Travel Planning

I love to travel. Ask me to describe myself, and after telling people I am from San Diego, the next thing out of my mouth is likely to be something about a trip I went on, or a trip that I am planning for. For the past few months I have been walking around in a complete funk. Why? Because the trip I was planning to go on in December was canceled. 10 day cruise in the Mediterranean starting in Rome, pit stops in Greece and ending in Egypt -- to be taken with my friends Rudy and Anya -- cancelled by the cruise company Norwegian Cruise Lines. When you add in the fact that the cruise itself was going to cost only $800 since we were sharing a suite, you can understand both my disappointment and frustration.

Besides whining about my trip being canceled, the incident required that I do some soul searching. Do I want to travel solo anymore? Do I want to hook up with friends on a trip that they have planned? Do I want to go someplace new, or continue to explore a place I am coming to know better. Do I want to volunteer, deepen a skill, visit friends? Ultimately, I settled on wanting to travel to another country in Latin America and include some time on a beach. Not because this body has any desire to be seen in a swimsuit (I'm dreading that). Instead, because I want to have time to be inspired to relax. Have a couple drinks. Read a book. Do less.

Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic bubbled up to the top of the pack. For one, because although they speak Spanish, those are two accents that I have never been able to understand. Secondly, because I would be able to afford to travel there. And thirdly, and let's be honest it's the real reason, the people are hot. I want to see some fine bodies walk by on vacation. I don't care that I'm not looking to be caught. Looking will be just fine by me.

My newest hairdresser, Trell Hair on Fairfax and La Brea (inside joke to IE friends), highly recommended Dominican Republic. After hearing that enthusiastic response, any hesitation was melted away and I started the process of wrapping my brain around the Dominican Republic.

My travel planning fun includes doing strange things like bidding for books on ebay; travel books like DK Eyewitness, Frommer's, and Budget Travel. I read websites to get a sense of what some of the major areas of the country and brush up a bit on their historical nuances. Once I've learned about the region, I get interested in reading works from authors of that country (any suggestions: cause I haven't gotten to this part of my "research") and learning about their relationship with their neighbors (not so good, I'm learning). I like going onto sites like expedia, travelocity, tripadvisor, and hotels.com to read hotel and tour reviews. Learn what people like and what people complain about. I'm not worried about the spoiler alerts so much as being able to have balanced expectations that there will be good and bad, and that my experience will nonetheless different from that of others.

With all of that the excitement starts to grow as I get ready to press the "purchase" button for the flights, tours, or hotels. I double check my math. I re-check if there were any discount travel coupons that I missed. I validate that my credit cards have sufficient travel coverage in case of emergency. I triple check if I missed some important detail that could make me later regret my decision. And finally, I make the plunge.

So, that's what I have spent my weekend doing. Researching the Dominican Republic. The geography, the land, the history, how the people perceive themselves, how authors perceive the islanders, and images of what they want to present to tourists. So far, I have been surprised at how incongruent those three viewpoints are! Which means this is going to be a location that is right up my alley.

I've settled on traveling to Puerto Plata in the northern point of the island. It's the location near where Cristobal Colon landed and established the first European township in the "New World." It's near where massacres have happened due to disease (Europeans & Tainos), massacres have happened due to racism (1960s border with Haiti), and yet the area has continued to evolve through tourism dollars (both domestic and international visitors). I look forward to being at a resort where the international visitors complain that the locals "take over" on the weekend, so I can get a taste of their lives. And I look forward to finding locals who are willing to share their country with me.

I'm hoping it will be quite the ride!