San Juan PR PET

[Left Seater]

So the wife and I took 5 days and flew down to San Juan. We were thinking we would go back to Mexico for a quick weekend, but while we were talking about it a commercial came on the TV about PR and we decided to give it a try. Stayed on the beach in Condado just west of Old Town. Rented a car for two days to explore the island and climbed to the top of one of the rain forest peaks, and went paddling in a bio-luminescent bay. Food was great and cocktails were cheap. Most things were more expensive than in the 50 states and substantially more than say Dominican Republic.

View from hotel room at sunrise


Rum tour








Rain Forrest










View of one of four hotel pools before 7:00 am


Condos


Mrs and me making funny face


View from the wing on take off, looking at beautiful terminal that is going unused


Climbing left turn


Turks and Bahamas from cruise




MIA and one of my favorite planes to ride in 757

[M2]

Speaking of Miami... I went to high school there for half a year... taking care of my grandma as a kid.

North Miami Senior High.

Haulover beach... Good times.


Most of the kids in school came from Cuba and Haiti....


Puerto Rico looks nice, but never been there.


Actually, a good friend from way back is hiding out there and is married to a lesbian... running from the law on drug charges that stem back to Santa Barbara in the 80's.

[M Club]

Fuck PR: third-world fake country with VIP pricing schemes, even if you walk your azz into the barrio. Also, I get that it's hot, but they don't have to run their ACs at a constant 40 degrees. I'm just bitter I discovered I could use my Sprint phone down there so I took it out of my bag and some bosotso took it out of my hand. Hard to top a Caribbean beach no matter how much over-priced shitty run you have to endure.

Since you guys like to travel, Lefty, you should look into Phu Quoc in Vietnam. Good sized tropical island with just the single city center. Just enough tourism infrastructure to make the stay completely comfortable but not developed to the point where hordes of SE Asian backpackers - or any, really - are littered all over the beaches. You can rent motorbikes for $5 a day and ride to any of the other beaches that were just opened up by the military. I have photos online if you want to see them.

[MuchoBulls]

Nice PET.

Why was the airport terminal unused?

[Left Seater]

Thanks for the advice MClub. We will continue to visit Asia as we both like it. Really loved the people in Thailand and hear Vietnam is similar. Problem with so many places within a three to four hour flight from India and Japan is all the Indians and Japanese. I have found both to be very rude to their fellow travelers and to locals. And if you are staff at a hotel or on a tour or in a restaurant forget about it.

No clue why the nicest part of the terminal is completely unused in PR. From the outside it looked brand new. American has the north half of the field and all the other airlines are on the south side. I can understand why AA wouldn't want to use it, but no clue why the others aren't.

[M Club]

People warned me about the touters in Vietnam but I didn't really have a problem with them. Just a bunch of lazy waves but no real fight for the sale when I shook my head no. Food is amazing and a really nice break from all the Thai food in the area, since how is a Cambodian curry that much different than the Laos curry that tasted just like the Thai I had the week before? Point of all that was the Vietnamese were really nice as well. I liked Vietnam at least 10 times more than Thailand.

I haven't really dealt with Indians or the Japanese. My issue is the Chinese, though at least now that they're all rich and traveling everywhere people have stopped bitching about Americans because the Chinois are that much worse. Plus, they travel in packs of 50-person tour groups. Gah. Otherwise, Indians have their stupid fuck caste system and the Japanese a hierarchical language structure, so the douchebags don't even realize they're being pricks when they throw a plate of food back in the help's face.

[Ken]

My issue is the Chinese,...

No friggin' kidding. Been to China several times for work and couldn't wait to leave- this, even after visiting some of the most beautiful parts of the country. The most rude people ever. At one point, I was in the Gobi Desert area in a small city, by Chinese standards- about 1 million people. I never saw another westerner in my time there. I very well could have been the only roundeye in the damned city. Everyone stared at me. And not in any sort of tactful way. It was an in-your-face, "I don't care if I'm staring at you" way. EVERYONE stared at me.

There are no such thing as lines in China. Air travel within China was abject misery. I finally got to the point where I started elbowing chinamen who were trying to push by me while deplaning.

Elevators? Bwhaaaha... They're not letting you off before they get on. I simply started saying 'fuck it' to myself and forced my way out while giving a hip check. Then, there's the spitting. Doesn't matter where they are... if they gotta hack one up, it's getting launched right there. On the plane? Yep. Bathrooms? Fucking. Disgusting. I made DAMNED fucking sure I finished all my business before I'd leave the hotel room in the morn.

However, I did have some great meals in my times over there. Also got effing wasted a few times with chinese, dinner hosts. Seems that when a westerner is in town, a friendly game of "Let's get roundeye fucked up and see if Americans really can drink" breaks out.

[BlindRef]

Lefty,

I'm heading to San Juan in 2 weeks...what hotel did you stay at?

[Left Seater]

La Concha which is in the Marriott family.

[Adelpiero]

PR is ok, but take a trip to Aruba, you will not be disappointed.

Went there this past June, best place in the Caribbean.

[Left Seater]

Did I miss the PET?

[The Seer]

My issue is the Chinese,...

No friggin' kidding. Been to China several times for work and couldn't wait to leave- this, even after visiting some of the most beautiful parts of the country. The most rude people ever. At one point, I was in the Gobi Desert area in a small city, by Chinese standards- about 1 million people. I never saw another westerner in my time there. I very well could have been the only roundeye in the damned city. Everyone stared at me. And not in any sort of tactful way. It was an in-your-face, "I don't care if I'm staring at you" way. EVERYONE stared at me.

There are no such thing as lines in China. Air travel within China was abject misery. I finally got to the point where I started elbowing chinamen who were trying to push by me while deplaning.

Elevators? Bwhaaaha... They're not letting you off before they get on. I simply started saying 'fuck it' to myself and forced my way out while giving a hip check. Then, there's the spitting. Doesn't matter where they are... if they gotta hack one up, it's getting launched right there. On the plane? Yep. Bathrooms? Fucking. Disgusting. I made DAMNED fucking sure I finished all my business before I'd leave the hotel room in the morn.

However, I did have some great meals in my times over there. Also got effing wasted a few times with chinese, dinner hosts. Seems that when a westerner is in town, a friendly game of "Let's get roundeye fucked up and see if Americans really can drink" breaks out.

Kinda like that in Vegas. They will not move out of the way whilst taking up an entire corridor. I view it as sport - gook bowling. They are smaller than the average anglo so turn your head sideways and full steam ahead...the bounce off like styrofoam bowling pins. Fuck 'em.

[Goober McTuber]

PR is ok, but take a trip to Aruba, you will not be disappointed.

Went there this past June, best place in the Caribbean.

Been to Aruba a few times. St. Maarten is better.