Sunday, 7/21 – Charlotte, NC
Our vacation in the Dominican Republic starts tomorrow! In order to get a non-stop flight, we’re flying out of Charlotte, which is around 2.5 hours from home. Our flight is at 7:15am, so to avoid having to make that drive in the middle of the night, we decided to drive up a day early and stay in an airport hotel the night before.
We had a normal Sunday morning and early afternoon. Mom and I went to church, then went home to have lunch and relax. Parrish was working until 2pm so he, Mom, and I would go to Charlotte together. The rest of the fam was leaving straight from church.
I drove to my sister’s house because I live North of her and Charlotte is to the South. Parrish drove the whole way, in Mom’s car. He’s a great driver, so it was a smooth trip. We had lots of great conversation.
When we got to the hotel, the rest of the fam had already arrived and checked into their room. We got Mom and me checked in, and we went to our separate rooms for a bit to relax and figure out what we wanted to do for dinner. We ended up ordering from two separate places–Mom and I thought we were Door-Dashing, but Shani, Clif, and Parrish went to pick up the food.
For some reason, the Thai/Japanese place Mom, Shani, Kai, and I got our food from didn’t give us utensils except one set of chopsticks. Kai just ate his sushi with his hands, Shani took the chopsticks, and surprisingly, Mom had utensils in her suitcase. We teased her a lot about that (because why???) but it came in handy. She has plastic bags, aluminum foil, paper plates, and utensils, BTW. Random but useful.
We ate in our respective rooms, and Mom and I relaxed until time to go to sleep.
Monday, 7/22 – Arrival in the Dominican Republic
Neither Mom nor I slept very well. In my case it was because the room was dry and I kept coughing, but also probably because of excitement and the knowledge that we had to get up at 3am to get ready to leave. We managed, though! And I even had time to read most of my devotionals before we headed downstairs.
The shuttle to the airport was on time, and it was literally like a 3-minute drive. We got to the airport the suggested 3 hours ahead of our flight, which was a good thing because we had trouble checking in. Turns out there’s a form you have to fill in to travel to the Dominican Republic, and we didn’t realize that. We had to do it there before we could check in, and it was kind of tricky. We had to get help from the check-in agents. Mom and I were able to check in at a separate wheelchair counter, so we had more access to help, and got ours done faster. So we ended up going through security and getting to the gate long before the rest of the family. They made it in the end though, and we all had time to relax at the gate before boarding.
We got to board early since Mom is in a wheelchair, which was awesome because otherwise we would have been in group 9. I think that’s the last one! Once on the plane, our seats weren’t all together, but we were able to switch with a few nice people in order to get two full rows. I sat between Shani and Mom, and Clif and the boys were behind us. The flight was smooth and uneventful. In fact, the landing was probably the smoothest one I have ever experienced!
We got off the plane quickly and breezed through customs, partially because of the wheelchair thing (we bypassed all the lines) and also apparently because of those forms that caused us so much trouble in the US. Worth it! There was a small snafu with our transport to the resort, because the lady at the desk said it was for 4, but Shani had confirmed with the travel agent it was for 6. She even had email proof of that! Anyway, they worked it out and we all got on the van to get to the resort.
The ride there was fairly short–around 30 minutes. We had another small snafu when the driver first let us off at the wrong lobby (this resort has 4 different sections) but we found out quickly and got right back on the van. No luggage was unloaded, thankfully, but it was a bit hard on Mom to have to get back in the van like that.
Once we got to the proper lobby, that’s where the trouble started. It’s all open-air with fans, it’s not enclosed with air conditioning. And it is hot and humid here. VERY humid. I could feel the life being sapped out of me, and that is not an exaggeration! After waiting in line for way too long, we found out that our rooms weren’t ready, so we checked in our large luggage, but I kept both my carry-ons because they contained essential things like my wallet, meds, and laptop. That meant I was lugging around two fairly heavy bags all over.
We were led to a buffet to eat, which was farther away than I would have liked, and was also open-air with fans. By this time, I was not feeling great. The heat, probably hunger and dehydration, plus anxiety equalled very uncomfortable Christie. I was only able to eat a little bit of fish and some fries. Plus I was kind of afraid to drink the water (which was only lukewarm) even though they had told us at the check-in desk that the water all over the resort is safe except in the rooms. In your room, you need to drink bottled water, no tap water.
