Dominican Republic Holiday Report : Hotel Riu Merengue, Puerto Plata
Day 15 - Going home again
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Day 7

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Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

Day 15

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Taking a last look around...the steps down to the beach. Photo (c) Karolina Karlsson 2004As it sadly always does with holidays, the day came when it was time to leave. Sean was up at sunrise, 7ish to take a final look along the beach for interesting finds. There were quite a few nice shells to be had, just before the staff started to rake up the beach. After breakfast, we did all the necessary bits like packing and stuff. Dropped off bags of things for the woman who did Karolinas hair. The bags were full of drinks, pencils, erasers and soap etc.

We went to the photographers shop and found our photo that the photographer had taken the night before, it was quite nice so we bought it at a cost of 6 USD. Back at reception we left our cases with them, and handed in the keys, paid the bill for telephone and laundry etc, thankfully not as much as Sean thought it would be. We saw a note instructing us that our plane would be delayed, so the bus would collect us 90 minutes later than planned. So we had some extra time on our hands! We decided the beach would be a good place to spend our last hours.

We were taking pictures of lizards, when a Canadian guy took our photo. Karolina and Sean, last day on the beach. Photo by a Canadian guy.The weather was cooler and we had a last game of pool, and some final shopping, as well as a snack in the snack bar, a few last drinks in the bar and some last photo taking. The bus picked us up at 16.15, the planning was very good and we were informed about everything. The trip to the airport didn't take longer than 30 minutes with just a single stop at another hotel on the way. This time we had a more luxurious and larger bus, and the driver seemed extremely careful compared with any of the others. At the airport we had plenty of time....about 3 hours. Couldn't quite understand the logic getting there so early, but it meant we had time to shop of course.

Once our cases were checked in and we were through security we looked around the shops. The shop owners jumped on you here too, although not as much as the beach sellers. We bought a 1.75litre bottle of Absolut vodka for 20USD. It's strange as this is a Swedish made product. It gets exported to the Dominican Republic, and bought by Swedes who take it back again, and at the fraction of the price available in Sweden - silly really. The pool at the Merengue. Photo (c) Karolina Karlsson 2004

We ate a few Dominican pasty type things, and drunk a beer brought from the hotel room mini-bar, but it wasn't nearly so nice being slightly warm. With still plenty of time, and a further delay boarding the plane, we had a couple of Presidente beers at the airport bar, paying 3USD each for the pleasure, still they were cold. Shame the all inclusive doesn't stretch as far as the airport. We were a little confused about departure tax. It should have been 20USD each, but saw no-one paying it and no-where to pay.

Finally we board the plane, this time we have seats next to each other. The flight is overnight and very uncomfortable, and we managed to get no sleep at all. A evening meal was served being very salty, possibly a ploy to make you buy drinks which weren't included (except tea/coffee a bit later). Breakfast also came very quickly due to the time difference. Films were Piglets big movie, How to Dump a guy in 10 days and Bruce Almighty. Karolinas mum and dad picked us up from the airport when we arrived, which was great particularly not having to worry about taking a further bus or train to get home. We were exhausted but happy to have made such a fascinating trip, and are already talking about the next trip!


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