I have never had a problem with either Caribe Tours nor Metro Bus when I needed to take them. Cheap and efficient, they are. Thankfully those days are pretty much gone since I can now do what I need to do without visitng Santo Domingo ever again unless I want to renew my Dominican Passport.
- Thread starter Dolores
- Start date
Pace of tourism slows, global uncertainties put a dapper on tourism increases
They're not the only ones but I manage to avoid most expats and tourists. When I'm in the DR it's to be with the locals. That's me and others can do as they please
Most of SE Asia and Latin, Central and South America are very inexpensive, and easy and generally cheap to travel country to country locally. The same with a lot of European countries but you have to choose wisely. Albania, Bulgaria, Romania just to start the list. Of course inexpensive is relative but many expats manage well on $1000-2000 USD monthly
My terminal cancer survivor friend lives in Pattaya for next to nothing. He just moved in to a new nice looking apartment and pays less rent than I do for my apartment.
It is just the long distance from the USA that would deter me. In the DR for example for those with Medicare (VA, etc.) the USA is not that far if you needed to travel for medical care. Although I have heard from many expats that living in certain areas in Asia are far less expensive depending on the lifestyle.
I have 6 friends who went there over the years for vacation. I'll also mention they are single men. Each of them came back from their vacation, sold every thing, and moved there for good.
They all tell me I'll do the same if I ever go to visit.
I've heard a lot of good things about Thailand, but it's too far away, too hot, and I've heard Thai is very hard to learn. I's not a place for the overstay crowd either.
I remember sitting on a computer in Budapest back in December of 2007 (cold is an understatement) watching YouTube for the first time and seeing a video of two guys riding a motobike down Soi 6, Pattaya and at the time I was looking for somewhere nice and sunny I could go to get far away from that brutally cold Eastern European weather.
Less than 72 hours later I arrived in Thailand for a (what was supposed to be a 3 month) vacation and I ended up staying in South East Asia until January 2011, just over 3 years.
Mostly Pattaya, Chiang Mai. Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville.
Indeed everything was super cheap back then but I grew tired of constantly being treated like a second classs citizen in a third world country (Thailand) so after about two years I moved down to Cambodia for most of 2010. Wasn't any better in my opinion.
It was an interesting experience however I've no desire to visit that part of the world again.
Hong Kong on the other hand 🤩
One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walkin' next to me