When you’re sitting in the Caribbean sipping your Rum and Coke or Pina Colada you really don’t expect to be thinking about how a snow storm is going to affect your vacation. That is until you remember your return flight or flight taking to the Dominican Republic takes you through New York. As of noon today (Friday the 8th of Feb) over 3000 flights were canceled around the New York and Boston areas (over 1000 in New York Alone) with more than 60 airports already affected. And at this point the storm has just begun. This affects all flights going to New York from Santo Domingo, Punta Cana, La Romana, Santiago, and Puerto Plata.

The main snowfall from winter storm Nemo is expected to come in the late afternoon to early evening and things are expected to taper off by noon Saturday.
JFK Friday Morning

My wife and I were sitting in the airport in New York this morning hoping our flight was going to make it out before the winter storm Nemo hit. As we watched the snow starting to fall many of our fellow passengers were starting to get anxious. By 7am in the morning airport employees were starting to mention the possibilities of delays and cancellations of flight within the next new hours.
Something else you don’t often see at the airports in the Dominican Republic (more…)

Villa Gonzalez Assembly hall of Jehovahs Witnesses

For many the main reason for coming to the Dominican Republic is to help people improve their lives and have a better hope for the future. The bible education work is a principle part of the lives of Jehovah’s Witnesses that come to the DR to work as Missionaries or Need-Greaters. Often the highlight of their visit is going to an assembly either in one of the native languages of the Dominican Republic like Spanish and Creole or in one of the other growing foreign languages of the DR like English, Russian, Chinese and French.

There are two Assembly halls or Salón de Asambleas in the Dominican Republic for the Jehovah’s Witnesses or Testigos de Jehová in Spanish. One is in Santo Domingo and is attached to the Bethel Branch office and the other is located in Villa Gonzalez near Santiago.

Getting to the Assembly Hall

If you are taking local transportation to get to the assembly hall you will likely be arriving into Santiago using one of the GuaGua companies like Expreso Quinto Patio, or one of the larger tour busses like Expreso Vegano or Caribe Tours. The smaller guaguas will normally drop you off at various locations. Ask them to drop you off at the “Parada de Villa González” at “Treinta de Marso”. This is the GuaGua bus stop that heads out to Villa González and will pass right past the assembly hall.

Assembly hall entrance from Highway 1

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Since moving to the Dominican Republic my family and I have had many opportunities to test out the various airlines that service the DR. American Airlines has never been our favorite. Several of the planes American and American Eagle use are very crowded (I’m 6’1”), the lines for the ticket and check in counters are always among the longest at the airport and on the majority of my trips to the States I’ve had to wait at least once while they work on some equipment failure. Since American Airlines filed bankruptcy back in November of 2011 things have continued to get worse.

Before I continue Yes, there are a number of other companies that fly out of the DR including Delta and JetBlue (my favorite), however, flights to California for a family of 4 are pretty expensive. The difference in ticket prices from the different airlines can be as much as $200 – $300 per ticket. That adds up when you are working with four tickets at a time. So, we usually try for one of the lower priced tickets at the time we want to fly which at times is American Eagle. Given the choice we will usually pay a little more so we can fly with JetBlue but this time the difference was too high.

So, let me describe our most recent experience. Given the choice we will usually pay a little more so we can fly with JetBlue but this time the difference was too high so ”bite the bullet” and book with American.

Santiago International Airport (STI)

Santiago International Airport (STI). For this flight only my wife and one of my sons were heading out. So I unloaded their bags helped them check in and went up to the second floor observation lounge to wait to make sure they got through customs alright. Usually when heading out of Santiago customs goes easily and this time was no exception. The plane though was a different story.

While sitting up in the lounge I noticed them struggling with the door to the plane. There are two main doors on the front of the plane one swung out and the other appeared to move in and then slide over. The main door that they use is the sliding door. While I wasn’t watching for the unloading part, apparently they couldn’t get the door to open and they used a second staircase truck to unload everyone out the other door.

This was actually pretty entertaining as they hammered on the door, tried prying it, shouldered it a couple times, jabbed screwdrivers into the rolling mechanism, and then finally called some sort of tech support (I couldn’t hear anything but it was a rather animated conversation punctuated by occasional rattling of the door. (more…)

Lifestyles Resort Puerto Plata

UK to Dominican Republic Travel Tips

The Dominican Republic is one of the most important Caribbean islands and one of the preferred holiday destinations for many UK holidaymakers. According to the Dominican authorities, more than 200,000 British tourists visit this Caribbean nation each year, and it is not difficult to understand why.

Although relatively small in size, this island offers a variety of attractions that go beyond its beaches and nightlife. The Dominican Republic is home to no less than 14 national parks and to numerous historical towns and villages that will delight the visitor with their rich heritage. The island’s capital, Santo Domingo, is a designated UNESCO site thanks to its well preserved examples of colonial architecture. There are 26 golf courses located in some of the island’s most stunning locations, and as a result, the Dominican Republic is a premier destination for golf enthusiasts from all over the world.