After that very light lunch, Shani and I did a little bit of exploring. I took my backpack with the laptop but left my other (heavier) bag with Parrish. He’s such a good boy. (I feel like an old auntie saying that, but hey, if the shoe fits….) I was determined not to let my anxiety keep me from checking things out, and I did okay on our little exploration. We both got super-hot and sweaty though. We had to find a bathroom (which was air-conditioned, thank the Lord) and grab some paper towels to try to dry off a bit. But we discovered that the beach is gorgeous and the water feels very pleasant.
We went back to the lobby to wait on the others and check if our rooms were ready yet. After having to wait on line again for a long time (it had to be at least 30 minutes) we were told they were not. It would be another hour. We split up at that point. Shani, Clif, and the boys headed to the beach, while Mom and I went in search of air conditioning. We first stopped at a store that had clothing and souvenirs, and then spent a bit of time in a sports bar. Again, because they had a/c. I just had ice water. Mom had ice water and some soft-serve ice cream. She said that refreshed her. I was basically running on fumes, but the water helped.
When we deemed we’d passed enough time, we headed back to the dreaded lobby and the dreaded lines. It was once again a long wait, and there was some confusion with the room at first. They tried to put us on the second floor, but Mom wouldn’t be able to handle stairs and they don’t have an elevator. We finally got it worked out, but there was some weirdness where Shani’s name was listed twice, once with her married name (her room) and once with her maiden name (my room). That took some time to figure out, let me tell you! At one point the lady asked if we wanted to wait for a different room, and Mom and I both practically yelled, “No!”
Anyway, room keycards in hand, we got a bellhop to grab our checked luggage and he started leading us to the room. We had a bit of a pause when he first took another couple to their room, so Mom and I had to once again wait in the heat, but at least this time we were under a shaded covered walkway so it wasn’t quite as bad. We had to walk a really long way after he dropped off the couple, but we finally made it to our room. Once inside, both she and I basically collapsed–her on the couch and me on one of the beds. It’s a lovely room, very spacious and attractive. However, there was no bottled water in the room that we could drink and use to brush our teeth, so we had to ask multiple times to have water delivered. (As I’m writing this it’s 10:15pm and we still don’t have water.)
After we rested a bit and cooled off, I felt well enough to move around again. First I tried to plug in my electronics, only to find out the outlets are different here. Oops. Also, as mentioned above we didn’t have any water, so I wanted to ask about that, plus we wanted to know how to turn off the ceiling fan, because the blissful cool had slowly begun to come a bit cold. I made my way back to the lobby to ask about those things. It’s quite a long trek so not a trip we want to make multiple times a day!
I ran into Shani and Clif there, who were at guest services working on making reservations for our dinners throughout the week. They got that done and I was able to ask my questions of the same guy. He said water would be delivered in around 10 minutes (it wasn’t), that there should be a switch somewhere for the ceiling fan (there was) and that we could buy outlet adaptors at a store near the lobby (which I did). We were unable to get a dinner reservation for the night, but he told us to try just going to the Japanese place and they could likely fit us in.
I went back to the room to get Mom, and we walked back to the lobby and then took a shuttle to the Japanese restaurant. They were able to slot us in for a 7pm reservation, and it was only 6:10, so we took some time to walk around and window-shop at some stalls and in a couple shops.
The restaurant was running late, so we weren’t seated until 7:30. While Mom, Parrish, and I were waiting outside, a lady struck up a conversation with us that consisted entirely of complaints about the resort, her rooms, and her stay. At one point, Mom said to the lady, “You’re just full of good news, aren’t you?” The lady said, “I know, I’m terrible.” And after a short pause, resumed her litany of gloom and doom. Thankfully, Clif called us to go inside soon after that so we happily left her behind.
Once we got seated, I was expecting a normal Japanese restaurant, but it was the kind where they theatrically cook the food for you. I got a gyoza appetizer, which was good, and then had the main hibachi meal–fried rice with chicken and shrimp. I managed to eat a fair amount, which was a great improvement over my skimpy lunch.
