Our trip....and my stomach

For our 2 year anniversary we decided to head to the Dominican Republic since it was somewhere tropical I had never been. Philip's boss went to the Dominican last spring to propose to his girlfriend and suggested a resort that he stayed at as a "great deal and a great place!" So... as we pondered our anniversary back in November we booked the trip for 6 days for April 25th to May 1st.

We arrived in Punta Cana!

All in all we had a nice and relaxing trip. Got a great tan, massages (which were wonderful) relaxed on the beach beach and enjoyed the ambiance of the resort as well as the fountains and architecture. Unfortunately the service and food were not what we expected. The gym as well as our room smelled musty and slightly mildewy. We got used to the room but the gym odor kept us away more than we had planned. We found other ways to be active!

The first night!

The resort was well decorated with large staircases and many long/large pools. The beach was gorgeous and also was quite big. You could walk up and down the beaches and see into the other resorts which was fun to do when we needed a change in scenery. We saw a lot of boobs... large boobs, saggy boobs, fake boobs, hershey kisses, small nipples, big nipples. You name it we saw it. There were too many people topless to count on a daily basis. Philip even swears he saw someone naked but I never saw that.

Our patio with Philip in the Jacuzzi!

The view from the patio of our room.

We enjoyed an in room jacuzzi and a patio jacuzzi. We definitely enjoyed both of them on many occassions. The bed was fantastic and we both slept like angels the entire time. I don't know if it was the booze or being exhausted from the beach or both...but the beds were heaven! We enjoyed getting dressed up every night for dinner in the brightest beachy clothes we had. I am sure people referred to us as the "bright couple!".

The first night in typical Bass-Schreibman tradition we got both got picked to be in the Battle of the Sexes show. We have some great photos that will be wonderful black mail on day. by the end of the night we were soaked sweating from running around the entire amphitheater trying to win for our respective teams. Another night Philip decided that he wanted to volunteeer me to dance the Meringue with one of the entertinament staff . To sum that up in one sentence... The guy said I needed to loosen up hahah! Philip enjoyed participating ini all of the activities at the resort to incude Water Volleyball and Aerobics. We got some great photos of beach Aerobics!

Philip and his beach aerobics!

We did an exciting excursion while we were on the trip.... or at least it was exciting to Philip. I am not a hug excursion fan. I would rather sit my lazy butt on the beach and read my book on most vacations. We went snorkeling, swam with sharks (nurse sharks) and held a sting ray (minus the sting!). The afternoon we chose for this trip happened to be the only afternoon it really did rain for more than 1 hour so it was perfect. Since we were in the water it didnt matter that it was raining. Although it was quite chilly when you got out and had to stand on a boat for an hour to head back to mainland.

On the way to swim with sharks...

Before

After

We learned to master the concept "Hurry up and wait!" on this trip a lot :)

Lesson Learned #1 First and foremost... we will never vacation at an all inclusive resort that allows children unless we ourselves plan to bring our own children (when that day comes). Adult trips are adult trips... We did not think about this until we got there and realized how different this trip was compared to our honeymoon at an adults only resort. BIG Difference... especially when it comes to entertainment, activities and relaxation.

Lesson Learned #2 Kids don't know the difference between Hilton Head and Punta Cana... Why pay $1000 to bring your child to Punta Cana and have to deal with all of the travel when you can drive to Hilton Head or the closest beach for 1/4 of the cost!? I am still trying to figure this one out...

The last night was when things went down hill for me. I didn't drink too much on this trip because the drinks were just not that great in general to me. I did however eat the food but, was cautious about what I ate. Out of the 7 restaurants 2-3 were decent. The others were just plain BLAH or you felt like a piece of meat being rushed in and out of the place. The last night I ate grouper. Always drank bottled water and brushed my teeth with it. I woke up at 4:30 AM on the last day in EXTREME stomach pain. I was completely nauseated and my stomach kept going into my chest and then back down. I felt awful. Luckily it was raining the entire morning so I didn’t miss out on the critical sun time. I laid in bed rocking myself in hopes that I would feel better before we had to leave for the airport at 12 noon. Nothing helped. The sight, smell and thought of food made me feel even worse (DISCLAIMER: NOT PREGNANT!). It was a rough day for me in general. We got to the Punta Cana airport safely but we had to wait in lines for 3 hours in 85 degree weather with intense humidity. I was bent over in line the entire team trying not to toss my cookies or pass out. We made it onto the plane and I was able to relax a little, although my whole body ached.. booo. Got to Atlanta safely, ate some chicken noodle soup as we ran to the plane. I had not eaten in almost 24 hours so I needed something at this point and I could handle 1/2 cup of broth by now. We arrived in Charlotte by 10:30 PM. I started to feel a little better thinking this was temporary.....WRONG.

I am still sick to my stomach. Damn - Dominican Stomach Bug. I dislike you. I don’t understand why you had to turn my relaxing vacation upside down.

Needless to say we love vacations , we had a fantastic spending time together and are already plotting where we should go next year :)