Departure Day-Santa Cruz, CA to San Juan, PR

The day started with uncertainty. As we were leavng for the  San Jose airport, we were listening to the radio and learned there was a roll-over accident on Highway 17. We briefly considered an alternate route across the mountain, but decided to keep to the original plan. If the decision was wrong, we could be stuck on the highway for quite a number of hours. However, we had about 4 hours to get to our airplane and we felt this as adequate. As it turned out, the radio station (KSCO) exaggerated the problem and we only were delay by perhaps 15 minutes.

Arriving at the check-in desk of American Airlines, we discovered that our security data was corrupted. This most likely occurred when the travel agent initially entered Earline's name incorrectly. It did not match the passport name and although the ship and airline entry was later corrected, or so we were told, it obviously triggered some type of security flag. I would caution you to be certain your data is entered correctly before hitting the enter-key on your terminal.

It is now 9:00 am and we are waiting to board the plane for the first leg of the journey to Dallas Fort Worth (DFW). Hopefully, the weather will have cleared by the time we arrive.

Glitch #2 occurred as we were about to board. There was no overhead space for our carry-ons so we had to check our luggage. This makes me nervous as it contains my camera and travel documents for the hotel and cruise. Next time I need a bigger man-bag so this is not of concern.

We made it to San Juan at about. 11:15 pm. The time difference between California and Puerto Rico is 5 hours, but because of daylight savings time in California, my watch was all screwed up. I just adjusted it upon landing.

We easily collected our luggage and got in the taxi queue line for transport to the Condado Plaza Hilton where we have reservations. The cost of the taxi was $23 and that did not seem excessive.

The Condado Plaza Hilton is the hotel where Karl Walenda, the famous tight rope walker, died in 1978 while attempting to walk between the two 10 story towers of this hotel.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQtPMG5dv6Q

We had a quick beer, took a shower and turned in for the evening. 1:12 am. 😚