After our Croatia trip with the boys in 2018, I told Kelvin that I was taking off 2019 from international travel if it included children. While he and I managed to have a few-day Southwest getaway in August which really felt like a break, I am very anxious amidst traveling with kids and not that keen to do so (due to the logistics of getting from point A to point B while herding/redirecting roaming toddlers, the lack of steady routines, including inadequate sleep times and jetlag [and resulting kids' breakdowns or poor behavior], and the need to be well-prepared in terms of packing and having sufficient on-demand food/snacks, in particular). Adult-only traveling feels like a breeze in comparison, as trips with young kids up feeling far more exhausting than they are enjoyable (I'm constantly wondering if the destination(s) make the [pain of the] journey(s) worth it...)
Nevertheless, earlier in the year, Kelvin floated the idea of going to an all-inclusive resort in the warm Caribbean for Christmas (when the kids' childcare center is closed), including my parents in the "vacation" trip so the kids could spend some quality time with their farther-away grandparents. When he was met with resistance on my part, he swore that he'd make all the arrangements (without the need for day-to-day itinerary planning or coordination, which is usually my "job") and that we'd stay in one place for the duration of the getaway. Thought reluctant, I (generally always up for visiting more countries) ultimately agreed. If you read my last blog post, you probably know that I was, at that time, regretting my accession to the deal (and this didn't even detail the pre-trip [i.e. the week before] "travel advisory" of which we became aware that the resort was closed during our anticipated travel dates due to renovations [which didn't end up being the case]). Nevertheless, it ended up being a pretty nice (and even relaxing, at times) trip, as you can see from the many photos I'll post below (although be wary of all the smiles, as there were lots of tears and plenty of whining that is not captured by camera).
On Christmas Eve morning, we flew from Dulles to Punta Cana (a beachside town on the eastern side of the Dominican Republic, which is part of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, which includes Haiti to the west) on an early morning flight, and the three and a half hours passed fairly uneventfully. Niall napped a bit and the kids were both very well behaved. We were met at the airport by a van which took us straight to our resort, the Now Larimar. Kelvin checked in to our family suite while I tried to keep the kids out of the lobby fountain (fairly unsuccessfully, and with one head injury-- Niall, running away from me, banged his head on a lobby chair, getting a nice bump and a small laceration) while trying to "enjoy" the welcome drink. After the check-in, though, it was fairly smooth sailing for the rest of the trip.
We spent the next three days enjoying the warm (~80-degree) weather and sun (my Dad, for one, appreciated getting out of winter in VA), the resort's three pools, direct beach access, unlimited and delicious food and drinks (while the kids were free, they definitely ate their money's worth and had never seen so many choices of food and desserts!!), and Christmas-themed events, including stellar buffets, live entertainment (and lots of techno versions of Christmas carols on the stereo system), Santa hat-wearing staff, and a living Nativity. We had a double-room suite, allowing for naps and separate sleeping spaces, and Niall slept extremely well in their provided crib, while Iver insisted on co-sleeping with a parent in the other room (not our favorite thing to do, as the involved parent doesn't really sleep well). Niall also has shown a lot of potty-training readiness, pooping on the potty most of the trip, so we only had a couple of messy diaper changes throughout which made things easier/far more pleasant. While we unfortunately didn't get to see more of the country (country #61 for me, #5 for Iver, and #2 for Niall) than the Punta Cana area, we did get glimpses of the culture and the warmth of the Dominican people, and definitely had some good R&R with poolside reading time for me (I finished a good sweeping novel Pachinko by Min Jin Lee on my kindle) and quality grandparent time.
Happy to be in the tropics
Pool time fun
"pretending" to nap, poolside
One
of the pools had a large chess set and my Dad was keen on teaching Iver
(the board game lover) how to play (I think he's got the basics down).
Uno in the lobby bar
Christmas Smiles
("Will Santa know we're in the Dominican Republic?" asked Iver).
Santa Delivered!
The boys enjoyed riding the shuttle between our "Garden View" rooms and the main hotel lobby (and playing in another vehicle).
They frolicked in the sand and chased waves at the beach.
(it was rare to get all parties in the photo to smile simultaneously!)
You can't tell how tall he looked as he bent over for the photo, but here is a "Tall guy" (on stilts) we saw at a Christmas celebration on the beach ("I thought the 'Tall guy' [of the North Coast festivals] lived on the Arcata Plaza," remarked Iver).
Some evenings after dinner, we "relaxed" on the terrace with live music...
... which included trying to keep Niall away from open flames.
Dancing
Our "smiley Nially" really has his photo "CHEESE!" down!
On our last full day in Punta Cana, we booked an excursion to the Dolphin Explorer park, where we got to get up and close with dolphins (neither of the kids wanted anything to do with the mammals when we were in the water, unfortunately) and a stingray, and also feed some tropical birds and watch some sea lions in action. Unfortunately, the park forbade close-up photo-taking of the dolphin encounter (us kissing, petting, and dancing with the friendly creatures) so that you'd be forced to buy their overpriced photo bundle package, so we only have a few snaps from this part of our trip (and a couple digital photos-of-photos for this blog of the couple we did purchase).
Vested up!
In the water (kids notably apprehensive of the ray... you should have seen the tears when we were up close to the dolphins!)
Saltatory dolphin
Feeding the birds
Sea lion show
Fishy smooch like the one we got
I definitely understand the appeal of resorts for vacationers (especially when you have young kids). To not have to worry about finding your way around everywhere or acquiring food and drink takes a lot of the stress out of travel. While I feel and felt somewhat unsettled at these types of places (I think it's some combination of discomfort from being "waited on," which seems very elitist/classist, as well as feeling as though I'm wasting resources [I cringed every time I had to crack open a plastic water bottle, as the tap water in DR is not potable, and hesitated when I saw the enormous spread at the buffet, knowing that so many people in the world have so little food]. Nevertheless, until I can, without undue stress, take kids on trips of my preferred style (exploring culture, history, and nature), it may be more stay-in-one-place travel (or no travel) for us in the near future...
...but, knowing Kelvin (and me), this will probably not be the case. Anyway-- Merry Christmas!
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