After dinner, we all took the shuttle back to our part of the resort and walked to our rooms. Mom and I are settling in as I write this, still without bottled water after that first visit and three additional phone calls. I think Mom is texting with Clif and he may bring us some from their room. So far, she and I are not hugely impressed with this resort. The food is okay, but the open-air lobby and buffet restaurant, slow check-in, and inefficient service are not great. To be honest, in the afternoon when I was all hot and wilted, I honestly started to wish I hadn’t come on this trip. I actually had the thought, “I wonder if I could change my flight home to be earlier….”
But thankfully, that time in the room cooling down did wonders, so even with all this ridiculousness about the missing water, I at least don’t feel like going home early anymore. Hopefully the trip will get better and we’ll get a steady supply of bottled water for the room. I’ll let you know how things go tomorrow!
Actually, update. Mom got tired of waiting for the water, so she called the front desk and said (paraphrased), “I am 84 years old. We have been asking for water all day. I need to take my medications.” Apparently they apologized profusely and said they’d come. However, Mom didn’t necessarily trust them (for good reason) so she texted Clif and he asked if we wanted him to bring by some water. Of course we said yes. So Clif, champ that he is, brought by four huge bottles. Mom said we’d better hide them in case the resort sent someone with more water. She put three bottles in the fridge, out of the way and told me to hide my water if the people came. Literally around five minutes later, “knock knock!” I hid my water next to my bed. A guy came with three large bottles, apologized some more, and gave us some chocolate and potato chips. 84-year-old Momma gets it done right!
Tuesday, 7/23 – Customer “Service”
Mom and I both slept well, thankfully. We were woken up by housekeeping knocking on the door at 8:55am, so we went ahead and got ready for the day. We took our dear sweet time and finally headed out to the buffet to get breakfast at around 10:15. Sadly, after walking all that way (it’s far) we found out that buffet doesn’t open for breakfast. Already hot and tired, we slowly doubled-back about halfway and went to the sports bar instead. We were able to have a bit of breakfast there. Mom had some eggs but they looked gross to me so I just ate some boiled potatoes and a bunch of bread. Breakfast of champions! I also took some bread with me to go, because it was good bread.
We relaxed back in our room for a while. Shani and Clif stopped by and hung out for a bit. They asked how we were liking things so far and both Mom and I told them how we weren’t impressed by the resort or the service. We’d found it very difficult to get straight answers to many of our questions, and the lines for guest services were so long, and since the lobby is open-air, it’s always so hot and humid that it’s very uncomfortable to wait on line trying to get assistance. In fact, on our way back from the sports bar, we had asked where we could get breakfast nearby, and were told,”It’s over there,” with a vague hand-wave. … Thanks. When we asked if they had the restaurants and their hours written down anywhere, we were told they did not. How is that helpful?
Anyway, Shani and Clif pointed out that we are in a country where English isn’t the main language, which is fair, but we are in a supposedly popular resort with many travelers from all over. You’d think they’d be better at managing communication. Then they said we should just use the app for info on restaurants and all kinds of other things. You’d think one of the many employees we’d spoken to would have mentioned that, wouldn’t you? No one did. So anyway, long story short (too late) they are having a much better time than we are. But at least both Mom and I now have the app on our phones.
After they left, Mom and I ordered room service for lunch, so we could test it out and Mom could learn how to do it via the app. The app said we’d get a confirmation when the order had been processed, but we never did. I had to call to ensure they had the order and it was going to be coming to us soon. When I did, they told me they didn’t have one of the things we’d ordered. I didn’t really mind that so much, but the fact that we had to call them for the information and to find that out was very annoying. Anyway, when the food came, it was okay. Mom and I both enjoyed our main dishes (she had a club sandwich and I had baked fish) but the fries were lukewarm and lackluster. Still, at least we both got the sustenance we needed for the afternoon.
After lunch, we relaxed for a bit, then I headed back to the lobby to brave the heat and the lines and ask a few more questions. Plus I wanted to exchange the outlet adaptor I had bought the day before, because it was the wrong kind. Once again I had to wait a really long time in the heat before getting assistance, and once I did, the person said she wanted to check on something and that a manager would come “in 5 minutes” to speak with me, and walked off. A good 20 minutes later, no manager. I went to a few agent over by check-in, but all he could say was that maybe they were in a briefing meeting and someone should be back in 15-20 minutes.
