Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort Punta Cana

... are terrible. Fact #4: They love hearing you stumble your way through broken Spanish, and also love trying to learn English as well.

This place is unlike anything I have ever experienced. I tried to do it justice here, but be sure to check out the pictures to get a better idea of how awesome it actually is.

I go to bed feeling fantastically restored, thank God for Domincan independence and all of its natural beauty and wonderful people.

... functions), and speakers that BLAST music from about 8am to 2pm every day. The employees at Punta Cana work strange shifts; 12-13 days straight at about 13 hours a day/night without a break then they have 2-3 days off. Most of them have family at least an hour away and only see them on their days off. Therefore, the Club is a place they hang out while during their time off while they are in the middle of their 13 day schedule ...

... or really any of the staff. I feel you don't get that closeness that I have enjoyed at other smaller resorts (where some of the staff remember your name, what you want to drink with dinner, how many people are in your group, things like that!) This hotel was very beautiful, lots of amazing gardening and well kept grounds, the rooms were standard hotel rooms, nothing spectacular. I found that this ...

... museums here we come!  We are heading from here to Santa Domingo, the capital, and then to visit friends who work at an orphanage.  It may be abrupt to their little world views to go from the all-you-can-eat of the resort to the real world.  I wish I had this on video: Ross asks Luke upon sitting down with a huge plateful, "So Luke, do you have a strategy when you go through an all you can eat buffet... do you survey the scene first and decide ...

... will be much shorter (and direct - if by charter plane) from where we are, and the time zone is the same...   so, that's where we will probably go next time when we need a "lazy vacation"...although I am trying to talk my dear angel into going skiing instead, so - who knows? - maybe our next "lazy vacation" will be on the slopes...or maybe not...doesn't matter that much... as they say - it's not "where" or "what", it's "with whom" that really matters! :)

... Bags of leg room, screens in the seat in front with 6 movies and lots of TV and reasonable food. Yes, I said reasonable food. And lots of it which was impressive for an airline that used its PA system every 10 minutes to remind you to buy stuff. I managed to catch the second half of Casino Royale - I admit, Daniel Craig may not be as awful a Bond as I though, but since I don't really like Bond ...

... 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!

... keep myself entertained with them - but my roommate didn't and the spanish speaking television wasn't working for her.

Needless to say, the remainder of the week turned out to be a bust - and it was a long week. Now I do my research ahead of time to make sure I'm going to a place in the appropriate season. I also know to check out hotel and resort information to ...

... range - early 20s - so the staff kept hovering around us. Male employees mostly, which made us extremely uncomfortable. Constantly making inappropriate comments, always trying to talk to us, eying us up and down - really did not make for an enjoyable time.

The food also started to become monotonous and was not very good...and then the trip really started to go down hill.

My post graduation trip with my college roommate was taken to Dominican Republic - never once have I ever wanted to come home from a trip early, especially a 1 week trip, but there is a first time for everything.

Now, in complete disclosure I will say that had I done a little more pre-trip research I may have enjoyed my time in DR more, or have chosen to go someplace else. How I was young and this was my first trip I had ever planned on my ...