Dominican Recap- Part 1
On Tuesday March 17, which is better known to most as the biggest party day of the year, I was in the car, headed to Cornwall after a long day at work to drop my boy off for a week.
The good-bye was not easy. I may or may not have cried the entire hour drive home. "What's he doing now?", I thought. "Does he already miss me?," I said in a crackly voice over the music I was playing to try and pump me up. I had never been less excited for a vacation in my life.
We went home and finished our last minute packing, waited for Amber to arrive and had a Malibu Rum and Pineapple juice (with a splash of OJ) to help calm our nerves and help us sleep. The hours passed and we were still not sleeping...I probably got a total of 3 hours of sleep that night.
The alarm went off at 2:40 or so and it was up and at 'em. I was a zombie. I threw on my capris, a tank top and a pull over. Zipped up my winter coat and we loaded our stuff into the trunk. We rolled into the Park and Fly parking lot around 3:40 AM and the shuttle picked us up. We checked in, got our boarding passes and made it through security much faster than anticipated (as is always the case with 6 AM international flights). We sat down to a yummy breakfast, I popped some gravol, and it was a short wait before we started to board the plane.
We had made the decision to upgrade to the Plus seats that WestJet offers--as they have free snacks, more room, and are closer to the front (we find you feel less turbulence here). It was a flawless flight. I even got a good hour or two of sleep! We made it there ahead of schedule too. The sun beaming in the windows was a pleasant sight. We got off the plane onto a shuttle bus that drove us about 10 feet--it was insane lol. I could have walked faster than waiting for every one to cram onto the bus. But I assume, for liability reasons, they don't want you walking on the tarmac...who woulda thought? haha
Life was good. We handed in our Tourism Cards, and were second in line at security. We were chatting until we realised the people in front of us were taking quite a while to be processed. Oh, wait, no one else has moved either?....the computers were down. At the airport. They couldn't process ANYONE. So we waited...luckily we only waited there for about 10 or 15 minutes before they got it up and running again (just enough time for the old ladies behind us to complain about everything under the sun). We were in :) But the route to the bus was a little convoluted and quite a number of people got lost. We waited on the shuttle bus for about 45 minutes. Finally, we left without a group of three people, only to get a call a few minutes up the road that they have been found. So back to the airport we went. We got to the resort still very early in the day. Chatted with a few employees, had a drink, and finally made our way to the rooms. We unpacked and changed--off to the swim up bar, where we lounged for most of the day. We had a quick bite at the grill on the beach and swam in the ocean.
We were very tired after a hard day in the plane and the sun/water , so we decided to order in room service the first night. It was very early to bed!
The next morning, we woke up feeling refreshed. We had an early morning meeting with a representative from Amstar resorts (Dreams, Breathless, Secrets, Sunscape, Now and Zoetry). We went out for breakfast to the buffet with her, and then went and listened to the packages they had to offer. We ended up becoming 5 year members (originally they want you to be 60 year members for $100,000 lol). All this really means for us is a free trip to any of the Amstar resorts (this was our welcome bonus--and the trip we are chosing is more expensive than the membership itself was lol), then afterwards we have incredible savings on any trip in the Amstar family (average person was paying about $300 a night at our resort--club members were paying $72 a night for the same room). We get special pricing, we get upgraded rooms, 15% off of any excursions we book, and with another part of the membership, we also get 25% off of any flights, hotels , etc that we book--and if we ever find a site that has a cheaper price than our membership site, they will price match and give us a discount. We also get discounts at the spa, up to 60% off of Yacht rentals (which we will never use), and much more. We also get unlimited sharing--so all of our friends that travel with us will get the same prices. We're not sure how we want to handle this though--since we are the ones that paid for the membership, we will think of a way to recuperate as much as we can lol...probably tell our friends to upgrade our flight seats or something for us in return :) It's a wicked deal--and if we get people to join, we get free nights/free trips, etc...it's a win/win. So for all the nay-sayers that thought it was a timeshare--you're wrong :) People's skepticism pretty well ruined the first two days of Tyler's trip. He cares too much what other people think. I told him everyone else doesn't know everything. We sat there for HOURS hammering out the details and working through it. They didn't. Poor guy lol, In the end, we are happy with our purchase, and that's what matters :)
