ruyiy

I was lucky to see this thread at the night of 16th.  I emailed but the vacation planner I worked with was out of office.  I then called and got fare $20 lower for each and got the specialty dining with gratuity like 2 hours ago.  I am planning for other family members so anything saved would be good.  Thank you for the thread starter.

Can you tell me about the step-by-step walking map of OSJ that you downloaded? We are going to be in SJ for 2 days pre-cruise and 1-day post cruise and want to do a lot of exploring.

I also used the walking tour guide when I was in San Juan because Trolly was not available last November. Also there are guided ranger tours at the forts on Saturday and Sunday. Just search for information.

Also if you look under San Juan destination forum, someone posted that you could email tourist center and they will mail a big package including maps to your home. (Confirmed as I already received my package and it is free.)

Those pictures were from Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. We are now on the tail end of the 2,000 mile road trip to see Bryce and Zion parks as well as a drop at Vegas. Heading westward today for the long drive home.

 

It's brutally hot out here in the southwest desert and we had to hike in the 95 plus weather at Zion. Bryce was much more pleasant at 70. Per the cell phone app, we are averaging 5 to 7 plus miles per day hiking.

 

Anyway, here are some sample pictures from the road trip taken from my cell phone. Hopefully there will be better ones from the camera and other family members' cell phones to show next year.

 

Cheers,

 

Harry

 

Sent from my Samsung Note 8 using Tapatalk

Harry hi again. I am getting excited looking at your photos as I sorta following your footstep a little bit -- I already booked Utah trip in September. Hopefully the weather would not be so hot.

Where were the first 2 photos shot? Shakespeare festival? Vegas? Cirque du Soleil?

Would you share the name of the self guided walking tour that you used. We would like to do something similar. Thanks.

In response to your question, I am not sure the policy regarding posting website, but here is where I found the self guided walking tour: http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/old-san-juan-walking-tour-1/

I think he is just a blogger, not operating any of the tours.

I had a little difficulty to start in the beginning because I have no sense of direction! Good thing is that my cell works in San Juan so I had internet and compared pictures.

I was in San Juan right after last year's Hurricane in December 2017. I just followed a self guided walking tour guide and walked around in old San Juan and went to one of the forts. The trolley car was not even running yet. Our time was from 8AM to 2PM so time was tight. It was sunny outside and some Viking tour groups were walking along the same path. Friendly people. Some stores were already opened. Some places were empty and closed. The old town was on cobber stone and colorful building. Not the newest modern style, but still pleasant to look at.

Later one of my client's family also lives in San Juan and some photos of private house were showed to me then I realized how bad the situation was and are for the residents. The whole 1st floor were in water and everything were covered by mug. However, they already cleaned out the house and are working on rebuild.

Enjoy your stay in San Juan.

Hi,

 

Thanks for the compliment. Welcome to CC and I'm honored you chose to post your second comment on these boards on my trip report.

 

Yeah, sure thing. Email me whatever you want me to read and I will give you my thoughts. Everyone has different tolerance of how much driving they want in a day and what they want to see while on vacation so there's no real one solution to see things. It's similar to asking someone if the food on your plate from the buffet and if that is going to be enough food for you.

 

 

Hi. Harry.

Here is the big loop thing that I came across when I am doing research:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g28965-i411-k4326394-UT_Trip_Maps_Big_Loop_from_Las_Vegas-Utah.html

So it is basically Las Vegas - Grand Canyon South Rim - Horse Bend - Monument Valley - Moab - Green River - Capitol Reef -- Bryce - Zion or in reverse order. And there is another map possible from Salt Lake City.

It is a lot of places and rather tight schedule for 10-12 days. My family is also not hikers so I asked around for advice on where to stay, how many days I should allocate for each location and such. Your excel sheet give me some information. Thank you very much. I will collect my thoughts and email you a few questions specifically.

I like the trip planning process but I spent too much time on it. I even watch drive through videos.

Harry, looking forward to read your next adventure!

Hi. Harry.

I have a similar background as you and your family. I first came across your Allure report as I was doing research to book my first cruise. I then go ahead and read both of your reports before my last trip -- I traveled to Orlando on Thanksgiving day, spent about 9 days there before cruising on Oasis from December 3 to December 10th.

In those 9 days in Orlando, I spent 4 days at Disney, 2 days at Universal, 1 day at SeaWorld, 1 day at Discover Cove, and 1 day at Disney Resorts. Last day when I disembarked, my family had a rental car and visited Kennedy Space Center since our flights were at 7 PM. Funny you talked about your dream vacation.

I planned down to the minutes in Disney. I did accompanied alot however I failed quite bad at Magic Kingdom. As a firs timer for Disney, I was able to grab a 11 AM lunch at be our guest! Due to technical mishap, I cancelled all my fastpass+ for Magic Kingdom while I book my 4th one in Epcot. Then the hour long wait leaving Magic Kingdom. Arr. The frustration. I felt I achievement something and I had a lot to say about parks, apps, and whatnot. I probably won't make the same mistakes again, but I won't be back. I travels with my parents and we have a lot of other places to visit. However, thinking about typing all those out already tired me out. I would became a lawyer if I like to write! So I admire your persistence in uploading all those photos and writing all those reports.

My vacation was pretty good except to my surprise, I became the only one in the family to get seasick. Maybe the first 9 days 9-9 schedule tired me out and the weather was colder than what I wore, I had to take pills which unfortunately made me sleepy. As the planner, due to my condition, my family missed out in a lot of activities on Oasis. We did went to most of the shows on Oasis -- except Comedy show. My parents were jogging and spending time in Jacuzzi.

I already booked another cruise a brand new ship out of NY in 6 months.

Your Utah trip also interests me. Maybe I will go there this September also. For the Utah trip, did you follow any of the big loop / small loop trip itineraries I came across online? Could I email you about that?

Thank you very much for giving me inspirations.

http://www.panynj.gov/airports/ewr-public-transportation.html

There is also express bus service from Newark airport to Port Authority located at 42nd Street 8th Avenue. If you look at the above link towards the bottom

Express Bus runs between Newark Liberty International Airport & New York City. The Express Bus runs from 4 a.m. until 2 a.m./ 365 days. The cost is $16 for one way, or $28 for round trip. Each bus stops at all 3 New York stops.