Honeymoon Re-Cap Part 1....Old San Juan

We left for our honeymoon on Monday afternoon and departed for San Juan, Puerto Rico. We wanted to be rested, plus we wanted the extra day to spend with out of town friends and family on Sunday. We loved having a day to rest, pack, and see everyone before we left the country. I highly recommend leaving on Monday, or even later for your honeymoon!

Because of the crazy amount of flights we would have had to take to reach Antigua in one day, we opted to split it up into two and spend the first 24 hours of our honeymoon in Old San Juan (where basically every flight to Antigua had to pass through) and then fly into Antigua on Tuesday. Our return flight was free because we had frequent flier miles, so we only had to buy a one way ticket. After searching around, I found that it was cheaper for us to fly to San Juan on Air Tran and then onto Antigua on American. If we were flying it all in one day, I definitely would've stayed with the same airline, but since we were flying in Monday and out Tuesday, it didn't matter that we were using different airlines. Note: I'm the travel deal guru of our relationship, so it only made since for me to book our honeymoon. I know it's not "the norm" for the woman to book the honeymoon, even taboo for some, but for us, it only made since for me to do it since I'm more skilled at deal finding than he :)  
We arrived into San Juan Monday evening, picked up our car from Hertz and headed to our hotel. We stayed at the Gallery Inn in Old San Juan, and holy cow, was it unreal- it looked like something out of the Bachelor. It's an old mansion full of hallways, gardens, and tons of little nooks and crannies. I found it by watching the Today Show (which I love and watch religiously like a big ol' news nerd) where they were doing a piece on great hotels at great prices and they featured the hotel. After Trip Advisoring it and seeing it's overly positive reviews, we knew that's where we wanted to stay. The room was less than $200 a night and the President and his family are friends with the owners. We didnt know this until we arrived, but once we were checked into our room, we learned that we were placed in the same room that the President stays in when he's at the hotel. Yes, the President of the United States. Amazing.

Entrance to the Inn

View from our patio door

The pool.

The wing where our room was located. That's our door to the left.

Rooftop Garden and breakfast area

On Tuesday morning, we woke up and went out sightseeing. Our flight didnt leave until 9:30 that evening, so we had the whole day to explore. We visited the old fort, walked the streets (which had a very Old World European feel) and toured the Bacardi Plant.  Since our hotel was in Old San Juan, we did most of our exploring on foot, but the Bacardi Plant was located about a 10 miles, so we had to drive out to it. Thankfully, we paid the extra for the GPS and it was our lifesaver.

 

Complimentary cocktails on the tour :)

We really liked San Juan and would definitely go back and visit again; especially since it's so affordable and getting there is simple and usually pretty cheap :)

Next up......our time in Antigua!!