As soon as we became members, the bottles of champagne were popped and it was a party. This was at like 10 AM. We ate very little for breakfast, and it had "sloppy day" written all over it. Eventually we made our way out of there (a bottle or two of champs later). We grabbed some lunch, and then relaxed in the sun even more. Eventually, we suited up for dinner. We decided to try the Mexican A-la-carte. This ended up being our favourite out of the bunch! mmmm....melted cheese in salsa verde. I wish there was a way I could eat this everyday, all day. And I don't even like cheese very much! I also had some tortilla soup (yum) and Chicken in Mole. For dessert, we were very full, so Amber and I split the three -milk cake. Oh.my.god. Thank god I had a dress on, because my figurative belt needed to be let out a notch or two. So good. The Mexican restaurant also specializes in getting you drunk off of their welcome drinks. Well done, El Patio, well done. We continued the party all the way until the time the disco opened at 11pm. This broad is WAY too old to stay up as late as I did that night....we shut that place down and then acted like teenagers. Poor Tyler--he had gone to bed early and was all but impressed when he came out and walked around looking for me. Oops....back to being responsible for the rest of the trip :) At least it's a funny story now..
We slept in a bit the next morning, went to breakfast (minus the mimosas that day), and vegged out. We booked our first excursion for the next day, and then ate and relaxed that day away. Eventually we got out of the pool and got ready for dinner. We hit up the Italian A-la-carte that night. The white wine was deemed undrinkable (yes, it was that bad at the Italian restaurant...go figure). But the appetizers...mmmm....The welcome dish there was a plate of delicious bruschetta. I also drank about 8 bottles of water. Started off with some tomato-esque soup, had some of Ty's beef Carpaccio and split a caprese salad (mmm). For the main I had mushroom risotto. The rice was a bit too al dente for my liking, but the flavour was good. For dessert, it was like a profiterole ice cream sandwich with chocolate on top (yum). Ty had the tiramisu. We left with full bellies and pretty well went right to bed. We watched a movie and ordered room service lol....what`s vacation if you don`t gain 5lbs while you are there? :)
We were up bright and early, got breakfast, got ready for the day and eventually headed out on the Dune Buggy half day excursion. We took a quick 15 minute bus ride to a little ranch-like area. We all bought some bandanas to put on our face, since it was very dusty out because of lack of rain. Got a quick inservice on how to use the dune buggy, put on our helmets, glasses, bandanas and did up our seat belts and we were off! It was about a 30 minute ride to the area we parked at--so bumpy (SO fun). We stopped at a natural swimming pool of fresh water. It was very beautiful there, but I did NOT go in lol. The water was freezing and full of slimy rocks and even though they said there was no fish in it, I was scared of spiders that walked on water and stuff lol (we were in the middle of a jungle lol). It was nice to look at anyways, but it's just one of those things not up my alley! We made the hike back to the buggy's after and another short ride (Amber drove this time--and crashed us into the buggy ahead of us, who then hit the ones in front of them and so on...it was hilarious--though originally we were the only ones laughing lol). We were back at the ranch and boarding a bus to take us for a quick visit to a beach in Cap Cana (said to be the most beautiful beach in the Dominican and is on the Carribean Sea side)--it was at a club called Playa Blanca. We weren't here long enough to really do much, so we grabbed a few pictures, walked around in the water a bit, and went back to the bus. We were happy to be back to the resort to take off our dusty clothes and shower! I bought a bunch of souvenirs at the gift shop this day--crossed one thing off of the list :)
I feel like I'm messing up days--they all blend together now! On Saturday morning, we just relaxed and waited for our good friends Rod and Sharon to arrive! More to come in the next post about our trip after they arrived!
