Things to Know Visiting Puerto Rico 2022

What's going on everybody? This is Alan Hopper TV coming to you from Puerto Rico. We're going to talk about things to know when you visit here because there are some really important things you're going to want to know before you show up to this beautiful island nation. Let's get into it. So the first thing to know is that Puerto Rico is actually a US territory. That means it's not a state, but it still belongs to the United States along with the Virgin Islands and several other island territories across the Pacific. The restrictions in the guidelines for entering into Puerto Rico are very similar to what you would experience in the United States, uh, entering or leaving. So I think that's really important to point out before we really get into anything else. So the next thing I want to talk about is the requirements for actually being here. When you're walking around, you need a vaccination or you need a negative COVID test every 72 hours. It's a reality. There's no getting around the 72 hour. If you do not have a vaccine, you're basically not able to show them anything. They won't let you into bars, restaurants, or hotels. So if you choose to be someone who is unvaccinated and come to Puerto Rico, every 72 hours, you have to provide evidence of a negative test. So that means pretty much every other day you are going to be getting tested and it is so difficult to get tested here. It's irritating. Essentially, this is what you need to know. Either don't come to Puerto Rico unless you have a vaccine because they're going to be asking you for your proof of vaccine everywhere you go or just don't come here. Or I guess the third thing would be, uh, get tested every 24 to 48 hours. Here's the kicker. Ever so often when you go get these tests, you have to make the appointment. Sometimes it takes 12 to 24 hours to get the appointment. Then it takes 24 to 48 hours to get the actual test results. So it seems like every day you're basically having to test, even though there's that 72 hour window. I don't think a lot of people fully take that into consideration. And I have not personally found a workaround for an unvaccinated person to come to Puerto Rico without having to deal with getting tested pretty much every day. And real quick, I'm just going to rattle off some other important things associated with the fact that it's an American territory. They use the U S dollar here, not pesos, but because this is an American territory, they use us dollars. So you don't have to worry about the currency conversion. Also they have Uber here that makes it efficient for transportation, which we will talk about here later on in this travel guide. With that being said, there's also some other benefits. You don't need a passport and you don't need a visa. Okay. So I found that to be really convenient because a lot of the other Caribbean nations, you have to have a passport. You don't have one. You can still come to Puerto Rico. Let's talk about safety in Puerto Rico. Is there a high crime rates? Is there something that people need to know about visiting this place? Well, here's what I would say. There's no real organized crime here in Puerto Rico like you get in some of the other Latin American countries with gangs and cartels and stuff like that. Nothing really to speak of here in Puerto Rico like that. And in fact, in most of the downtown areas that I have been, there's always a police presence and I felt safe walking around at night. I felt as though it was a really safe place. In fact, especially here in San Juan and old San Juan. So don't worry too much about safety. Of course, there is isolated incidents that will pop up. Don't be walking in a dark alleyways or bad neighborhoods late at night, things like that. But overall, I would say Puerto Rico is a safe place. All right, let's touch on the transportation subject because that is important when you get here. What's the best way to get around the Island? Well, it's going to be a rental car and because it's a U S territory, driving out here is not going to be as crazy as it would, uh, to say drive in Mexico or Dominican Republic. So, uh, I would say overall rental cars, the direction you want to go. They do have the Ubers as I mentioned previously. Now when it comes to arrival here, for the most part, you're going to want to land in San Juan. Yes, they have other airports, but they're local airports. So San Juan is really where you're going to originate. Good thing it's a small Island. It's not really that big. I mean, it's maybe twice the size of the big Island of Hawaii, if that. So not too big for any of you who've been to Islands before, you know, that you can circum navigate that whole Island in a day. So let's talk about weather in Puerto Rico. Uh, hurricane season is obviously from around about late July to early November, depending on how things are shaping up in the Atlantic. But for the most part, uh, you're not going to always be under threat. Even during those months of a hurricane, it's just be on the lookout in those months. If there is a hurricane building up off of the Western coast of Africa, because that's where they originate. So when you have these tropical storms building out there, pay attention, but really you're going to see