7 Tips When Traveling to the Dominican

Chillin' in the Dominican sun

If you're thinking of traveling to the Dominican, here are a few fun stories/tips from our latest getaway:

1. Try something new! During our hydrotherapy adventure at the spa, we navigated our way through hot and cold, ice and steam, and finished in a beautiful pool of water. Unsure of what to do next, we playfully bantered and figured they were waiting for us to pass out before our treatment was complete! Luckily that did not happen but there was no stopping the laugh attack we had while thinking of that possibility... pretty sure it was the residual of the aromatherapy making us a little loopy! 
2. Be outgoing! After watching the movie  "Yes" Man in our hotel room, I decided to say "yes" to a few experiences I may have normally felt too shy to participate in. 
1. I played Bocce ball on the beach with 2 New Yorkers and 2 Russians.... we found it quite entertaining when the staff member in charge only gave instructions in Spanish... which none of us understood! 
2. We played volleyball with people we never met.
3. And... I danced on a catamaran with some fellow Mattress by Appointment dealers... who I barely knew! 
3. Laugh when things don't go as planned! At an all inclusive resort like this one, there was an unlimited supply of alcohol. As we tried to tactfully navigate our way around it, since we don't drink, we found ourselves ordering a virgin style of a drink called the Majestic (it's a combo of pineapple, orange and coconut juice). Unbeknownst to us, one of the refills we received was not a virgin! We realized quickly what happened and asked for another one that was. ***"Mormon's Accidentally Drink Rum in Paradise"***... I'm not sure if it's a headliner, but we can count this as a confession, right?!
4. Explore the area! Get out and walk around. If you're going to run on the beach though... be prepared for sore calves! A rolling pin to massage them later would've been a great carry-on accessory!
5. Find the good in all the craziness! For some reason most of our tour guides were not "G" rated... entertaining for sure, but be prepared for a little crazy! For example, our "Happy family" tour to Saona Island slowly transformed into the "Alcoholic Family" tour! (The tour guide's words... not mine😆).  They taught us dances, passed out drinks and made it quite the party. One guide even dressed up like a woman and tried tempting the men! I had mixed feelings of how to react... laugh,  cheer him on, look away in embarrassment or do all three at the same time! Luckily, no matter what the tour guides did or didn't do, the tour itself was an amazing experience. It included holding star fish in the middle of the ocean, swimming off the coast of a tropical island and sailing in a catamaran with our fellow MBA dealers.
6. Be generous! Our transport driver from the resort to the airport told us a sad story about missing his daughter's 10th birthday. He said he had to work and he didn't have enough money to buy her a bike... we spotted him a $20, out of generosity, but I couldn't help but wonder how many other tourists he's told that story to... #bringinginthedough
7. Be ready for an adventure... good or bad! While checking our bag at the Punta Cana airport, the JetBlue representative stated there's a bag fee of $20, "how will you pay?" We decided on cash. He then said, "oh, and there's an extra fee when you check your bags here so it's $30." Ok, we gave him $30 cash and then watched as he meticulously put all $30 into his own wallet... Magically our bag was tagged and suddenly our seats were next to each other... instead of separate, like he said they would be previously... hmm... third world countries... gotta love them! 

Looking pretty sweet in our snorkling gear!

Overall this was such a nice adventure and we are very pleased to have survived 5 full days with limited wi-fi and no cell phones. (oh, ya... that's the bonus tip... turn off your phone!  Even if you can use the wi-fi... just turn it off so you can enjoy the moment you are in).

Side note: A year ago we made business goals so that we could be on this incentive trip and we are so happy we accomplished them! A special THANKS to MBA corporate for making this happen! 

A few other things we enjoyed:

• snorkeling
• Scuba doo-ing (yes! That's a thing!)
• Making friends with fellow MBA dealers
• Nightly entertainment
• A Glass bottom boat tour
• A Catamaran ride
• Swimming with star fish in a natural pool
• And... free food anytime we wanted!