Puerto Rico, ah where do I begin with this magical little island? The little island that had me in tears when my airplane was taking off. This was my first solo trip, my first time on a plane, my first time in a hostel, and also my first time out of the continental U.S. I was in staying Old San Juan for a little more than three weeks. As the island was so tiny, I stayed in the same hostel the whole time (Posada San Francisco, which I highly recommend) and took day trips to nearby cities and beaches with a rental car. From the moment that I got to this hostel I started making friends. Within the first few hours, a Parisian woman, a Kiwi, and an American had invited me out to dinner at a beautiful restaurant called “La Princesa.” I made so many friends at this hostel and we did everything together. We would go out about 20 people deep! It was such a wonderful first trip as a solo traveler. Unfortunately, many photos from this trip were lost when my Galaxy S3 kicked the bucket. So I will try to make up for that with descriptions and pictures taken from my personal social media.
I recommend Puerto Rico to anyone who wants to travel but is nervous. It is a good place to get some practice and find out what works and what doesn’t. It’s a perfect balance of feeling foreign and feeling familiar. It’s a great, safe, and budget-friendly (My roundtrip ticket there cost less than $300) place to go.
