I just sent the following to a friend who is coming to the DR for the first time. Since the airport can be a bit daunting for new arrivals, I tried to lay out the steps to make the process easier for her.
After getting off the airplane, follow the crowd until you come to a big room. Then the basic steps are:
1. Buy tourist card - US$10
2. Hand in tourist card so you can get in the immigration line.
3. Hand passport and blue form to first person in immigration booth. (Both blue and white form are given to you on the airplane to fill out. MAKE SURE YOU SIGN THE DAMN THINGS, because for some reason, Dominicans airport officials seem to get very ****y when their forms are not signed. I think it's a cultural thing.)
4. Receive stamped passport and blue form from second person in immigration booth. (This particular step is more fun if you speak Spanish and act like you don't, because you get to listen to the two people talking about their supervisor or one of their coworkers.)
5. Hand blue form to person sitting at the door and proceed to the only luggage carousel working with luggage from your and three other flights on the same one.
6. Retrieve luggage. (Elbowing is allowed and recommended. Be especially vigilant around ladies with burgandy hair.)
7. Let person compare luggage tag barcode to barcode pasted on back of your ticket. (If you put your luggage on a cart, make sure to place the suitcases so that the luggage tags are inconvenient to locate.
8. Hand in white form to customs person (Whatever you are carrying into the country, check "no" on the questions on the form. Remember that you do NOT speak Spanish.)
9. Proceed to exit.
10.Yell very loudly, "For the umpteenth time, I do not want a f***ing taxi. My friend is picking me up, and if you even think about touching my camera bag, I will give you a curse so bad that it will take three voodoo witches and an entire flock of dead chickens to get it off of you."
If anyone can think of anything I might have missed, please feel free to add.
After getting off the airplane, follow the crowd until you come to a big room. Then the basic steps are:
1. Buy tourist card - US$10
2. Hand in tourist card so you can get in the immigration line.
3. Hand passport and blue form to first person in immigration booth. (Both blue and white form are given to you on the airplane to fill out. MAKE SURE YOU SIGN THE DAMN THINGS, because for some reason, Dominicans airport officials seem to get very ****y when their forms are not signed. I think it's a cultural thing.)
4. Receive stamped passport and blue form from second person in immigration booth. (This particular step is more fun if you speak Spanish and act like you don't, because you get to listen to the two people talking about their supervisor or one of their coworkers.)
5. Hand blue form to person sitting at the door and proceed to the only luggage carousel working with luggage from your and three other flights on the same one.
6. Retrieve luggage. (Elbowing is allowed and recommended. Be especially vigilant around ladies with burgandy hair.)
7. Let person compare luggage tag barcode to barcode pasted on back of your ticket. (If you put your luggage on a cart, make sure to place the suitcases so that the luggage tags are inconvenient to locate.
8. Hand in white form to customs person (Whatever you are carrying into the country, check "no" on the questions on the form. Remember that you do NOT speak Spanish.)
9. Proceed to exit.
10.Yell very loudly, "For the umpteenth time, I do not want a f***ing taxi. My friend is picking me up, and if you even think about touching my camera bag, I will give you a curse so bad that it will take three voodoo witches and an entire flock of dead chickens to get it off of you."
If anyone can think of anything I might have missed, please feel free to add.
