samwise6222

Typically, I don't really start my trip reports until the after the trip, but given all the places we are going, I am afraid that I will never finish my TR if I don't post as I go along, so I will post as each trip completes:




Dates & Flights:

Dec 12 (Revenue)
LGA-PHL: AA E175 F
PHL-SJU: AA 767 J
Flight cancelled, rebooked into LGA-MIA-SJU in Y

Dec 17 (Revenue)
SJU-JFK: DL 757 F

Dec 21 (AA Award)
JFK- MAD: AA 767 J, AA 767 Y (was offered $1600 for downgrading to Y, so took it.)
MAD-TLV: IB A330 J

Dec 26 (SQ Award)
TLV-IST: TK A320 J
IST-SIN: SQ 772 J
SIN-BNE: SQ 772 Regional J

Dec 28 (Revenue)
BNE-HTI: VA 737 Y

Dec 31 (Revenue)
HTI-SYD: QF 737 Y

Jan 5 (UA Award)
SYD-CTU: CA A330 J

Jan 9 (SQ Award)
CTU-ICN: CA A320 J

Jan 13 (BA Award)
GMP - HND: JL 787 J

Jan 16 (AA Award)
NRT-JFK: JL 777 J

(This is going to take a while - so please be patient with me )

gpy

Looking forward to this TR and congratulations!!

Finkface

Ditto! And congrats from me too.

gaobest

flyingeph12

Congratulations on the wedding!!

Looks like you had a 100% IRROP rate with AA...lol. Is that $1600 in cash, or vouchers?

Beltway2A

These samwise6222 trip reports have really been a pleasure to read. Congratulations on the wedding, I hope the honeymoon is excellent.

Madone59

Congratulations!! I'm looking forward to this TR ^

samwise6222

Chapter 1 - Destination Wedding in Puerto Rico

Even before we knew we wanted a destination wedding, Puerto Rico always had a special place in my heart.

Many years ago, as young college graduates wjp just started flying more, Puerto Rico was the destination where we were upgraded both ways to the first class as a lowly Silver Medallion (or Flying Orchids depending on your generation).

During our first visit to the Island of Enchantment, we cleared our upgrades prior to check-in (wow!) and, after asking the hotel nicely over Twitter (it was new back then), we were upgraded to Ocean View Penthouse Suite on our Priceline Name Your Price reservation. Quite special, isn't it?




During my booking process, I found that American Airlines ran a daily 767 to San Juan from Philadelphia with flat bed business class seats. Taking a regional jet at 5:50AM right before your wedding.... hmmmm.... it will be worth it, with that 3 hour flat bed flight, I thought (big mistake).



They say you should sleep separately for the day before the wedding.... but who has money to book two separate hotel rooms? So I gave each other a bit of space, so that we can each write our vows on our flight down.



(that smile disappears from my face about 25 minutes after this picture...)

On our LGA -> PHL flight, everyone gave us a big smile as we boarded.

Congratulations, they said.

Some of fellow passengers voluntarily moved their coats to the overhead bin so that they could hang our dresses in almost-non-existent hanger space in E...170? I think?

OK. This is it, I thought.

buzz.



OK. 15 minute delay. That's not so bad. We still have enough time to make our connection in PHL.


10 minutes passed

20 minutes passed.

buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz.



Crap.

No one knows what's going on.

Everyone's confused.

I tell my wife-to-be

MAKE SURE TO BRING BACK OUR DRESSES

and I dash out the plane.

As I get to the gate agent, he starts to realize that the flight isn't taking off for another 8 hours or so.

While I am chatting with the gate agent to make sure we are not late for our own wedding, a long line forms behind us.

He rebooks us to a LGA -> MIA -> SJU flight that's leaving in 40 mins (boarding already started) in the different terminal.

We dash for it, and make our flight

Praise the lord.

I don't care that we are not going in a flat bed at this point. I am just thankful that we will make it to our own wedding on time.










Even during the hectic process of
1) flight cancellation
2) running in LGA to make it to a flight that already started boarding
3) running in MIA to not miss our flight
4) cramming in the overhead bin due to the last minute seat change




Our dresses make it in one piece. Ok that's a good sigh for the marriage. We check in to San Juan Marriott Resort - because (1) there's where the wedding is and (2) I need five more nights to make it to Platinum this year.





We booked a suite because a lot is going to happen here in the next few days.

Six hours fast forward, boom welcome back assembled


Another two hours fast forward, boom place cards printed and cut




Our suite at the Marriott smells like a factory at this point with papers flying around and different parts of welcome bag assembly lying around... but hey that's why we booked the suite right?

I wish I took a better picture of the room, but hey, it's two days before my wedding, so taking pictures for a trip report is not my priority at this point.

samwise6222

I must confess, it was quite amusing to see your name up on the hotel board.






On the morning of our wedding day, the weather forecast was partly cloudy with spots of rain. At this point, I am just hoping that the rain gods spare our wedding from their fury.



It's quite amazing what wedding photographers could do with their camera work... like making a place where people wait for their elevators to look like a museum.




It's go time. We leave our room 2121 and walk towards where our family and friends are waiting.


We had 65 people in our wedding, but what we didn't realize was that we were going to have a lot more guests than we had realized....



... between 25 - 30 people who were watching from their balcony and screaming their lungs out as we said I do...




... or everyone on the beach who watched their entire ceremony standing...





...break the glass... and it's a wrap.

and before I notice, I am being thrown around in a chair




Oh and did I mention that I made it to Marriott Platinum? (10 got added due to Rewarding Events).






Our flight back, it was a typical delta flight, what more can I say?

FAs were nice. Food was good. IFE was good. And my SkyPesos are still useless.

samwise6222

Thank you

Vouchers.

indogulf

Congratulations! Great report so far looking forward to the rest

gaobest

Smiley90

Congratulations! You two are a beautiful couple.

Looking forward to reading the rest of this trip report! I chuckled at

"Our dresses make it in one piece. Ok that's a good sigh for the marriage. We check in to San Juan Marriott Resort - because (1) there's where the wedding is and (2) I need five more nights to make it to Platinum this year."

if that line doesnt make you an FT member then I dont know what does...

samwise6222

Lap child on my right
Lap child behind me
Sincerely regretting my life choices
This isn't worth it

Finkface

Sam, you and your wife are so beautiful and you look so happy. Mazel tov! Can’t wait to see the next stop.