And of course, there is the beach life. The coastal towns of Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, and La Romana are home to miles of beaches of breathtaking beauty, which are often the backdrop for weddings, honeymoons, and other special occasions. The popular resorts of the coast also make for a great base from which it is possible to explore other destinations, like the coffee growing mountains of the interior and other less well-known fishing villages on the island’s eastern coast.

However, being 9 hours away from the United Kingdom, the Dominican Republic still remains a long haul destination, and as such, booking a holiday to this Caribbean island can be an expense that turns out heavy on the pocket. If you are planning the holiday of a lifetime in the Dominican Republic and want to know how to go about finding the best deals to the island, this article will tell you everything there is to know about it.

Tips for finding the best deals from the UK to the Dominican Republic

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Due to the hurricane predictions for Tropical Storm Isaac, JetBlue is allowing for a fee waver for passengers that want to make flight changes to and from Punta Cana, Santiago, Santo Domingo, Puerto Plato, and La Romana.

Tropical Storm Isaac is expected to have hurricane force winds by the time it reaches the Dominican Republic later today causing delays to flights to Dominican international Airports.

For more information on JetBlues ticket fee waver you can go to (more…)

Due to the path of Tropical Storm Isaac, American Airlines has already made updates to their Caribbean Travel Policy (see link below) allowing ticket holders to change their flights to and from La Romana, Dominican Republic (LRM), Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (PUJ), Santiago, Dominican Republic (STI) and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (SDQ) as well as other destinations in the Caribbean.

As per the AA website if your travel date is between August 22-26, 2012 and was issued no later than Aug 22, 2012 you can change your travel date to between Aug 22-26 and the ticket reissue charge will be waved for one ticket change. You can call their 800 number to make the change at 1-800-433-7300.

Tropical Storm Isaac is expected to reach Punta Cana Thursday and may have reached hurricane force winds by this time. Punta Cana is at this time at a tropical storm watch with the rest of the northern part of the Dominican Republic while the southern part of the Dominican Republic is at a hurricane warning. The storm is still too far out to know where the center of the storm is going to pass.

There is a greater likelihood of Isaac producing hurricane force winds for La Romana, Boca Chica, Santo Domingo and other cities on the .southern coast of the DR.

We will be continuing to post updates (more…)

I am finding more and more foreigners that are buying Real Estate in the Dominican Republic. While I favor renting for many reasons, many people are taking advantage of the great Real Estate prices here, coupled with the good conversion rate between the US dollar and the Dominican peso which is currently about 38 pesos to the dollar.

Buying Real Estate in the DR poses several risks that are not usually a problem in the US. I’ll be going over many of these as this post progresses. Along with the additional risks there are other things you need to consider. It basically comes down to the necessity of taking your time and investigating the property before you make a purchase.
Prices

First thing to know is if you only speak English you are very likely to end up paying more for the property than you would if you can speak the local language, Spanish. This is the same whether you are planning on renting or buying a property. Personally I like to look around a bit, than have a Dominican friend come in at a different time and ask the price. He will usually be able to get the same property for at times as little as half the price.

Power and Water

It is important to understand that the utilities here are not near as good as in most countries. The voltage at a house I have rented in the past varied from 70 volts (sometimes less) to over 150 volts. (more…)

The smallest of the Dominican internet providers Tricom, has concluded a deal with China based Huawei to upgrade their services to the new 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution). LTE is a trademark of ETSI

This announcement follows the announcement on June 6th that Telecom is planning to invest more than $125 million USD in upgrades tho ther fiber optic coverage with about $40 million USD to be invested in the next year. This would move the network up to a bandwith capacity of 1GH (Gigahertz).

So far the major emphisis is in the usual larger markets of the National District, Santo Domingo East and West, San Pedro de Macoris and La Romana. Future services upgrades are planned for Santiago, La Vega, Bonao and the San Francisco area.

The upgrades are part of the new product push called “Internet Max” that takes advantage of internet speed up to 100MB using an infrastructure of hybrid fiber optic network (HFC)

Here is a look at the Current Tricom plans as per www.tricom.net. (more…)

Wind Telecom is one of the newer providers of telecommunication services in the Dominican Republic. Wind provides some of the fastest high speed internet in the DR at some of the lowest prices. Wind telecom started in Santo Domingo and is at this time limited to only a few of the largest cities, although they are expanding rapidly to cover more area. I have several friends that are fortunate enough to have Wind in their area. Wind provides much faster high speed internet than Claro at a considerably lower price.

Wind 4G coverage is currently available in Santiago, Moca, La Romana, San Cristo, San Francisco de Macoris and in several barrios in Santo Domingo Hato Nuevo, Bayona, Cuidad Agraria, and Los Alcarrizos. Wind is working on moving into La Vega. (more…)

Just an interesting note. Quite often when you make a call to a help desk for your computer or other forms of electronics you are connected with someone who obviously has English as a second, third… language. Many of the larger companies are now off-shoring their customer service. Cheap labor can be found in man of the developing countries including the DR.

I read one report on the subject where it was stated that call center agents make $460-$640 US Dollars per month in Santiago and about $750 per month in Santo Domingo. While this isn’t considered a great wage by US standards compared to the $10 per day most workers in the compos and fields get or about $200 per month textile workers get in the cities, (more…)