This is my first article with Metropolitan Airport News and reflects my love of adventure and traveling. Working for Delta Airlines has given me the opportunity to do extensive traveling, and I would like to share some of my experiences with you.

My most recent trip was a visit to a series of volcanic islands in the mid-Atlantic Ocean with the familiar name of the Azores. The Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal, is an archipelago of nine islands which are characterized by dramatic landscapes, fishing villages, green pastures and hedgerows of blue hydrangeas. The main city of the Azores is Ponta Delgada located on San Miguel, the largest of the islands and is also the location of Joao Paulo Airport. 

For Delta, this is summer season, and the flight was non-stop for the second year on this route. 

The great news is that San Miguel is a volcanic island with 3 active volcanos and is very similar to the Hawaiian Islands. it is a beautiful island with fantastic views and displays of flowers. You really need to rent a car so that you can drive around and view the entire island. The bad news is that it is just kind of chilly with temps in the high 60’s; however, you are virtually guaranteed clear sunny and dry weather. (only in summer, winter is usually cloudy and wet)

The downtown of Ponta Delgada is on the ocean and is very nice, and easily walkable. A marina area with restaurants highlights the downtown. 

Ponta Delgada is not expensive and hotels and restaurants are very reasonable. We stayed at the Vila Nova Hotel that was a 5 to 10 minute-walk from the downtown marina area. This hotel had everything that you want for this stay, a large room, including a buffet breakfast, with a balcony, at an approximate cost of $128.00 per night. 

The air-crew hotel and probably the nicest hotel on the island is the Azor Hotel at a cost of $265.00 per night. The airport is about 3 km, 10 minutes from the downtown area, and taxis are plentiful. The cost is a standard rate of 10 euros each way to the airport.

Ponta Delgada is a perfect one to two-day trip. The flight time for this trip is similar to going to Los Angeles from New York.