Nine hours from the cold wintry wet weather of home finds me and my
other half in the Caribbean and the Dominican Republic to fill our lives with
sun, sand and mixology.
I am not one to sit around in the sun but when thinking of a holiday we
wanted to go on the premise was we wanted a honeymoon without the expensive
wedding bit and it was a toss-up between the Maldives or the Dominican
Republic. The saving of three grand helped us make the decision and you have to
keep one of them for the actual honeymoon so Dominican Republic it was.
To save a lot of hassle and to let someone else do the leg work we booked
via Thomson travel agents, I know it is cheaper to do it yourself normally but
why skimp when spending four grand on a holiday; I could have gone on three for
the price of this one. Now I am starting to sound like a cheap skate so I shall
move on.
The first question after booking was what to actually wear to the airport;
it is an ultimate dilemma
and one that will go on until we have instant
teleportation as a means of travelling around the world. I went with smart
casual, keeping it comfortable with chinos and a white shirt and a pair of
loafers. You always want to keep your clothing quite lightweight. So looser is
better then add a lightweight jacket which will keep you warm if you have an
aversion to plane air con and if like me leaving the UK in March. We were
delayed slightly on departure but thankfully this was known straight away so no
being stuck at a terminal gate for hours. The flight was as most flights are, tedious;
they are a necessary evil that we all must endure to get to the destinations of
our dreams. But mine was made slightly less uncomfortable by a larger woman
next to me who fidgeted the whole way and whilst eating Haribo was continually
elbowing me whilst I made a feeble attempt at sleeping. Now the occasional
nudge on a plane happens you are very close to each other but at least
apologise rather than ignore. And I have nothing against larger people but
maybe if didn't eat the chocolate and sweets you would have been more
comfortable on the plane, just saying.
And thankfully I was not chucked off the flight before take off, unlike a
group of twenty five guys (a wedding party I guess) whom were asked to leave
and were arrested for being rude and drunk, this information I was told by a
very cheery border officer at Gatwick.
This was my first trip to the Caribbean and the Dominican Republic so I
was unsure what to expect upon arrival. The first thing I noticed was the
airport is open air, totally open and the roofs are made of thatch. Now
once I had paid by ten dollar arrival tax and had a quick hand luggage search a
small man had my luggage and was telling me to follow him. Having mild long
flight lag I just agreed. Don't panic when this happens they are porters but be
prepared to tip them, don't give the English a bad name please this is a nation
of tippers as their biggest custom is the Americans. I tipped a few dollars but
you can use Dominican Pesos they take either depending on what you brought with
you. I had both and is the best thing to do if you ask me but all prices at the
big resorts are in dollars, but if you ask what it is in Pesos they will tell
you. I did tip in Pesos after this as they don't need to change it so
appreciate it more.
Being winter in the Dominican Republic you expect slight weather
differences to the summer, the temperature only reaches about 31 degrees Celsius
and most of our trip was at 27/8 and the evening go to about 23/25, which is
very bearable for winter chill. The days when the sun is at its hottest are
very hot but there were some clouds and a couple of showers but not as many as
showers as the summer months. The evenings are lovely so chinos and a shirt
with some sockless loafers are perfect and you'll probably out dress many of
the other vacationers.
On arrival at Dreams in La Romana we were greeted by a lovely gentleman
on reception with “Bonjour” which I replied with in kind even though I knew
they spoke Spanish as a first language, this meant he thought we were French so
he continued on in French now my French mostly gets me through ‘hello’ and ‘how
are you’ so had to the do awkward thing of saying we were English, I know how
to ask if someone speaks English instead I blurted it out in a tired London
accent, letting the side down a bit but shit happens. I then pointed our bags out
and was shown to the room; our bags arrived a bit later on. The room was
gorgeous and our view was a garden view rather than a sea view but also meant
we were not overlooked by another block which was lovely. The mini bar is free
of charge along with everything else and we couldn't wait to try the next most
important things, food closely followed by cocktails.
To be continued in ‘Sun, Sea and the Cosmo Count’..............
