Travel Jones

Rediscovering My Adventurous Soul in Puerto Rico

Before beginning my solo adventures, I had only gone to a handful of places around the United States. This includes family trips as a child and a few military stints (never deployed). Certainly nothing to write home about! So what brought me to start traveling? Let alone solo?! And how did I arrive at choosing Puerto Rico?

Soul searching and self-discovery

I’ve always had an adventurous soul, a very active and childlike imagination but I hadn’t always acted upon any ideas or activities that interested me. In fact, to the contrary, I’ve always been extremely reserved. Not taking chances and doing things safe was my default state of being. Until one day, the young lady I was dating at the time decided she didn’t want to be with me anymore. My reaction to this was that of self-pity. I blamed myself for her leaving. The thoughts of “if I had only…” or “if I was better” ran through my mind on repeat like that new song you discover and can’t stop listening to. For the first time in my life I turned inward. I mean taking a good look at who I am and who I wanted to be. This wasn’t about societal constructs. It was my first journey into self-discovery. With my new found time alone, I had time to think and think some more! I then began to question why it is that happiness has alluded me. Then it struck me! “Aaron, you’ve lost your child like curiosity!”

“Life has a way of slapping you in the face then giving you a gift” – Maurice Benard

With that thought in mind, I began to remember all the things that interested me and finally, I began to act. My first act of rediscovering myself was Taekwondo. I’ve always had an interest in the martial arts, particularly all the awesome kicks that Taekwondo is known for! So I signed up for classes and I loved it! More about that adventure in another post.

Discovering my passion for travel

Soon thereafter I began thinking of travel and all the places I’ve only heard about. I recalled a close friend of mine who ventured off to the UK all on his own a couple years prior. Of course at the time when he went, I thought that was such a radical idea. Why travel over there AND alone? It’s so far! Wouldn’t you be worried about all the unfamiliarity? Worried about unfamiliar customs and cultures? You’d certainly be throwing yourself into a realm of discomfort! However, if he could go such a far distance all by himself, then why couldn’t I? So then… where should I go? I’ve always been fascinated with South America. Hmmm… Brazil? Yes! Why not? I’ll go to Brazil! Of course, being a newly novice traveler, there are somethings I had zero knowledge about. I need a passport! How do I get one? Also a quick google search also revealed that I need a visa to enter Brazil? Looks like this will take a bit of research and time I didn’t anticipate. At this point I’m thinking Brazil will undoubtedly have to wait. So now where do I go with no passport yet craving the urge to leave the country? Well, in my mind, the closest I can get to South America without actually leaving the country, per se, would be Puerto Rico. I knew nothing about Puerto Rico aside from finding it on a map and finding out that it is a U.S. commonwealth. So I purchased plane tickets and made reservations at a nice resort. A week later I was on my way! And so begins my journey…

The thrill of unexpected challenges and new friendships

Part of the thrill & interesting thing about my maiden solo-journey is that I told no one what I was doing. I hopped on a Delta flight out of Detroit and a few hours later, I touched down in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Try to imagine, at the time it was November. So leaving Detroit, Michigan was a welcomed idea because it was very cold. I mean who doesn’t like heat and palm trees?!

When I stepped off the plane, the heat and humidity in the air was palpable. What a difference in temperature! I’ve arrived! I’m in a location that I know nothing about. I know no one and have no idea what I’m going to do! Okay, first thing’s first, I need to pick up my rental car. How do I get there?? After a few minutes of bewildered searching at the airport, I noticed the shuttles that will take you to car rental locations. This is where the real fun begins… are you ready? So I arrive to the car rental place and got in line. There were 3 people ahead of me. This was a relatively slow moving line but hey, I’ve got no where I need to be so I thought to myself, “ehh, whatever”. When I finally make it to the front of the line, I met, Rose; The gorgeous young lady that will assist me in my car rental.

 

She’s so playful with her banter. She asks me what type of car I want. She goes on to say “I can get you a Corvette, Mercedes, Ferrari… whatever you need!” she says with a smile. “I’ll take any of those if they’re ready”, I tell her. Of course in reality I’m renting a Nissan Sentra. After providing all my information, I’m ready to pay. Remember when I said this is where the fun begins? Yeah… so I hand over my debit card and it was declined. Declined?! I KNOW I have plenty of money in my account. I check my bank account and sure enough, I should be good. So what in the world is going on? Well, since I’m trying to make a purchase outside my normal location, the bank flagged my account as possibly being used for fraudulent purchases. I only know this because I received an email stating this. I called the bank and told them I needed my account to be active and confirmed that it was, in fact, me trying to make purchases in Puerto Rico. The bank told me that it will take up to an hour for my account to return to being active. Ugh… alright. No worries, with such friendly eye candy, the wait wont be so bad.

Waiting, waiting, waiting and more waiting. After an hour goes by, I attempt to run my card again. It didn’t work. Seriously?? It’s now starting to get late. Rose says to me, “you might as well close down the shop with me”. As annoying as this situation is, at least I’ve made a new friend. Another hour goes by and my card finally works! Finally!! After an inspection of my rental, I bid a farewell to my new friend and make my trek to my resort. The first thing I discovered while driving in Puerto Rico is that there IS a such thing as drive culture. The driving there is quite aggressive and it made me a bit nervous to drive. Cheers to new experiences! On my way to the resort, I made a wrong turn down a dirt road where I noticed what appeared to be bars/ restaurants. BUT they looked like shacks, very much off the beaten path. I wasn’t sure what to make of this. I was quite uncomfortable. There was loud salsa music and the smell of beyond delicious food permeated through my nose. I began salivating…

The special thing I learned about myself

This is when I realized, I’m not in the U.S. anymore. The feel of it was completely foreign to me. I found a place to turn around and eventually made it to the resort (Wyndham Grand Rio Mar). This part of the trip was really special to me because I was able to learn something about myself (although, at the time I didn’t realize it). As I was saying, I made it to the resort. It had everything you could want and need. Bars, restaurants, beach, swimming pools and casinos. Though it was really nice, it wasn’t exactly what  I was searching for. Fortunately, I rented a car. A google search revealed all kinds of things to do there! Needless to say I spent more time off the resort than on it. One of the highlights of the trip was my journey to Orocovis. I read that they had the worlds longest single run zip-line. I wouldn’t have fancied myself a thrill seeker but I figured, why not? Next thing I knew, I was signed up to spend the day zip-lining.

The following days I spent roaming around Old San Juan, San Juan and Carolina. So what was the special thing I learned about myself? What was it that I was seeking? I learned that traditional vacations isn’t something I have a lot of interest in. Most people like to book the most fancy hotel with an ocean view. That’s cool and all if that’s what you’re looking for. But in my opinion, you can get that anywhere. All resorts aren’t the same but they are certainly designed to keep you on site. That means you lose out on culture, history, meeting locals and learning more about the destination you’re currently dwelling in. To sum up the trip, it was eye opening. Would I return? In a heart beat! For such a small island, there sure are a lot of things to do there. And the place is rich with culture. Little did I know, that I would become addicted to these journeys. More stories to follow!