Do I have to go back to reality?

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Last day of no worries! One last buffet breakfast where again the plate was a jumble. Pancakes (not very good), fruit, hasbrowns, fried cheese, rice pudding and a donut. I'm sure some people eat and eat and eat but I limited myself to one trip each time I ate at the buffet. Otherwise I would have had to buy new pants!

First I was just going to sit on the beach so I wouldn't have a super wet suit to pack. Then I decided I had to get in the water and it didn't matter if things were wet in my suitcase. Threw on my suit, slapped on some sunscreen and gave myself an hour and a half in my happy place. One of the most relaxing sounds is waves crashing on the shore. Whether I'm sitting on the beach or listening from a hotel room, it's always soothing. The lack of seagulls and other birds making noise and threatening to poop on me was also a positive. I saw a few pelicans out over the water and there were some little birds in the trees but this beach was completely free of gulls. Also no shells, which was disappointing. I finally had to force myself out of the water and back to my room to rinse off and get packed.

My shuttle back to the airport was due a little after 11 so about 10:30 I slowly walked back to the lobby to check out. And the shuttle showed up early and I was the only one again! This time I had a driver who sang along with the radio and agreed with me about the crazy drivers and kept calling me baby. So that was the end of my Dominican Republic experience.

I had a lot more time to spend in the airport with arriving well before my flight. I was able to finish checking in after showing a United agent my test result email. Security was quick and then I was out in the shopping/food area. They make you walk through all the shops to get to the gate area. But it worked out because I found a nativity set. I had lunch at Wendys and then had 2 hours to sit and read before my flight. The Punta Cana airport is an announcement free airport. This means there are no "Unattended luggage will be confiscated" messages but it also means the gate agents don't have microphones and you have no clue when your flight is boarding or what group can go. I just went after one line of people had gone through. No one seemed to care if it wasn't time for group 4 to board. The gate goes outside where there were a few guys playing music for tips! That's a first! Then a short shuttle ride to the plane to board. I was lucky this time and the middle seat was open so I didn't have to worry about anyone bumping into me from the side.

The flight back was smooth, passport control was quick and I got to take the new people mover back to the parking garage.

Overall, I really enjoyed this trip. I was hesitant after reading the reviews of the hotel but I think people are just too demanding. They complained about slow service (hello, still a pandemic with limited staff), lines for the restaurants (again Covid and limited seating), unfriendly staff (I think this is because the people writing the reviews weren't friendly to begin with) and poor craftmanship in the rooms. I don't care if the tile isn't straight in a room. As long as it's clean and quiet I'm good. Everyone had a friendly Hola to start and I tried to ask in Spanish if I could, but generally failed. I would later remember what the words were but couldn't in the moment. The only issue I had was the room not being the right one and even that wasn't a problem. Both rooms were perfectly fine. If I had stayed longer I would have looked into day trips so I could see the country but for only 2 full days it was best to do nothing. Also, my feet were not flip flop ready so I'm glad I had other sandals along as I ended up wearing them the entire time.

Would I recommend this hotel? Yes. Would I recommend an all-inclusive beach trip? Yes, but if you don't like warm weather, humidity and sitting by the beach all day then no. I could read at home but it's much nicer to read somewhere else.

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