Your Next Vacation Destination.....?

Just got back from DR. This time went from city to city. Santo Domingo, Jatabacos and Samana.

Samana was one of the most buestiful places I’ve seen in DR. Seen the Dominican treehouse village.

Went paragliding, sailing. Zipline (16 line through the jungle after hiking for 20 mins in the jungle. Amazing!), beaches...
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Just got back from DR. This time went from city to city. Santo Domingo, Jatabacos and Samana.

Samana was one of the most buestiful places I’ve seen in DR.

Went paragliding, sailing. Zipline, beaches...
62DEEE35-3131-4E9A-94EC-E6730B22441A.jpeg
I have those same Huarache's, a real mother to keep clean.
 
The winds were too high to go surfing and it was too late to go scuba diving. I will do the scuba diving in Egypt in Feb.

If you’re wanting to explore somewhere beautiful, go to Samana. I stayed in an eco hotel (due to the lack of resource of water), the hotel looks like Dominican homes on the outside but modern in the inside with free WiFi. Rates were $80 a night, free breakfast, amazing service and accommodation, and a view to die for. There’s no air condition but only fans and because it sits higher on the mountain and by the sea, you get all the breeze needed. The pool is bio clean by fishes.

Samana is a hidden gem. The hotel is called Hacienda El Cocuyo...

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Just spent 3 weeks in Bali, going To Australia in 3 days for a month and then. Hawaï for a week.
For the one going To Panama and CR, you should definitely go To San Blas and Bastimiento while you're in Panama, and for CR go to Samara and Puerto Viejo (spent 5 months there for my thesis). If you like rafting do the Pacuare river rafting tour.
 
The winds were too high to go surfing and it was too late to go scuba diving. I will do the scuba diving in Egypt in Feb.

If you’re wanting to explore somewhere beautiful, go to Samana. I stayed in an eco hotel (due to the lack of resource of water), the hotel looks like Dominican homes on the outside but modern in the inside with free WiFi. Rates were $80 a night, free breakfast, amazing service and accommodation, and a view to die for. There’s no air condition but only fans and because it sits higher on the mountain and by the sea, you get all the breeze needed. The pool is bio clean by fishes.

Samana is a hidden gem. The hotel is called Hacienda El Cocuyo...

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What is the closets airport or will you need to take a boat to the location.
 
What is the closets airport or will you need to take a boat to the location.

Samana has a small international airport: Samaná El Catey International Airport. The ticket price are rather high because of the lack of resources.

I suggest that you fly into Santo Domingo (SDQ). Take a Uber ($13 as oppose to paying $40 cab) to a rental place (Nelly) in downtown Santo Domingo. Airport rental is fairly higher.

Rent you a small SUV because you’re going up a mountain. Cost me $200 with insurance for 3 days. (They upgraded me for free since they didn’t have one available) The drive was 2 hours but I got to see the amazing view of DR.

Driving in city of Santo Domingo is crazy. People driving on the sidewalk, running red lights, cars coming opposite direction. They’re very aggressive and fast drivers. I’m okay with it because I made too, but once you get on the highway, it’s one lane the whole trip. You ride through villages and towns. Beautiful and eye opening. A lot of heartbreaking stuff to see at the same time, you see the country side beauty.

Samana is great for surfing, fishing, whale sighting. They have 5 beaches. The tourist most popular one with the surfing and sailing is Playa Bonita. They also have 3-4 Limón (waterfalls) in Samana.

You can park the car and rent you a 4x4 to get around. I didn’t do that, instead I drove around in the suv.

The driving in samana is like the us. It’s not as bad at SD. The country itself has a lot of moto riders so treat them like cycle; drive around them, honk at then.

The local beaches outside of Playa Bonita (tourist beach so a lot of restaurants) had local cooking fresh in front of you. Amazing! So see the local beaches.

This is a drone photo we took of one of the beaches closest to the Dominican Tree house Village (El Valle) - also where the zip line was located.

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These are photos from Playa Bonita we took:

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Went to London and Budapest early December for the wife's bday and just a vacation. 2 weeks. Was amazing. I will post some pics when I get some time here.
 
How far in advance are you guys planning these trips?

I have like 400k Chase UR points I want to use on a vacation, but want to maximize value. How early ahead of the actual trip should I be looking?
 
How far in advance are you guys planning these trips?

I have like 400k Chase UR points I want to use on a vacation, but want to maximize value. How early ahead of the actual trip should I be looking?


I plan my trips 2-3 months in advanced. For pricing and research purposes.
 
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Just spent 3 weeks in Bali, going To Australia in 3 days for a month and then. Hawaï for a week.
For the one going To Panama and CR, you should definitely go To San Blas and Bastimiento while you're in Panama, and for CR go to Samara and Puerto Viejo (spent 5 months there for my thesis). If you like rafting do the Pacuare river rafting tour.
how was Bali? want to decide between there or Thailand
 
how was Bali? want to decide between there or Thailand
I only went To Bali because my friend has a house over there. Other than that I have always seen Bali as a mass tourism destination. When i travel I like To meet locals and consume local. I am against these foreign owned resorts where they treat you depending on how much you're paying. The south of Bali is way too crowded in my opinion. What i like the most was the northwest part of Bali, very Nice people (they dont only see you as a walking wallet), its cheaper than the south and Ubud and you have amazing snorkeling spots. Me and my girl wanted To go To the Gili islands but rain season just started.
 
Going to Greece in May for my honeymoon. Thinking about staying in santorini and Mykonos (7 days total).. any tips or places to see??

Also, have to figure out where I’m going for my bachelor party. Any suggestions on spots that aren’t too expensive for the group?
 
there's NOTHING to do in ottawa. i was given a 3 day free hotel stay cuz i got booked for a festival and left 2pm on 2nd day cuz I got fed up
:lol:

my wife wanted to go there because she was told by a patient it's a good place to visit with kids

she has since changed her mind though...don't want to get passports for three kids...we may need to renew ours as well if we did that
 
Heading to Banff in a couple weeks, then Beijing in April. Gonna try and squeeze in Seoul, South Korea on the China trip but we'll see. Looking forward to Lake Louise and the Great Wall, respectively.

Anyone been skiing/snowboarding in Ogden,UT? I heard its a hidden gem. I think I'll try and get a quick weekend trip before the season is over. Depends on how my bank acct feels :lol:

Also, I have a podcast and YT channel focusing on travelers or color. Stories, reviews, tips, etc. Check it out if you get a chance

YouTube/Sound cloud/iTunes: 195 Stamps
 
Heading to Banff in a couple weeks, then Beijing in April. Gonna try and squeeze in Seoul, South Korea on the China trip but we'll see. Looking forward to Lake Louise and the Great Wall, respectively.

Anyone been skiing/snowboarding in Ogden,UT? I heard its a hidden gem. I think I'll try and get a quick weekend trip before the season is over. Depends on how my bank acct feels :lol:

Also, I have a podcast and YT channel focusing on travelers or color. Stories, reviews, tips, etc. Check it out if you get a chance

YouTube/Sound cloud/iTunes: 195 Stamps

Been wanting to go Banff for a while. Hopefully will at some point in '19 or '20 but more likely '20.

Have Colombia and Germany on deck for this year, Medellin and Berlin later in the year for the marathon. A couple domestic trips to Sarasota and Chicago as well, and possibly New Orleans.
 
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