The good-bye was not easy. I may or may not have cried the entire hour drive home. "What's he doing now?", I thought. "Does he already miss me?," I said in a crackly voice over the music I was playing to try and pump me up. I had never been less excited for a vacation in my life.
We went home and finished our last minute packing, waited for Amber to arrive and had a Malibu Rum and Pineapple juice (with a splash of OJ) to help calm our nerves and help us sleep. The hours passed and we were still not sleeping...I probably got a total of 3 hours of sleep that night.
The alarm went off at 2:40 or so and it was up and at 'em. I was a zombie. I threw on my capris, a tank top and a pull over. Zipped up my winter coat and we loaded our stuff into the trunk. We rolled into the Park and Fly parking lot around 3:40 AM and the shuttle picked us up. We checked in, got our boarding passes and made it through security much faster than anticipated (as is always the case with 6 AM international flights). We sat down to a yummy breakfast, I popped some gravol, and it was a short wait before we started to board the plane.
We had made the decision to upgrade to the Plus seats that WestJet offers--as they have free snacks, more room, and are closer to the front (we find you feel less turbulence here). It was a flawless flight. I even got a good hour or two of sleep! We made it there ahead of schedule too. The sun beaming in the windows was a pleasant sight. We got off the plane onto a shuttle bus that drove us about 10 feet--it was insane lol. I could have walked faster than waiting for every one to cram onto the bus. But I assume, for liability reasons, they don't want you walking on the tarmac...who woulda thought? haha
Life was good. We handed in our Tourism Cards, and were second in line at security. We were chatting until we realised the people in front of us were taking quite a while to be processed. Oh, wait, no one else has moved either?....the computers were down. At the airport. They couldn't process ANYONE. So we waited...luckily we only waited there for about 10 or 15 minutes before they got it up and running again (just enough time for the old ladies behind us to complain about everything under the sun). We were in :) But the route to the bus was a little convoluted and quite a number of people got lost. We waited on the shuttle bus for about 45 minutes. Finally, we left without a group of three people, only to get a call a few minutes up the road that they have been found. So back to the airport we went. We got to the resort still very early in the day. Chatted with a few employees, had a drink, and finally made our way to the rooms. We unpacked and changed--off to the swim up bar, where we lounged for most of the day. We had a quick bite at the grill on the beach and swam in the ocean.
We were very tired after a hard day in the plane and the sun/water , so we decided to order in room service the first night. It was very early to bed!
The next morning, we woke up feeling refreshed. We had an early morning meeting with a representative from Amstar resorts (Dreams, Breathless, Secrets, Sunscape, Now and Zoetry). We went out for breakfast to the buffet with her, and then went and listened to the packages they had to offer. We ended up becoming 5 year members (originally they want you to be 60 year members for $100,000 lol). All this really means for us is a free trip to any of the Amstar resorts (this was our welcome bonus--and the trip we are chosing is more expensive than the membership itself was lol), then afterwards we have incredible savings on any trip in the Amstar family (average person was paying about $300 a night at our resort--club members were paying $72 a night for the same room). We get special pricing, we get upgraded rooms, 15% off of any excursions we book, and with another part of the membership, we also get 25% off of any flights, hotels , etc that we book--and if we ever find a site that has a cheaper price than our membership site, they will price match and give us a discount. We also get discounts at the spa, up to 60% off of Yacht rentals (which we will never use), and much more. We also get unlimited sharing--so all of our friends that travel with us will get the same prices. We're not sure how we want to handle this though--since we are the ones that paid for the membership, we will think of a way to recuperate as much as we can lol...probably tell our friends to upgrade our flight seats or something for us in return :) It's a wicked deal--and if we get people to join, we get free nights/free trips, etc...it's a win/win. So for all the nay-sayers that thought it was a timeshare--you're wrong :) People's skepticism pretty well ruined the first two days of Tyler's trip. He cares too much what other people think. I told him everyone else doesn't know everything. We sat there for HOURS hammering out the details and working through it. They didn't. Poor guy lol, In the end, we are happy with our purchase, and that's what matters :)
