Room with a view The month of May completely rocked; my husband came back from a year's deployment, I celebrated a birthday, and we took a much needed family vacation to San Juan, Puerto Rico. First, we headed home to Florida to catch a short flight from Jacksonville to San Juan which was roughly 2 and a half hours. It's not bad, especially for families with toddlers or infants. Jet Blue services a number of flights out of Jacksonville, so we were lucky enough to score a non-stop flight to Puerto Rico.

San Juan in May is doable. Since we live in South Carolina (& make frequent trips to Florida), the humidity didn't faze us. Well, most of the time. Florida in May simmers at 40% humidity give or take, but San Juan was a balmy 70%. The air was arguably thicker and it was hot, but it didn't really bother our family. What we wanted to do was check in the hotel, grab a quick bite to eat, and nap until we were ready to do a little exploring. We were spending a week in San Juan and banking on a combination of exploring, noshing on the local cuisine, and taking advantage of our hotel's amenities.

Prior to choosing the specifics of our vacation, location was a key factor in booking our trip. Since we knew we wanted to enjoy the beach and be close enough to check out other nearby sights, namely Old San Juan, we picked a resort located in the Condado region of the city. The only downside I could think of in our area was that San Juan faces the Atlantic Ocean and not the Caribbean, so the waters are a little rough, but it's a delight to the surfers and boogie-borders. I'll get into more detail of our hotel in another post, so bear with me. The Condado area is a prime choice for people who want to be near the night life, delectable restaurants, the beach, and shopping.

My biggest decision was what camera and gear to bring to San Juan, but thankfully, I kept it light. Knowing that I'd be traveling with a 3 year old and in the heat, I should've considered bringing my Sony (micro camera), which was lighter, but I had to drag the Nikon out the bag and grab 2 lenses. The result? Awesome pictures, but my neck and shoulders were suffering due to the extra weight in the bag. Mind you, I didn't bring a camera bag, since I chose to go with fashion rather than convenience.