these isolated storms all across Puerto Rico, especially San Juan. Uh, you know, every afternoon around three o'clock, it seemed like some sort of a storm with lightning, uh, just kind of built up and then it dumped a bunch of rain and then left, uh, because when it does rain, it does rain a lot, but it happens quick and leaves quick. Uh, another thing to consider is the overall climate. I found it to be very tolerable and I actually enjoyed the rainstorms that occurred at three o'clock because you might be dealing with a hot, sunny, humid day, and then all of a sudden a nice rainstorm comes in and it kind of changes it up. I really liked that. Uh, but overall the humidity can be taxing on you. If you're going to be doing a lot of walking overall, I would say the weather in Puerto Rico year round is great. I think the rainy season is from June to November. Keep that in mind. If you want more, uh, arid kind of, uh, tropical experience. Let's talk about the history out here in Puerto Rico. So the Spanish colonized San Juan, which means San Juan of the cross, the Holy cross. Uh, there's a lot of different names for the city, but that's what St. John really means. So let's talk about cost of living or cost of travel to Puerto Rico. A lot of people think that because it's a Caribbean nation or a Latino country in Latin America, by the way, there is some confusion about that or some indifference depending on who you ask. They'll tell you that Puerto Ricans are Latinos or Caribbeans. Uh, but let's get back to the point of the matter. How affordable really is it here? I would say it's not as cheap as you think. So if you're expecting these cheap prices like you might get in Guatemala or Panama or maybe Dominican Republic, don't really get your hopes up because hotel rooms from my experience, even on the weekdays, starting out $150 a night for a reasonably nice hotel all the way up to 210, 220, 230. And then if you wanted something really nice, $500 to $1,000 right there on the beach. So I would say I don't consider Puerto Rico to be any more affordable than most American cities, including Miami. Miami might be a little bit more expensive, but Puerto Rico is definitely doing its job to catch up to Miami and South Florida in terms of price. Rightfully so, because they have a lot of tourists coming from the Americas that have money to visit Puerto Rico. Let's talk about food out here in Puerto Rico. Obviously they have a local cuisine, which is similar to what you would get in the Dominican Republic. It has some pastry, lots of bread kind of meals, but also frijoles and rice and steak carne. So you do get that variety, but also you get lots of other things. I've seen sushi restaurants, everything you would see in Miami for diversity, whether it be Japanese or Korean or Mexican or maybe even some, just a good old fashioned Italian meal. You can get all that most of the time in Puerto Rico. Obviously they have tacos. I've noticed that they still have tacos as if this was Mexico. So food overall don't really have any problems or complaints about that. I mean, if you want a good old fashioned American breakfast, you can get that or you can get more of a Puerto Rican style breakfast. So it's not really going to be an issue. So some of the cuisine that are going to come up for you are going to be mofongo or maybe even a empanada or empandilla or rum, lots of rum, spiced rum comes from Puerto Rico. Let's talk about what to wear when you come to Puerto Rico. Obviously we have a lot of beaches that are going to be here for you to explore, but in the daytime, in the nighttime, depending on what time you go out on the town, I found it to be walkable, which means that walking in flip flops are not going to be as fun as walking in a nice pair of tennis. So yes, I would bring flip flops and I would bring tennis shoes or some sort of walking shoes, whatever you use. Also, when it comes to clothes, it doesn't snow here. So don't expect snow even in their highest mountains because they do have mountains here. Overall, I would say I wear something that has long sleeves like this for sun protection, but if I want to roll it up, I go like that. You guys know about Huck or Columbia PFG. You guys get the idea or you can wear short sleeves, but definitely bring some sunscreen. You go out on one of these tours where they're going to take you to an Island doing some Island hopping. If you don't have the proper protection and you're in the sun for four, six, seven, eight hours. So I like to mix it up with clothes that cover you up, whether it be a hat, a bandana, a scarf or whatever you want to do. Long sleeves that allow you to cover up in that extreme heat when you're sitting on a catamaran on that net headed back after, you know, a long day snorkeling and Island hopping, you're on the way back and you're realizing, Oh my gosh, I'm starting to get some sun and you know, the sunscreen is not going to protect you. So maybe putting a towel over your legs or a towel around your neck just to protect your neck from overburning, but really the face is where you're going to feel it. So, uh, you know, you can use a gator. I'm just giving you guys ideas of things to consider when it comes to sun protection, because that's really going to be the one that's going to get you.