Totally fed up, I went to the store to exchange the adaptor. They wouldn’t do an exchange, they just made me buy the correct one. No matter that they were the ones who recommended the wrong kind in the first place. Now I was really steamed. Like, boiling mad. I stomped back to the lobby and sat with ill humor and grace to wait for a guest services person to finally come back. When one finally did, it was a very pleasant young man named Jesus. Not Hey-sus, actually Jesus. But I refuse to call him that, so I tried to avoid saying his name. Anyway, I may have kind of sort of taken my anger out on him. Just a little. But he remained unfailingly pleasant and I soon calmed down and even apologized for my initial abruptness. He was able to answer all my questions (including exactly where “over there” we could get breakfast), arrange for a motorized scooter for Mom (who was having major trouble navigating around the resort), and commiserate with me on the unfairness of what had happened at the shop. I went back to the room and gave Mom the update on everything. She asked for a lot of details but I couldn’t remember many. I guess incandescent anger wipes your memory a bit.
Anyway, we relaxed a bit longer and then headed back to the lobby to meet with Jes–the guy–and get her scooter. That went smoothly, thankfully. We had a little bit of time to kill before our dinner reservation, so we went to the store (yes, the same one that shafted me) and browsed for a bit. I mean, they have air conditioning, you know? We didn’t buy anything though.
Dinner with the fam was at an Argentinian restaurant. I had two virgin mojitos to drink, which were delicious. I had a chicken empanada for my appetizer, which was just ok, and a short rib beef dinner with grilled veggies. The short rib was ok, but they had some kind of pickled veggie relish you could eat with it that was delicious. The grilled veggies were cold, but tasted fine. They didn’t have any desserts I could eat, sadly, with my milk aversion.
After dinner, Mom went with Kai and Shani to the beach and pool for a bit while I went first to the sports bar to see if they had any nice desserts (they did not) and then back to our room to shower and get ready for bed. When I got out of the shower, it sounded like it had begun to rain. Sure enough, as I was getting dressed, Mom and Kai came in and she was making a bit of a commotion about being soaking wet. She and Kai were laughing like crazy. When I came out of the bathroom, she was dramatically wailing about it, holding her arms out from her body awkwardly. Kai took some video of her histrionics. Good times.
Now we’re both in bed relaxing for the night. Tomorrow, I am going on a cultural excursion and tour with Shani, Clif, and the boys. It is scheduled to last around 5 hours, but all the reviews say it is longer. Here’s hoping I make it through ok! Mom will be on her own at the resort and may mostly stick to the room even though she now has the scooter, since she doesn’t know her way around very well. This place is huge, in her defense. Anyway, that’s it for today! I’ll tell you about the excursion tomorrow.
Wednesday, 7/24 – Excursion
I got up at 6am sharp so I could read my devotionals and get to the lobby by 7:10 for our excursion, as we were scheduled to be picked up at 7:15. I got there a tad early so I could run to the sports bar for some bread for breakfast. Shani’d had the same idea; she was in there getting coffee for herself and Clif. We walked back to the lobby together.
We had a bit of a wait for the driver, but we eventually got moving. We ended up going to two other hotels to pick up more people–the bus was full. I was hoping to have a seat to myself because the seats rally wen’t wide enough for two people (more like 1.5 people) but no luck. Thankfully, the woman who sat next to me wasn’t too chatty and though she did sit too close, it was due to the size of the seats rather than a lack of respect for personal space. It was an open-air bus, so as long as the bus was moving, we had “organic air conditioning.” Thankfully, there was also an occasional nice breeze when we were parked.
The excursion was advertised as being 5 hours long, but in reality it was more like 8. First, we went horseback riding. That was okay but kind of sad, because the horses didn’t seem too well-cared-for. Several had unbrushed manes, scars on their bodies, and/or bad teeth. My horse was okay though, and I petted it while we were walking along the trail. They were well-trained; they just followed the guide along the trail, without us needing to use the reins or anything. Which is good, because I only vaguely know how to do that.
Next, we went to the Basílica Nuestra Señora De La Altagracia, which is a large catholic church in Punta Cana. The architecture and decor inside are gorgeous. We were just there briefly to take pictures.
