Punta Cana Grand

... I took it upon myself to take a personal day of Restoration...

Breakfast materials are provided in the morning at the foundation (yogurt, eggs, cereal, milk, amazing coffee, fresh pineapple and papaya, etc). After breakfast, I come to find out that because it is a national holiday ALL of the EF staff and most of the other workers at the resort are on holiday. Low and behold, I am not in a place I don't know my way around without any sort of ...

... beautifully landscaped and has really nice open, beachy architecture. The restaurant is also open to the outdoor evening breezes and about 20 yards from the beach, but its night and I've yet to be awed by its incredible beauty (that comes tomorrow). For the most part, dinner passes quite uneventfully.

After dinner I immediately zonk out at 10 pm after 13 hours of traveling and 4 hours of culture shock.

End of Day 1.

... the rain cleared in time for the ceremony and reception which was awesome) I relaxed and enjoyed myself and met some really great people from my sister in laws family and friends. There were a few blips along the way - clashes in personalities and what not - but I suppose that's what you get when you travel with people you don't know too well, heck it happens when you are with the people you know best ...

... the pool, and enjoying sweet moments... the sweetest are seeing the kids pal around together & when they without realizing it grab one of our hands...  LOL, the kids seem determined to see a bikini contest (one in particular...) thanks to their dad announcing it... and they seemed very intrigued by all the ladies with "more stretch marks" than their mom walking around in bikinis. Here is Lexi who wants to say something to her family and ...

... eager for me to buy incense or Thai pajamas from their store). They hadn't been able to schedule us at the same time, so Sara went out to the pool while I got my services. It was so relaxing, and after a week of walking around barefoot, my feet were very appreciative of the pampering. The scalp massage was wonderful - it was actually a back, neck, scalp massage and involved hot oil. I nearly fell asleep, I was so relaxed! I got to keep the nail polish, so I'll be ...

... threatened not to due to conflicting bus schedules), pointed out how tanned she was and through a mixture of bargaining in spanish and batting her big blue eyes got us a discounted taxi to the hotel in El Cortecito. We stayed in La Posada de Piedra, a little stone hotel that backed right onto the beach. It had a lounge area that was basically a couple of comfy chairs on the sand and a view of the ocean ...

... tried to learn how to windsurf. We also went swimming with sea lions, a highlight for me. It was a great trip, although the last day and the few days after were unfortunately ruined by both of us getting pretty sick...Montezuma's Revenge claimed its latest victims!

As I mentioned before, I didn't do my homework. And the too good to be true price we paid for the week turned out that obviously there was a reason. May is the rainy season in DR. The day started out well - we hit up the beach and did some kayaking and swimming in the ocean and then headed to the pool where we planned to remain the rest of the day. But come later in the ...

... things really started to bother me. The hotel really tries to get you to interact with staff and other guests - which just really isn't my style. I don't like to make small talk and I don't like to be put into these situations...Well, at club med they sit you at large tables with guests and their staff also comes to sit with you as well.

We were the only guests there in our ...

... a car to take her the airport we were meeting at. I don't remember the airport but I know it wasn't too far, it was only supposed to be a quick flight for her!

I was getting really anxious as I waited for her - flying by myself out of the country wasn't really in my plan and I was uncomfortable with the idea as I wasn't really a savvy traveler at this point, and I didn't really want to go by myself for any length of time. The plan had ...