenty of screen time and snacks

By the time we landed in San Juan and picked up our rental car, it was mid-afternoon. We had ordered groceries for pickup at the Pueblo Supermarket right near the airport several days in advance, so we were able to pick up our groceries with ease and head straight to our Airbnb. 

We drove East for about 45 minutes, towards the Luquillo area. The sun was setting as we were driving, and the views were incredible as we approached the rainforest.

We arrived at our Airbnb, and were blown away by the view. We had chosen a house on the edge of the rainforest so that we could have a kitchen and plenty of space for our family to spread out. The downsides of the house were the lack of air conditioning, which proved not to be a problem once we got the windows open and fans on (we were actually chilly a few nights), and the distance from everything. We had to drive at least ten minutes to get anywhere. However, it was well worth it. We were hoping for a quiet, peaceful place that was not too crowded. And the view was truly incredible. We never got tired of looking out at the mountains of the rainforest from the deck. Pumpkin had asked me why it rains so much in a rainforest before we left, and we were able to see why. The clouds get stuck on the peaks of the mountains. It was beautiful in all types of weather.

After settling in, we drove back out to find some dinner. Our Airbnb host had recommended El Hamberguito, so we tried that for our first meal. The food was delicious, but it was getting late and we were exhausted from a long day of travel, so no one enjoyed the meal very much. We drove home (only getting mildly lost on the way) and all went to bed immediately. Falling asleep to the sound of the coquis was amazing.