The third and fourth stops were a souvenir shop and an open-air fruit and meat market in a downtown area. I bought a painting at the souvenir shop. The market was a bit weird. It was a glimpse into how the regular people here do their shopping. There was tons of produce and grains, but the weirdest part was the meats. There were animal carcasses just out in the heat, some on tables, some hanging…. My American sensibilities were a bit offended. The tour guide made a point of telling us that the restaurant we were going to have lunch at does NOT buy its meat that way. They get it from a supermarket.
Lunch was good. It was a buffet with multiple choices. I got beans & rice, chicken, and some fried breadfruit. The breadfruit was a pleasant surprise. It was similar to a thick-cut potato wedge, but it had a different flavor—little bit on the sweet side; not like a dessert or anything, but like a fried plantain. (It didn’t taste like that, it just had that kind of sweetness.) Anyway, I ate well, which for me is quite an achievement. After lunch we walked down to the river that was right there. There was a small waterfall, and it was gorgeous.
Right after lunch we went to my favorite stop. It was a plantation where they grow cocoa and other cool plants. We learned a bit about how coffee and chocolate are made, and they showed us what raw cocoa seeds look like, what they look like when dried, ground, etc. I bought some fresh cocoa powder, which is nothing like the stuff you can buy in grocery stores in the US. I’m looking forward to making hot chocolate with it, and maybe doing some baking.
Next, we went to a place where they make cigars. I don’t really care about cigars but it was interesting. They let us step into two of their humidors and it smelled surprisingly nice in there. Quite herbal. They also had Mamajuana there (that is not a typo, I am not talking about pot), which is an alcoholic drink made from herbs (no, not that herb), red wine, rum, and honey. It’s delicious, it tastes like a red dessert wine. I bought a small bottle of it.
Finally, we spent some time at a beach, and I actually got in the water up to my waist! That may not sound like a big deal, but it kind of is. I am not really a water kind of gal normally. But it was hot and the water felt awesome.
We were all glad to be headed back to our various resorts after the beach. I stopped briefly at the sports bar again to see if there were any desserts I wanted, and there was a bite-sized chocolate cake, so I put it on a napkin and took it with me. I ate it on my way back to my room. I saw Mom briefly in the lobby. She had ventured out because she wanted to go to the beach here on the resort. My sister and brother-in-law took her, I believe along with my younger nephew, Kai. Parrish was a man after my own heart–he went back to his room to rest. I too wanted time to rest up after the excursion. I took a quick shower to rinse off all the ocean water and then relaxed for around an hour. Mom came back about 20 minutes before we needed to leave for dinner, and just had time for a quick rinse and change.
We met the rest of the fam in the lobby and took a shuttle to the resort’s Indian restaurant for dinner. Dinner was good; I had a lamb dish and two virgin mojitos. We ordered one of each dessert for the table, and I tried 3 of the 6 dishes. My favorite was the chocolate mousse, no surprise there. Then we got a shuttle back to the lobby of our building and Mom and I stopped at guest services so she could express her dissatisfaction about a few things. Mainly the fact that the resort staff are not at all responsive. As I noted before, you have to ask them multiple times for things before they’ll actually do anything. Today it was washcloths. As in, we don’t have any. Mom asked twice while we were out, and no dice. I also called around 20 minutes after we got back from speaking with the guest services lady to tell her we still hadn’t gotten them, and she said she’d put in another report. Three guesses as to whether or not we have washcloths. Spoiler, we don’t.
Anyway, as we were sitting here relaxing, it started first to rain and then to storm. Parrish texted me to ask if we still had power, as his had gone out. Thankfully, we do. Mom says, “I have a flashlight, should I ask if they want it?” … What? Why does she have a flashlight? We’re not camping! So now this is the second time this trip that some random thing Mom has packed has been proven to be useful. First it was the utensils on Sunday and now the flashlight. I told her, “Mom 2, common sense 0.” She was laughing for a good 30 minutes straight at the absurdity of the whole thing. Even she admits it was weird that she has a flashlight.
