I finally had the chance to go back to visit my wifes family after two and a half years away. We were in Santo Domingo from September 6 through September 24 (2008).
Overall the trip was great, but we have decided not to plan trips in the future for this part of the year. We couldn't get out on North Carolina on time because hurricane Hanna was passing through that morning and all the planes at RDU had been flown out in advance of the storm. We didn't get the flight change notification until we were almost to the airport, over an hour drive from Sanford. So we had to go back and wait for six hours till the next available flight.
We took our daughter this time for her first trip to the D.R. to meet her family there. She is twenty months, which was one reason for the timing of the flight (free until two years old on American Airlines), but because of the weather, all of the flights were filled and we had to hold her in out lap on the plane. Luckily for us she was a good traveler. Even the other passengers around us commented about how good she was.
This was the first time that we had ever rented a car, and I highly recommend National Car Rental. If you book from the U.S. you get a better price. They were very helpful at pickup and drop off. We checked Cristina's car seat in with our luggage (no extra charge for a car seat OR a stroller, not both) and took it with us. National rents them, but at five dollars a day it was going to cost more to rent the seat than to buy a new one.
We stayed with Felicia's brother in 24 de Abril. I really felt like I learned my way around and more about how things operate this trip. The neighborhood still doesn't have water pressure to use the faucets or toilet and they haven't upgraded to the tank on top of their house like some families have been able to do. So we were lugging water upstairs from the cistern constantly.
The electricity was as sporadic as ever. The have two lines, but we still went to candle power quite a bit.
We were able to travel more this trip. I saw Jarabacoa and went to the Monument is Santiago. We spent an entire day on the beach at Boca Chica, went to the zoo, and Faro Colon. We had hoped to see more, but it rained about half the time that we were there.
I took lots of photos this trip and if a picture says a thousand words, this must be a novel.....
http://http://scottlankford.spaces.live.com/default.aspx
The album that opens is from our most recent trip, but if you scroll down through the list there are photos from all four of my previous trips, plus loads of other stuff.
Overall the trip was great, but we have decided not to plan trips in the future for this part of the year. We couldn't get out on North Carolina on time because hurricane Hanna was passing through that morning and all the planes at RDU had been flown out in advance of the storm. We didn't get the flight change notification until we were almost to the airport, over an hour drive from Sanford. So we had to go back and wait for six hours till the next available flight.
We took our daughter this time for her first trip to the D.R. to meet her family there. She is twenty months, which was one reason for the timing of the flight (free until two years old on American Airlines), but because of the weather, all of the flights were filled and we had to hold her in out lap on the plane. Luckily for us she was a good traveler. Even the other passengers around us commented about how good she was.
This was the first time that we had ever rented a car, and I highly recommend National Car Rental. If you book from the U.S. you get a better price. They were very helpful at pickup and drop off. We checked Cristina's car seat in with our luggage (no extra charge for a car seat OR a stroller, not both) and took it with us. National rents them, but at five dollars a day it was going to cost more to rent the seat than to buy a new one.
We stayed with Felicia's brother in 24 de Abril. I really felt like I learned my way around and more about how things operate this trip. The neighborhood still doesn't have water pressure to use the faucets or toilet and they haven't upgraded to the tank on top of their house like some families have been able to do. So we were lugging water upstairs from the cistern constantly.
The electricity was as sporadic as ever. The have two lines, but we still went to candle power quite a bit.
We were able to travel more this trip. I saw Jarabacoa and went to the Monument is Santiago. We spent an entire day on the beach at Boca Chica, went to the zoo, and Faro Colon. We had hoped to see more, but it rained about half the time that we were there.
I took lots of photos this trip and if a picture says a thousand words, this must be a novel.....
http://http://scottlankford.spaces.live.com/default.aspx
The album that opens is from our most recent trip, but if you scroll down through the list there are photos from all four of my previous trips, plus loads of other stuff.