As soon as we became members, the bottles of champagne were popped and it was a party. This was at like 10 AM. We ate very little for breakfast, and it had "sloppy day" written all over it. Eventually we made our way out of there (a bottle or two of champs later). We grabbed some lunch, and then relaxed in the sun even more. Eventually, we suited up for dinner. We decided to try the Mexican A-la-carte. This ended up being our favourite out of the bunch! mmmm....melted cheese in salsa verde. I wish there was a way I could eat this everyday, all day. And I don't even like cheese very much! I also had some tortilla soup (yum) and Chicken in Mole. For dessert, we were very full, so Amber and I split the three -milk cake. Oh.my.god. Thank god I had a dress on, because my figurative belt needed to be let out a notch or two. So good. The Mexican restaurant also specializes in getting you drunk off of their welcome drinks. Well done, El Patio, well done. We continued the party all the way until the time the disco opened at 11pm. This broad is WAY too old to stay up as late as I did that night....we shut that place down and then acted like teenagers. Poor Tyler--he had gone to bed early and was all but impressed when he came out and walked around looking for me. Oops....back to being responsible for the rest of the trip :) At least it's a funny story now..
We slept in a bit the next morning, went to breakfast (minus the mimosas that day), and vegged out. We booked our first excursion for the next day, and then ate and relaxed that day away. Eventually we got out of the pool and got ready for dinner. We hit up the Italian A-la-carte that night. The white wine was deemed undrinkable (yes, it was that bad at the Italian restaurant...go figure). But the appetizers...mmmm....The welcome dish there was a plate of delicious bruschetta. I also drank about 8 bottles of water. Started off with some tomato-esque soup, had some of Ty's beef Carpaccio and split a caprese salad (mmm). For the main I had mushroom risotto. The rice was a bit too al dente for my liking, but the flavour was good. For dessert, it was like a profiterole ice cream sandwich with chocolate on top (yum). Ty had the tiramisu. We left with full bellies and pretty well went right to bed. We watched a movie and ordered room service lol....what`s vacation if you don`t gain 5lbs while you are there? :)
We were up bright and early, got breakfast, got ready for the day and eventually headed out on the Dune Buggy half day excursion. We took a quick 15 minute bus ride to a little ranch-like area. We all bought some bandanas to put on our face, since it was very dusty out because of lack of rain. Got a quick inservice on how to use the dune buggy, put on our helmets, glasses, bandanas and did up our seat belts and we were off! It was about a 30 minute ride to the area we parked at--so bumpy (SO fun). We stopped at a natural swimming pool of fresh water. It was very beautiful there, but I did NOT go in lol. The water was freezing and full of slimy rocks and even though they said there was no fish in it, I was scared of spiders that walked on water and stuff lol (we were in the middle of a jungle lol). It was nice to look at anyways, but it's just one of those things not up my alley! We made the hike back to the buggy's after and another short ride (Amber drove this time--and crashed us into the buggy ahead of us, who then hit the ones in front of them and so on...it was hilarious--though originally we were the only ones laughing lol). We were back at the ranch and boarding a bus to take us for a quick visit to a beach in Cap Cana (said to be the most beautiful beach in the Dominican and is on the Carribean Sea side)--it was at a club called Playa Blanca. We weren't here long enough to really do much, so we grabbed a few pictures, walked around in the water a bit, and went back to the bus. We were happy to be back to the resort to take off our dusty clothes and shower! I bought a bunch of souvenirs at the gift shop this day--crossed one thing off of the list :)
I feel like I'm messing up days--they all blend together now! On Saturday morning, we just relaxed and waited for our good friends Rod and Sharon to arrive! More to come in the next post about our trip after they arrived!
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