Please Note: The following adventure from Toronto Airport to San Juan, Puerto Rico took place at the end of January 2019. This post has been revamped and revised to look awesome. For more escapades, check out our “Lifestyle” section.
Day One: Toronto to San Juan
How to prepare for vacation: Make sure your backpack, which contains your expensive camera, face plants on the concrete. This was years ago and I can still feel the sheer horror and hear that gut-wrenching smack to this day.
I’m kind of a catch 22 when it comes to traveling. I love visiting new places, but I absolutely despise airplanes. They’re crammed, it’s uncomfortable, and your seat probably sucks. If I could road trip everywhere in the world, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
Anyways, let’s get this adventure started!
Winter Is Here and It Absolutely Blows
This is not your average winter. This is Canadian winter. Any of my fellow neighbours know how downright brutal it can be.
For those who don’t know, let me introduce this badboy.
In the left corner, weighing in at 25cm of snow, he’s currently the Heavyweight Champion!
His signature move is waiting 2 and a half hours for the plane to have its ice removed. Hello, 6-and-a-half-hour flight! AND THE CROWD GOES WILD! And by crowd, I mean about 90% of the ride was pure, “sweet” turbulence. It was so bad that even the pilot had to make a few announcements for the flight attendants to take their seats.
After that never-ending, nauseating nightmare, I finally arrived in San Juan! Hello, summer weather and beautiful paradise!
The Nightmare Continues…
Much to our luck, someone decided to basically say “YOLO”, completely ignored the luggage tags, and blindly ran off with my dad’s suitcase instead of theirs. After filing a report, we disappointingly left with 2 suitcases instead of 3.
Let me tell you, though, leaving that airport was a breath of fresh air. Literally. Palm trees, the warm sun, and a bunch of foreign signs I can’t read. Yep, I was in paradise! After a seemingly short drive in a taxi, I finally saw the light! Or at least the hotel. Please welcome to the stage, El Canario Lagoon Hotel.
Time to Kick It in San Juan
I found out the hard way that the elevator comes to a halt like an apocalyptic earthquake. But soon enough, we were finally in the room. It was clean and spacious! Also, it was nice to finally use a normal toilet because ain’t nobody got time for those vacuum bowls they call lavatories on airplanes.
Well, to be fair, I shouldn’t say “normal”. This toilet was honestly made for midgets. Who knows, though, maybe squatting with your knees digging into your face could be the optimal Number 2 position. They may be on to something here…
Let’s Grab Some Grub
By this point, my stomach was devouring itself while screaming at me in its crazy gurgle language. I had to eat something. Luckily, one of the most delicious restaurants I have ever been to was just around the corner. This holy grail of a restaurant goes by the name of Semilla Kitchen & Bar.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of my appetizer because of urgent priorities at the time ( basically I was starving at this point). I can’t remember the name of the dish, but it was made with fried fish and cassava. The point is, it was absolutely delicious! My main course was a quinoa bean bowl, and it was seriously out of this world! This restaurant is a hidden gem, and I highly recommend it!
Day One Is Done
The day started off as Stephen King’s writing a novel about airports, but luckily, it ended up being pretty good! (Mainly because of the food.)