Hey y'all, it's been awhile! A lot has happened since we last spoke almost six months ago. Let me just start off by saying I turned 30 about a week ago and it's truly not so bad. I am blessed to be alive and healthy and see another year. Now that I got that off my chest, let's talk about my Two Year Wedding Anniversary Trip I know you are all dying to read about!
My husband and I got married in May of 2019 at a beautiful destination down the Jersey shore. For our one year wedding anniversary we were so excited and planned a trip to Dominican Republic booking it in early January of 2020. Now, like most things in the year 2020 this trip got postponed due to COVID. We originally moved it to October of 2020 but once again this just was not in the cards. (I LOVE spending time with my cat at home so it was all good) The only catch was we booked on Cheap Caribbean and had credits to use by a certain time or they would expire. Welp, that was totally stressful. My husband is amazing at trip planning and finding the best deals so he booked us Puerto Rico. This was mainly so we could stay in the United States. For those of you who haven't traveled recently, the United States was requiring you to take a COVID test before returning to the states if traveling internationally. My husband and I truthfully did not feel comfortable with this at all, what if the tests came back positive and we got stranded? At the time Puerto Rico was only requiring you to have a negative COVID test when entering the island so this seemed like a swell idea. Cue, where it all comes to play!
We flew in on our actual anniversary date May 10, 2021 from Newark Liberty International Airport. The flight is about four hours long, pop in a movie or two and you're good. Once we landed at the airport we had to show them our negative COVID test before venturing onto the island. As soon as my husband and I were cleared we booked an UBER to take us to our hotel which was only about ten minutes away from the airport. I am telling you, my man is a pro at trip planning. Hire him y'all.
The hotel booked for the week was the Fairmont El San Juan Hotel. It was absolutely breath taking. This hotel was a resort so naturally we were right on the beach and the amount of pools and amenities were endless. This was my very first time on an island and I had never seen water so blue! I'm a Jersey girl, there is nothing like the Jersey shore but this was something like I had never seen before. (Ugh, don't judge!) We stayed here for six days and five nights which totally gives you enough time to explore the island if you want or relax. The hotel has three pools, a gym, spa, multiple restaurants and is located right on the beach. It's a resort so you can make the most out of your stay by just staying on location! My husband and I ended up relaxing for most of the stay either poolside with a drink in hand or on the beach. Some of the the drinks on the beach were being served in HUGE coconuts which was totally Insta-worthy. Unfortunately I never got a photo but if you go definitely grab one for me!
Unfortunately during our time in Puerto Rico the night life was lacking excitement since at the time the curfew was 10PM. This meant that all guests and everyone on the island had to be indoors by that time, you could not even be in the lobby. This made our plans a little tricky and there were only so many restaurants on the resort to choose from. We ended up eating at Beach Club twice during our stay for dinner. The restaurant is right outside on the water and the views are spectacular, more so during sunset. If you follow me on Insta I am sure you recall my stories. I ordered the Smash Burger both times with a Pina-Colada. The meal consisted of cheddar cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion pickles, special sauce, and root vegetable chips. The chips were delish, 10/10 recommend! The other restaurants we tried were Cana, Meat Market, and Il Sole Pizzeria. If you are looking for a fancy date night I would highly recommend Meat Market. This is where we had our anniversary dinner, the ambiance was very extravagant and the food was top notch as well as the service.
Now the trip was not all boring and relaxing, we sprinkled in a little adventure towards the end of the week! I was checking Instagram throughout our time there and had a few activities on my list to check out. Unfortunately we never made it to Old San Juan due to the curfew so it's on my list for next time. On Insta I was dying at breathtaking photos of El Yunque National Rainforest and found out to my amazement that our hotel had a tour that would take us there. I quickly booked my husband and I for our last day and it was money well spent. The tour was mixed with two other local hotels and picked us up promptly about 8 AM. Our hotel seemed to be the last stop so from there it took us all the way into the rainforest which was about an hour drive. Unfortunately a lot of the forest was closed off due to COVID so we didn't see as much as I'd hope too. Our tour guide led us to a nice body of water inside the forest where we were allowed to swim. Many of the other fearless tourists were also cliff jumping into the water, totally cool right? From the forest the bus took us to a local spot for lunch, and then to a different beach on the island. After about an hour's stay on the beach we headed back to our resort for our last dinner and to pack up for our trip home.
In retrospect, this was one of my favorite vacations I have ever taken with my husband. If you get a chance to go to Puerto Rico I would definitely advise you to do so! Once there are less restrictions on travel I would love to go back and see all of the sights I missed. Have you ever been? Leave in the comments below!
XOXO
Tay