"The Unintended Travel Adventure Review Guide"
Being in a really nice resort hotel, an hour
outside of San Juan, Puerto Rico while the sounds of frogs echoes outside your
window might be considered neat...... ...unless being in a hotel isn't how you
planned to spend your Saturday night.
I for one had no desire to check out the Wyndham
Rio Mar Beach Resort and Spa today.
As a matter of fact, I didn't even intend on being
in this country right now.
But as you might have already guessed - the travel
curse has struck again, starting in Dallas around 7am today when my car wouldn't
start on the way to the airport.
So since this whole "hey sorry we screwed up once
again, now go spend the night somewhere" thing happens to me ALL THE FREGGIN
TIME, I've decided to start a new "column", if you can even call it that on a
blog.
(drum roll)
Welcome to the very first issue of the "The
Unintended Travel Adventure Review", which with the help of my travel curse, surely can be
made into a book soon.
Intended Itinerary: DFW - MSY - MIA - SJU - AXA
Intended Travel Time: 15 hours
Actual Itinerary: DFW - MIA - SJU - AXA
Actual Travel Time: Updated: 32
Reason for delay: Missing panel by engine of plane
Luggage at departure: 2
Luggage at arrival: Updated: 2
Additional expenses: $78 and 17 hours
"After an hour wait at the American Airlines service
desk, I had all my vouchers, and was on my way to collect my luggage - except there was no luggage there as all the
luggage handlers had left for the night.
So I took the only American Airlines person I could
find at his word when he said "oh don't worry, your luggage will be safe here
and with you on your flight tomorrow". After all, last time I left luggage at the airport overnight it DID actually show up 10 days later.
Getting a taxi will undoubtedly be the easiest part
of your unintended adventure, but try to get one that doesn't forget to shut the
trunk door as that tends to make luggage fall out the back.
Now an hour drive to a hotel, when the airport is
surrounded by no less than 75 hotels might be considered cumbersome by most, but
if you are lucky enough to get a taxi driver that is on his cell phone the whole
time, you will find the minutes passing quickly as you help him keep in one lane
and not miss any other obstacles, such as parked cars.
Located about an hour East of the San Juan airport,
the 700 room Wyndham Rio Mar Beach Resort and Spa sits on 500 acres of perfectly
manicured beach front property and offers a stunning list of amenities once you've checked in.
I would guess the very friendly front desk staff doesn't usually take 45 minutes to check
someone in, but I am sure they were expecting all of AA flight 1299 as much as
we were expecting them.
The room itself is huge and quite lovely and
clean, although the fake, recorded coqui (indigenous frog of Puerto Rico) get
annoying after about 2 minutes.
In case the 11 on-site restaurants are closed when
you arrive, try to not be hungry, even after traveling for 17 hours straight, as
the $10 dinner voucher doesn't even make a dent
in the cost of a late night room service meal. If
you have to order something, be prepared to wait an hour, as the kitchen is
essentially trying to feed all of flight 1299.
Overall the Wyndham Rio Mar Beach Resort and Spa
has a very friendly staff and will be your favorite resort you never really
wanted to see, although at a regular rate of $269/night, it's not exactly a
bargain. The list of on-site attractions is huge and if you're not too tired you can go gamble at
the in-house casino or take a swim in one of the pools or on the one mile stretch
of beach. And unless you're booked for the first flight out at 6am, you can
always go play at one of the two championship golf courses. On the odd chance
none of that strikes you fancy, a stop by the
Mandara Spa might prove to be relaxing, just in time for your next accidental
flight adventure."
Anyone wanna take a guess as to where I'll be writing my next issue of the ""The Unintended Travel Adventure Review"" from?
Update:
While I usually don't write to AA to complain, mainly 'cause I don't wanna hear "sorry, but since we're the only airline flying out of your island, you're pretty much screwed". I did end up writing to them since having to spend additional money and time should not be the norm of traveling on a particular airline. I received an email a few days later from customer service saying "we are eager to restore your confidence with this $200 eVoucher".
Let's see.. either San Juan (you won't leave on time) or St. Martin, since the flight to Anguilla will be canceled.
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I don't think you could do anything to extend my curse. And if you can, then you can most likely cure it too, so give it a shot and lemme know if it works out - ha!
Don't think I'll ever try going to St Martin in case of Anguilla flight cancellation again, so my guess is it'll be a city on the way to Boston or Dublin, or more likely on the way back. You all are going to be so screwed if you travel the same dates as I do.
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