Moments: 30th Birthday Extravaganza

Over the years, my best Samford friends and I have done a pretty good job of having regular reunions. At least one or twice a year, we try to get together in a city that is within semi-close proximity of everyone. About a year and a half ago, one of my friends had a brilliant idea: since we'd all be turning 30 in the near future, we would all take turns going to visit the city of whoever's birthday it was. It would space out the reunions fairly nicely, and it would be a fair way of distributing travel. This worked great for the first 30th birthday among us. We had a great reunion in Tennessee that was attended by everyone (minus Lauren, who lives abroad most of the year). The next friend's birthday/reunion in Kentucky was only attended by three of us, but it was still a lot of fun.

Among our friends, three of us (Kathryn, Lauren, & myself) happen to have summer birthdays which meant we were all turning 30 during summer 2013. We also live pretty spread out (Bham, Raleigh/Durham, and Budapest) and didn't think our friends would be able to travel to all of those places in one summer. So, we decided to combine our efforts into one big birthday bash which we affectionately dubbed the "30th Birthday Extravaganza." And since we all grew up in Florida, we wanted this celebration to be more than just a trip to Destin. We started researching places in the Caribbean and decided on Puerto Rico because it had the cheapest flights. However, you only turn 30 once, so we splurged on luxury accommodations: the Ritz-Carleton. We invited all of our other friends, but none of them could come so it was the "tres amigas" that headed to Puerto Rico for the 30th Birthday Extravaganza...

Instead of writing about all the details of the trip, I decided to sort-of make "superlatives" for our fabulous adventure:

Best Travel Perk that I Don't Take for Granted: All of my flights being on time and having no problems with my luggage

Most Delicious Thing I Ate: Tres Leches cake from Café Puerto Rico in Old San Juan

Best Part of Traveling with Old Friends: enjoying a great mix of deep conversation, hilarious laughter, comfortable silence, and happy reminiscing

Most Beautiful View: a tie between our beach on Isla Verde at sunset and the same beach in the middle of a bright, sunny day with sparkling blue-green water

Best “Turning Lemons into Lemonade” Moment: Going to the Plaza de las Americas, a huge mall, on the day it rained and buying 8 articles of clothing for a total of $130 due to some great sales at Banana Republic and Gap

Most Awkward Moment: Going to a club to celebrate Lauren’s 30^th (per her request) and realizing we were about 10 years older than most of the people there and were dressed liked we could be their moms

Best Beachside/Poolside Reading: Is Everybody Hanging Out without Me? by Mindy Kaling (literally laugh-out loud funny)

Most Helpful App: Yelp (helped us find some great, nearby restaurants)

Most Interesting Cultural Observation: Puerto Rico is a fascinating mix of American affluence and the "developing country" feel you find in other Central/South American countries. Still pondering this a bit...

Favorite Spanish-speaking Moment: After talking to the Walgreens cashier for awhile, he told me that it surprised him when I spoke so well in Spanish because I didn't look like someone who spoke Spanish. I laughed and said, "I know. It's because I'm what Mexicans call a guera." He said, "Well, here we call them gringas, but yes." :)

Best “You Know You’re at the Ritz-Carleton” Moment: When the offered us guava mimosas while we were paying our bill at the front desk

Coolest Historical Site: El Morro in Old San Juan, a 16th-century military fortress that guarded the harbor

Best Surprise Travel Moment: Kathryn and I were on the same flight out of San Juan on Saturday morning and sat next to the cutest nine-year old boy. He was Puerto-Rican/American and had been visiting his grandma for three weeks and was now heading back to his mom in Orlando. His grandma had dressed him up, complete with a tie, and he was one of the sweetest and most respectful kids I've met. We spent most of the flight talking with him. :)