Hmmmmmm

This past weekend I took a quick trip down to San Juan, Puerto Rico for some sun and relaxation. We stayed at the El San Juan Hotel, which is a really nice hotel. Unlike other times I've been to San Juan, I didn't really leave the hotel. There was no need. There were a variety of restaurants and bars to choose from at the hotel.

My friend is even more of a sun worshipper than I am. She set the alarm for 7am, went downstairs, claimed our chairs, and then came back for another 2 hours of sleep. Me? Well, I wasn't about to do that. I knew I could get a chair on the beach if I needed it, but my friend like the pool. I don't blame her. The chairs at the pool weren't chairs, but were beds. They were soooooo comfortable.




The weather was off and on. The mornings would be overcast and rainy, but then would clear up in the afternoon. We snagged these "chairs" that had canopies over them that we used as shelter when it rained. That way we didn't have to run back inside. Rain protection is an art. You need to throw 4 towels on the canopy to keep the rain from dripping in. This picture was taken after a brief rain event.

See how cool these "chairs" were? Here's another shot taken today when it wasn't raining. You could keep the cover on or take it off. Ours was the one that was off, of course.



The pool area was beautiful and was hard to leave.

After losing the sun at the pool, I then moved to the beach. My friend wasn't a beach person (I don't think she set foot in the sand now that I think of it), but I made it a point to walk on the beach each day. It was a great walking beach.

One of my good friends from law school is from San Juan. I usually stay with her, but this was an impromptu trip. Turns out she was away for the weekend, but we did manage to get together for dinner last night. It was great to see her and catch up. I really need to make it a point to get down and visit her more often. :-)



On a side note, I must have traveled a lot more than I thought last year b/c US Airways recently bumped me up to Silver Preferred membership. Didn't quite know what it meant, but it allowed me to pick the window seats I like for the trip. I knew that I could get upgrades with the silver status, but I was shocked when I received an email 2 days before my trip, telling me my automatic free upgrade to 1st class had been approved. Hello? Automatic? You mean I didn't have to do a thing to get a wide seat and foot room? How cool is that? So, the way down 5-foot tall Robin had a seat in the bulk head row and a nice breakfast. It was nice and relaxing.

Then, I checked in yesterday and found that I had been upgraded again! Same seat too. I was quite happy. The plane home was larger (A330) than the way down (757). The 757 had 8 seats in 1st class. The A330 had many more seats. So, I go to what I think is the first row and start to put my stuff down. I then look up to put my bag in the overhead compartment and notice that it is row 2. Huh? Where's row 1? Apparently, there was yet another section in front of what I thought was first class. This section had 6 seats that comprised row 1. There was so much room. Plus, these seats could lie flat if you wanted to sleep, had foot rests, lumbar controls, and TV sets. I only wish the flight had been longer to really take advantage of the comfort!

Here's what the seat looked like:

And here's a view from sitting in the chair. Can you believe the leg room?

Funny thing is I couldn't even reach the floor in these seats. Good think there was a foot rest . . .

I am now totally and utterly spoiled. Flying will never be the same.