Day 1 – Wednesday November 7, 2001

 Our 6:50PM flight has been changed 3 times already by Continental, not by much but each time when I received noticed I flew into a panic that my carefully laid plans would fall apart.  Because of all the scuttlebutt about long security lines coupled with the rush hour departure time I scheduled the car service to arrive at 3:30PM.  Needless to say, the warnings of long lines at security were all for naught since we breezed thru them in approximately 20 minutes and found ourselves having to find a bar to occupy our time until boarding.  Of course I grimaced when Jim gave me his “I told you so” look. Damn, he’s always right! 

The Continental Flight to SJU was on time and I thoroughly enjoyed settling in to the first class upgrade I had indulged in for this trip. We arrived at approximately 11:45 PR time and quickly grabbed a taxi to the Caribe Hilton. 

The warm muggy air only gave me the overall feeling of finally being able to relax and anticipate the adventure to come – I was on a (much needed) vacation!  When we checked into the Caribe Hilton I found myself seeing that many changes had occurred there since my last visit (duh!  It WAS something akin to 17 years prior! And the place of my first Pina Colada) As the bellhop escorted us to our room he made comments about what a nice room it was, “One of the best rooms” “the governors suite” et al…we just looked at each other with our eyes rolling as if to say silently to one another “oh sure, I bet he says that to everyone” …

But lo and behold when the door was opened to the room we were stunned!   We lost the bellhop somewhere as he brought the bags into the bedroom but when he re-emerged he was tipped and sent on his merry way.  THE ROOM WAS HUGE!!  (Sorry to go on about this…but I’m STILL amazed) “The room” contained a dining room with a table seated for six, a living area, office alcove, full kitchen, 1.5 baths, a bathroom that contained such oddities for a standard/deluxe room as a scale, and a bedroom with what seemed to be an oversized King. The Balcony wrapped around the building since the room was situated on a corner and it overlooked the water and fort below.  I had only requested a “waterfront room on a high floor”! After losing ourselves in the room, and laughing about it, my thoughts were “I wish we had more time in here!” and “if this room were in NYC it would easily fetch 1200-1600 per night”  Since that wasn’t nearly what I paid, I thought it was a steal!  I was afraid to check-out for fear that they had given me the wrong room and I would fall over when the bill arrived..Instead I was chided that the cause was whipping out my much used Hilton’s Honors card.  >sigh<