Vacation in Puerto Rico

That was quick! One week in Puerto Rico goes by like a flash. It was fun, super fun, and mostly just a nice chilled out week. The first part of my stay in PR was just great down time and some diving. This time I did not bring my underwater camera. I just didn’t want to lug it all just for 4-6 dives. Now if I was going on 20 plus dives you betcha. I would lug all that gear with me.
So is Puerto Rico part of the U.S. or not? Yes and no. PR is not one of the U.S. States but it is officially an unincorporated territory of the U.S. or also called a U.S. commonwealth nation. Thus, one of the good things about PR is that you do not need to have a passport if you are a U.S. citizen traveling from one of the 50 States to PR.

You can find a lot of information on the web about PR. But here are a couple things that caught my eye. The use MPH speed signs but use liters at the gas station. They do use U.S. dollars and you can access your cell phone without roaming charges. I have an iPhone and my carrier currently is AT&T. I had no problem accessing my cell anytime. However, if you are buying online your credit card will be denied. The IP address shows that you are outside the U.S. proper. Spanish is spoken more than English I think but everyone speaks English like they do on the main land.

It was interesting to see on the map how far PR was from Florida. I didn’t really realize that till I checked a map out of PR before I left Arizona. The airport was ok. You do have to do an agricultural check (line starts outside the terminal) for all of your bags. Different then in the U.S. but I have seen this in many other countries like in Indonesia.

So my first four days were chilled out. Then my last 3 days was all about work. Both sets were great. Met a lot of old business friends, created new friends, and most of all had fun spending my money. But, for this TCK (third culture kid) I prefer SE Asia. Yep, back to my second home, Indonesia.

Cheers, Diving Doug