The storm seems to be over and our power is still on (knock wood). I’m going to stay up a bit longer, as I don’t feel sleepy, but want to be sure I go to bed at a decent time because Mom and I plan to go for breakfast at 8:45 tomorrow morning. We’ve arranged for a local cab driver to take us souvenir shopping at 10am. Apparently, the guy doesn’t speak much English, and neither she nor I speak Spanish, so things should be interesting! I’ll tell you all about it afterward.
Thursday, 7/25 – Souvenir Shopping
Mom and I got up at around 7am so we could have breakfast before heading out at 10 to shop for souvenirs. We had breakfast at the buffet right off the lobby, and boy do I wish we’d known about that place from the start! They had a huge spread. I had a delicious fresh-made omelette and some hot tea. After breakfast, we went briefly back to the room because I think Mom had forgotten something there. (I’m writing this after returning to the US, so I don’t remember as many details as I’d like.) While in the room, I got a call from the taxi driver that he had already arrived. He was 20 minutes early! We finished up quickly and headed back to the lobby to meet him.
Our driver was a nice man named Domingo. (“Sunday in Spanish!”) He didn’t speak or understand English very well, but he had a translation app on his phone that helped us communicate. He took us to three different souvenir stores. I bought some more souvenirs for myself (more chocolate and an adorable glass cat decoration) and some friends (no spoilers because they’re probably reading this) at the first store, which I later regretted because it was the most expensive store we visited! Oh well, I did bargain down the price but still paid more than I would have if I had waited. In my defense, I didn’t realize we’d be going to more stores, because I could have sworn Mom said we’d be done after that store. However, she apparently asked Domingo to visit a few more places while I was paying. Thanks, Mom.
Anyway, aside from prices, the three stores were very similar. Mom was looking for a specific type of outfit, and none of the stores had one. Therefore, even though she was the one who had wanted this outing, I was the only one who bought stuff! Domingo brought us back to the hotel and we went to our room to relax a bit before having lunch. Sadly, the wifi was down so I couldn’t continue reading the Harry Potter fic I was in the middle of, nor could I play my daily phone games. Thankfully, I have plenty of ways to amuse myself on my laptop without wifi.
We went to the sports bar for lunch. They don’t have any paper menus, and with the wifi down, we didn’t know what we could order, so the waitress ended up loaning us her phone to view it. (We had data turned off because it would cost us extra $$ to use it out of the country.) Mom got a hot dog and I ordered a fish sandwich. Mom’s hot dog was okay, but my fish sandwich wasn’t cooked through. Thankfully I cut it in half and saw the uncooked fish before I ate more than a tiny corner of it! And the edges were cooked, it was the whole middle that wasn’t. So I just had fries for lunch. When someone came to clear the table, I told him my food had been uncooked and showed it to him. Hopefully that doesn’t happen to anyone else!
We went back to the room to rest up. Soon after that, Shani and Clif came by to pick up Mom to go to the beach. They asked if I wanted to come, but I was too tired. I stayed in the room and napped. I set an alarm to wake up at 5:30, because dinner was scheduled for 6:00.
Dinner was at a Spanish restaurant this time. Thankfully, the wifi had come back on by this time, so we were able to view the menu. They didn’t have any cocktails, so I wasn’t able to have my usual virgin mojito. I just stuck with water. I was also a bit nervous about the food, because I couldn’t tell from the descriptions which meals would have milk or cheese in them. I asked the waitress but she didn’t speak very good English. Thankfully, she called over another guy, who promised there was “no leche” in any of the meals except the ham croquettes. So I ordered seafood paella.
They were very slow to bring the food. I feel like it was a good half hour but I didn’t look at my watch, so I could be wrong. The paella was good, but I wasn’t able to eat much. It was very saucy and I didn’t 100% trust the guy’s assertion that there was no milk in it. I would have ordered a different dish (the chicken legs Parrish got looked good) but the service was so slow I knew it wouldn’t be worth it. I didn’t have any dessert because all the desserts except the tropical fruit were milk-based, and I wasn’t in the food for the fruit.
Mom and I went back to the room after dinner and wound down for the night. Tomorrow, we leave the Dominican Republic and return home. I can’t wait to see my kitty-cat again!
