Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

On December 4, 2015 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Caribbean5 Comments

A year ago at this time, we were spending a week at the Paradisus Palma Real in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. If you get the chance to travel to the “DR” as it is often called, you should definitely do so. The beaches were amazing and the resorts are spectacular. The only downside to our visit was that it wasn’t really close to any local towns, so it was a rare trip where we didn’t get out of the resort. Needless to say, that didn’t stop us from having a very relaxing and enjoyable stay.

The resort offered royal service, which apparently is quite common in Caribbean resorts. It entailed us getting a beach front room in a private, all adult, area of the resort, with a private concierge. We were able to eat at any of the restaurants on the vast compound, which is really three different resorts in different areas of the overall property. We were given a cell phone with a direct dial number to our concierge who would make reservations for us to any of the restaurants or various shows. We were quite spoiled. It was an all-inclusive resort, but based upon the research that we had done prior to choosing this resort, it seems that pretty much all of the resorts in the Caribbean are all-inclusive.

Probably the best part of getting the royal service was the staff in our private area. On our first day, we picked out a cabana on the beach where we could sit in the shade and they brought us a couple of lounge chairs for sitting in the sun. That became “our” cabana and chairs and every morning Pedro would put towels and magazines out so that our spot was reserved. No reason for us to rush to get a prime spot on the beach. We had a private, secluded pool and we also had our own pool bar where they took very good care of us.

We will definitely try some other resorts in the Caribbean, but Punta Cana, with beaches that face both the Atlantic and Caribbean, is definitely worth a visit. We would also recommend the royal service to anyone who has the opportunity. It is a bit of a splurge, but truly worth the extra expense, especially if you’re not travelling with children.

Cabo San Lucas

On November 23, 2015 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Mexico1 Comment

We’ve been home from Cabo San Lucas for a little over a week now and we’re already going through withdrawal. We’ve had one blizzard since getting home and are expecting snow on Thanksgiving, so the sun and beach seem like a distant memory at this point. We truly had a wonderful time visiting Cabo and walking around town and through the marina.

As you walk through the marina, you’ll continuously be approached by sales people trying to get you to take a glass bottom boat, take you deep-sea fishing, go on a time share tour, or play golf at one of the many courses around the area. It is definitely worthwhile taking a glass bottom boat out to the arch and to go to lover’s beach. The marina is also where you board the different dinner cruises, party boats, and fishing boats. We’ve done many of the different dinner and sunset cruises, but haven’t gone deep-sea fishing as of yet, perhaps on our next trip to Cabo.

There are many wonderful restaurants in the marina as well, all of them offering fresh seafood and tasty drinks. On Sunday, while we were there, we came across a restaurant offering all you can eat oysters. Since we love oysters, we definitely took advantage of that opportunity. At night-time, the marina area really comes to life with plenty of things to do and opportunities to people watch.

The downtown area also has plenty of vendors where you can purchase local trinkets and bargain with the store owners to get the best price on you souvenirs. At first it might feel awkward haggling over the price, but it is expected and don’t feel intimidated. If you don’t want to go downtown, there are plenty of vendors walking up and down the beach bringing souvenirs to all of the resorts for you to purchase.

At the resorts themselves, you can arrange kayaking, paddle boarding, parasailing, jet skis, golf, and more. There are also people walking the beach with horses so that you can take a romantic horse back ride along the beach. Our favorite thing about Cabo is the size of the resorts. There aren’t huge resorts with thousands of rooms, so whether going into town, walking the beach, or sitting around the pool, you’re not overwhelmed by tremendous crowds. We can hardly wait for our next trip to the beach, but it is going to have to wait for a little while.

Give and You Will Receive

On November 20, 2015November 20, 2015 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Travel Tips2 Comments

It definitely isn’t true all of the time, but generally speaking, if you’re willing to give, you will get just as much in return. This is true whether it is just about being nice to the people around you or whether it comes to tipping the staff who waits on you. We’re probably guilty of over tipping at times, but we try to get to know the people who take care of us, especially if we’re going to be in a place for several days or weeks, and we tend to truly care about them by the time we leave.

When we’re at a resort, we will leave a tip for the housekeeping crew that comes to clean our room. We do it because that we know the resorts don’t pay them too much money to begin with, but also because they will usually make an extra effort and do something special in our room. On our trip to Cabo, we once again left a nominal tip every day, 20 pesos, which is about a 1 US dollar. Every day, when we returned to our room, we were greeted with another swan or other creation made from the towels and bed linens.

The same is true when it came to the waiter who took care of us at the pool every day. First and foremost, we took time to talk with him, learn a little about him, and yes we tipped him at the end of the day as well. In return, Castillo was always taking caring of us, bringing us whatever we needed, finding us wherever we might be in the pool area to make sure we were taken care of.

First and foremost, don’t give with the expectation of getting something in return. If you do, you will likely end up disappointed. However, if you give of yourself, treat others as you’d like to be treated, and genuinely show compassion to your fellow life travelers, you will find happiness wherever you go. It doesn’t take any effort to show compassion and treat those around you with the respect that they deserve.