One last picture of the mountains.
The bus came early enough to ensure we had plenty of time wait, once through security. Rob and I were both very thirsty; we had over an hour to wait until boarding the plane, and then even in the air it often takes another hour before the drinks are served. So we dug deep into our pockets.
$4 USD for this small bottle of juice...which I guess if you consider that we shared it, it was only $2US per person, which maybe isn't quite so bad. :)
The plane we took home was coming in from Toronto; that's when I realized how our delay the previous Saturday would have had all any passengers going home that day waiting an extra two hours too!
The luggage was duly inspected...
...and we were on our way home, right on schedule. When we boarded the plane, the pilot informed us it had been -18 degrees celsius when he had left Toronto that morning! GROAN! :)
Our last sightings of the island.
Once nice thing about the flights is we were served a meal on both Saturdays. I wasn't expecting that, as I didn't think many airlines served meals anymore, but we had a hot breakfast the previous Saturday (an egg muffin, which was good except for the plastic cheese), and on the way home we were served pizza.
Coming into Toronto.
Our plane landed at 3:15 Toronto time, about 30 minute early. This is when our frustrations with Pearson began again. Customs was a breeze, and we were soon waiting by the luggage carousel. Waiting. And waiting. Finally a few pieces of luggage came. Then that was it. We waited. And waited. Another passenger had deciphered one of the garbled announcements well enough to conclude that there were conveyor belt problems again, and that was the cause for the delay. Finally, two of our three suitcases came. Then, the conveyor and the whole carousel stopped. Need I say frustrating? We'd been waiting for over an hour by then. Two policewomen came in, and took the only 2 pieces of luggage on the carousel, and looked through them. We have no idea what that was all about. After 10 more minutes, the carousel started moving again, and then our third suitcase was the fourth one to come down! Off we went!
The next event in our journey home was called "chase the shuttle bus". We had parked in a self-serve lot, and there was a shuttle bus to take us back to our car. We had to wait outside...it had warmed up to about a balmy -10. We didn't have coats, hats nor gloves, just sweaters. There was a large group of people waiting already, when we got to the designated location. This particular parking operator had two levels of service - valet and regular. We saw at least 2 valet buses before a regular bus came. Unfortunately, the driver tried a little too hard to get close to the sidewalk and side-swiped the van of another parking operator, despite many shouted warnings from the waiting passengers. This bus very quickly filled up, and not necessarily with people who had been waiting the longest. However, because of the accident, the driver had to call a manager, and wait for a manager to come out and inspect the damage. So the people on the bus were still waiting, just in slightly warmer conditions. It was, afterall, after 5:00pm and a balmy -10 degrees :). We continued to wait. Another valet bus or two came, and then another regular bus. As the first bus was still waiting for the manager, this bus had to go in front of it. So now we expecting to be at the front of the line, were at the back. We went running over, but the bus filled up immediately...with people who had just walked out of the terminal! However, almost right away another regular bus came, and we had to run over to it too (in the other direction), but not very many people seemed to notice it, because we got on, and it wasn't even full completely when we left the area. When all was said and done, we were in our car at 5:30, more than 2 hours after touchdown!
We stopped in at my parents for a late supper, and then home! Home sweet home! The Mindy Kitty meowed.
And that, dear readers, was our trip to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. Would we do it again? Probably not. I loved the weather. I love the ocean, and palm trees. We really enjoyed the "all-inclusive". But in general, we prefer a little more action on our vacations. Also, this resort seemed to tolerate women who were topless at the beach and the swimming pools, so we had to be constantly steering clear of this. A word of warning to parents, there were families with children in the same area as these... bathers. (We have heard though, that not all resorts have this problem).
We did get more action with our tours, but that was only three days out of the 6/7, and that is extra $$ on top of what we'd already spent for the flights/resort. We still had a good time, and are very thankful for the opportunity to get away for a week, for lots of time together, and being able to see another part of God's creation.
Thanks for following along!
And, Denise, I believe that was about 160 pictures. :) If anyone wants to see the other 580, just come on over!
1 comment:
Might just have to do that!
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