Friday, 7/26 – Home Sweet Home
Mom and I once again got up at around 7am so we could have breakfast at 8:45 with the family. We ate at the good buffet by the lobby again and I had another omelette, along with some sautéed spinach and grilled mushrooms. Delicious. I ate really well; I think it was the most I ate in one sitting for the entire trip! I guess I was excited to be home so I didn’t have as much anxiety about eating.
After breakfast we all went back to our rooms to do a bit more packing and relax, then Mom and I trekked to the lobby to return her motorized scooter. While she waited at guest services for the next rep, I went to the lobby bar to get her a virgin mojito, because she wanted to try one after seeing me and Clif drink so many of them. Sadly for her but nice for me, she didn’t like it so I drank it instead. After returning the scooter, she went to the bar herself and asked the guy for “something sweet.” I told him she hadn’t liked the mojito or the strawberry daiquiri. He made her a drink–no idea what it was but it was red–and she loved it! I thought she would stay in the lobby because our room is so far away and she no longer had the scooter, but she wanted to relax in the room until closer to checkout time. We made our way back slowly, sipping on our drinks.
When we got there, the maid was outside and started chattering at us in Spanish. We must have been staring blankly at her, because she took out her phone and started trying to get a translation. It wasn’t working well though, she tried three times. Finally, I decided to attempt to find the app our cab driver, Domingo, had used. I found and downloaded it, and we were able to communicate with her. Turns out she was fussing at us because she had gotten in trouble with her boss about not giving us washcloths. I mean, too bad so sad! We shouldn’t have had to ask so many times. I just told her we were leaving soon and didn’t need anything else, and thanked her for her help. However, when I fill out the survey for our stay, I will 100% be including that little conversation, because that was one of the most unprofessional things I have ever experienced!
Anyway, Shani and Clif came by to grab Mom’s luggage, and we all headed for the lobby together. We didn’t have to check out right away, so we checked our luggage with the bell boys and headed for the sports bar to cool off. It was SO HUMID. I think it was the most humid of all the days we’d been there! We were all so uncomfortable. Thankfully the sports bar’s a/c allowed us to cool off before we went back to the lobby to officially check out.
We caught the shuttle to the airport at 11:45. Once there, we pretty quickly got a wheelchair for Mom. While on line, the guy helping us said he could get us through all the lines faster if we had two people in wheelchairs rather than just one, so Shani nominated me to ride in the second wheelchair. I stayed in the wheelchair right up to the gate, minus the brief time I had to stand to go through security. I pretended to have a little limp so we wouldn’t get in trouble for unnecessary wheelchair use. The guy pushed Mom and Shani pushed me.
The guy brought us to the gate and left Mom’s wheelchair but took mine away since we no longer had a need for further subterfuge. We had plenty of time before our flight, so we explored the various stores and restaurants near the gate. Mom was able to buy one last souvenir for a friend at a cheaper price than anything we found at the resort, so that was nice. We all had a little bite to eat as well.
Our flight boarded just a tad late, maybe 15 minutes, but we got on board first due to Mom’s wheelchair. The flight went mostly smoothly–we had a little bit of turbulence, but nothing extreme, and landed safely in Charlotte only a little later than planned. Customs went quickly once Clif used the mobile passport control app. We were able to go right to the front of the customs line because of that. Very cool. Mom and Shani took longer in the wheelchair line, which was a reversal from the rest of the airport experiences! Usually, having a wheelchair gets you through lines faster. The rest of us picked up Mom and my checked luggage after we were through, so when they joined us we just walked straight out to the ground transport and got a shuttle back to the hotel where our cars were parked.
The ride home was smooth. Parrish drove again with Mom and me in the car, and we had great conversation the whole way back. We got safely to my sister’s house, where I said goodnight to them and proceeded to drive home to my own place. Little Snidely was very happy to see me, and still had plenty of water and food left. Which was not a surprise but was still a relief anyway. I did some unpacking, took a shower, and then stayed up for just a little while to unwind before gratefully collapsing in my bed.
I’m very thankful I went on this vacation. I didn’t really like the resort overall, but I had a lot of wonderful family time and got to experience several new things. I rode a horse, found out more about how chocolate is made, saw how cigars are made, and smelled inside a humidor. I even played in the water at the beach! Look forward to our next family vacation. At a different resort.
