1. As you are walking through the airport, you start hearing someone speaking Spanish on the intercom. It’s the people from your gate saying that they will start the boarding process soon.
2. You approach your gate and EVERYONE is speaking Spanish, which makes you feel happy and warm inside.
3. You encounter someone who you know from back home on the gate. Because Puerto Rico is so small you know the cousin of the aunt of the grandfather of the uncle of at least one person everywhere you go.
4. When it is time to start boarding, you give the attendant your boarding pass, and they respond with a: “gracias, buen viaje,” which just reminds you that soon everyone will be speaking to you in your beautiful native language.
5. As everyone has gotten into their seats in the plane, the flight attendants are saying their welcomes in Spanish and English and introducing themselves.
6. The person sitting down next to you has already introduced themselves and you are chit chatting about your travels to and from the island.
7. You listen to Hispanic music the whole ride in preparation to what you will be hearing once you arrive home.
8. During the flight you hear someone call out from the back of the plane to someone in the front asking for some batteries or napkins. (There has to be at least one form of loud talking or yelling if there is Puerto Ricans involved.)
9. As they prepare for landing, they ask everyone to fasten their seat belts while they describe what the weather is like in the island… Which is always around the 80 degrees and you are hoping to hear that they will say sunny, but we all know Puerto Rico rains as much as any other place in the world… If not more!
10. As the plane touches the Puerto Rican soil, everyone puts their hands together and claps saying thank you to the crew and captain that have brought us home safely.
11. In the final goodbyes, the flight attendants say: “For those on vacation, welcome to Puerto Rico… For those coming home, welcome back y bienvenidos a casa.”