Getting home this year was a little different. In the hope that it may help some traveller sometime; I?ll post here a brief account.
We were due to leave at 14:00 Wednesday by Air Canada from POP. There was a blizzard billed for the Maritime Provinces and the Eastern Seaboard that morning so we didn?t think we?d be leaving on time. At 09:30 though the flight had not been cancelled or delayed and we had no choice but to go. We left the rented apartment in Sos?a at around 10:10. Later we found that Air Canada had sent a flight-update e-mail message at 09:51 which told us about the cancelled flight and the re-schedule for 08:00 the following morning. If we had simply checked the laptop . . . But by that time we were loading bags into Jos?s taxi and out of contact. Pity! At the airport the hammer fell. Not leaving until tomorrow? Damn! (In fact I used a far more deletable expletive.) We really could have stayed in that apartment since it had been booked for an extra day in error. But while I was stomping up and down at the terminal, Susan quietly asked the agent what Air Canada could do for us. Well everyone knows that Air Canada will not help you out if the delay is due to the weather ? except that this time they did. I imagine that since they had 178 other passengers on AC resort packages and they would have to accommodate them, an extra four independent travellers would not be a big issue. So we went to Barcelo Playa Dorado for an overnighter. It was not bad as resorts go. Ironically the first resort we?d ever stayed in back in 1985 was a Barcelo ? in Bavaro Beach now Punta Cana ? and this one will probably be our last.
This trip involved a tourist-card overstay for us so there was a fee to be paid. It was painless. I?d used up some of the saved pesos as tips at the A-I so I asked about USD. It was OK. One of us 800 RDP, one $20 US. No problem.
We don?t usually buy stuff in duty-free. What we want to take home is cheaper in the Playero or a colmado, but there are plenty of people who do rely on this. The main duty-free shop was not open of course since at 08:00 on Thursday there was no regularly scheduled flight. But the Dominicano is nothing if not resourceful when it comes to making monwy. Within ten minutes they were selling bottles out of the bar and the snack shop. I will always cherish the image of a yellow-jacketted employee scurrying back and forth from snack shop to bar with his arms full of bottles of booze to meet the demands of a plane load of deal-hungry Canadians.
The flight was uneventful. The landing in severe, cross winds was smooth enough. Customs in Halifax was fast. There was no rummaging of our bags or persons. Home again.
wbr
We were due to leave at 14:00 Wednesday by Air Canada from POP. There was a blizzard billed for the Maritime Provinces and the Eastern Seaboard that morning so we didn?t think we?d be leaving on time. At 09:30 though the flight had not been cancelled or delayed and we had no choice but to go. We left the rented apartment in Sos?a at around 10:10. Later we found that Air Canada had sent a flight-update e-mail message at 09:51 which told us about the cancelled flight and the re-schedule for 08:00 the following morning. If we had simply checked the laptop . . . But by that time we were loading bags into Jos?s taxi and out of contact. Pity! At the airport the hammer fell. Not leaving until tomorrow? Damn! (In fact I used a far more deletable expletive.) We really could have stayed in that apartment since it had been booked for an extra day in error. But while I was stomping up and down at the terminal, Susan quietly asked the agent what Air Canada could do for us. Well everyone knows that Air Canada will not help you out if the delay is due to the weather ? except that this time they did. I imagine that since they had 178 other passengers on AC resort packages and they would have to accommodate them, an extra four independent travellers would not be a big issue. So we went to Barcelo Playa Dorado for an overnighter. It was not bad as resorts go. Ironically the first resort we?d ever stayed in back in 1985 was a Barcelo ? in Bavaro Beach now Punta Cana ? and this one will probably be our last.
This trip involved a tourist-card overstay for us so there was a fee to be paid. It was painless. I?d used up some of the saved pesos as tips at the A-I so I asked about USD. It was OK. One of us 800 RDP, one $20 US. No problem.
We don?t usually buy stuff in duty-free. What we want to take home is cheaper in the Playero or a colmado, but there are plenty of people who do rely on this. The main duty-free shop was not open of course since at 08:00 on Thursday there was no regularly scheduled flight. But the Dominicano is nothing if not resourceful when it comes to making monwy. Within ten minutes they were selling bottles out of the bar and the snack shop. I will always cherish the image of a yellow-jacketted employee scurrying back and forth from snack shop to bar with his arms full of bottles of booze to meet the demands of a plane load of deal-hungry Canadians.
The flight was uneventful. The landing in severe, cross winds was smooth enough. Customs in Halifax was fast. There was no rummaging of our bags or persons. Home again.
wbr