Coyote in the Caribbean. The Cocktail Chronicles Complete #135 Day 14

[Melbatb]

What a lovely way to end the week! And at least no tetris with the packing (I hope )

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by ClaireNJ

Great moody beach pics & love the minions too 🙊🙊🙊
Your holiday has looked so peaceful relaxing & stunning surroundings 💕💕
Have a safe journey home x

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Ha ha, thank you x
It has been very relaxing. Given we’ve both never liked beaches or doing nothing - we adjusted pretty well!

Flight home was very good. Very impressed with Tui.

Originally Posted by Melbatb

What a lovely way to end the week! And at least no tetris with the packing (I hope )

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Packing was pretty easy as no shopping! Just the sand- gets in everything. Definitely overpacked coming out here tho. I reckon we could share a case next time.

[Pumba75]

Loved your palm tree and cocktail photos! Food looked delicious.
Glad you had a lovely relaxing time.

M x

[WileyCoyote]

Thank you.
I miss those palm trees . I have them as my screensaver now so it’s always a sunny day when I look at it ..

[WileyCoyote]

Going home day had arrived.
It’s been a lovely break but we are ready to come back. It’s much busier here now and I think we have given the buffets and drinks a fair crack!

I got up super early to catch the last sunrise.
Pic overload today. I think it was the best one yet

There was some rain as well and it lasted a bit longer than usual

Packing was done by 10 so a late breakfast before checkout at 11.

We had a last drink at the bar

And moved over to the coffee shop

We’d booked a taxi for 1.15 back to the airport. It was arriving just before the coach so we were hoping to get ahead of any check in queues. Our taxi driver was great. He was using his translate app to ask about our holiday and he was so lovely.

More rain

And a random dinosaur. There’s always one. Someone alert Chris Pratt asap

It only took 30 minutes to get there and it was empty at check in. Just one family ahead of us. Before you could get to the desk the exit form was being asked for and there were lots of people busy sorting it in on their phones

All sorted and a bit of a hike to have boarding cards checked . Round the corner and a queue to have passports and exit form checked again before scanning hand luggage. All good.

And then onto another check of the form and through some biometric gates to exit into the departure lounge. An hour from leaving the hotel and 30 minutes from check in we were sat in departures with a bit of a wait ahead of us.

Thankfully it was quite large, very cool and lots on offer from a Hard Rock shop and cafe, Wendy’s, Cinnabon, Taco Bell, Red Bull bar and quite a few shops. Andy went for a look round but I just sat and had these

Boarding was not very well organised. They didn’t sort out passengers who needed assistance or those with families first and that caused some bottlenecks. A few premium customers were clearly put out that they didn’t load a bus with premium cabin passengers only. Well we are all going to get on aren’t we?

There was a bit of standing about in the heat on the tarmac which isn’t quite as nice when you are dressed for home and carrying bags!

There weren’t any seats together for us on this flight so I’d opted to sit in front of Andy - that way he knew no one would be reclining on his infeasibly long legs

Tui’s limited cabin bag policy certainly means they is plenty of overhead space so felt a lot less faffing around boarding

Still nice and roomy

With a pillow and little duvet

Some warm fizz before take off and then we were away pretty much on time.

Pre dinner drinks were out almost as soon as the seatbelt sign went off.

And then it was the chicken or beef dilemma again but this time it was chicken hotpot or beef bourginon.

A chicken Caesar salad to start

And then I went for the chicken hotpot

Followed by the cheese

And a chocolate mouse thing that was too rich. And I don’t seem to have a photo.

I kept the Lindors for later

I settled in to watch Tag which I did enjoy and then dozed on and off. I watched a few episodes of the mentalist but in between I think I racked up 3 and a bit hours of kip. Not solid quality sleep but definitely some of that “neck snap nap” variety. You know - when your head suddenly yanks because the seat rest bit doesn’t quite match your height. Short person problems !

The seats next to and in front of me were all the same family - who were quite busy the whole flight and were using their iPads and phones on full brightness so it was a bit distracting. I was a teeny bit envious of the pairs of seats with people sleeping in peaceful darkness .. but I am totally a grumpy old lady traveller now.

And what’s with the bare feet person in the aisle near me ? Oh my life. Put those hobbit trotters away or back in your flip flops.

An hour before landing and breakfast came out.

Again this was really nice. The food on both flights has been very good. Top marks Tui.

We arrived on time and straight through the immigration entry gates.

Getting off first in premium definitely helped but the advertised perk if bags coming off first wasn’t true, as like arriving in Punta Cana, ours were off towards the end.

There was quite a wait for all the bags anyway.

We had landed just before 6.15 and were out the airport about an hour later and thanks to a friend picking us up we were home by 9.30.

Pretty smooth travel home. Had expected there to be a lot of traffic with the Games on and a train strike - but it was great.

And that was that.

What did we think then?

We both enjoyed the “do nothing” vibe. There was plenty you could do if you wanted, and the excursion prices weren’t outrageous. We just chose not to.

We would definitely return to the Caribbean to visit other islands. I can’t see we would go back to Dom Rep for a while when there are others to sample.

Their coffee was amazing. I was going to buy some but appaz it’s their local spring water that gives it the incredible taste and attempts to recreate it at home are doomed to hard limescale failure. Shame.

The mosquito bites were painful and I’d go for even stronger stuff next time.

Tui premium was very good. Probably better than that. Very impressed.

Private transfer was the way to go. Much nicer and got ahead of crowds both ways.

Our hotel was ok. Not fabulous but not terrible. The staff were fantastic and so friendly. It didn’t meet my expectation of luxury though. I imagine after it’s refurb it will be much better.

The food was a bit variable and lunch was a let down except for the quiet place we found. The cocktails were good

The beach was lovely.

Adults only worked for us - it was generally very peaceful and even when the pools were busy, everyone was having a good time.

It’s weird (old fashioned?) they insisted men wore sleeved tops in the restaurants but the ladies could come in with plenty of flesh on display. All those butt cheeks and boobs can quite put you off your breakfast.

I am officially on buffet and cocktail detox.

I gained 10lb . Ugh. I think most of that was sugary cocktails. I’m going to enjoy losing that. Not.

And what next?

Well - yay, I finished this trippy !
Still got to do the last few days of the Malta one. That is next

And our other plans?

Will I finish the Palm Coast one? Probably not.
A lot has happened. It’s still “fluid” as they say. I’m not sure who exactly says that, but it’s definitely a thing.

I lost the will to finish it- feels a bit pointless now posting photos of restaurants and shopping from 2 years ago.

And we still have a lot going on in our universe. Maybe that’s why I like the Umbrella Academy so much. Their chaotic family cosmos resonates with me.

You just never know what we might be up to next.
Nor do I for that matter.
If you find out before me, do let me know.
Stay tuned.

And to sum up the trip

Thank you for reading.

[WileyCoyote]

Completed @post #135.

[mick]

Thanks for taking the time to do your trippie Amanda 😀

I really enjoyed reading along it was nice to see a trippie that was a bit different, plenty of cocktails and even more reading 📖.

Look forward to seeing what you get up to next!

Joan

[Lizzim]

Amanda,

I’m glad you had a good trip even if I wouldn’t survive with all those cocktails!

[pinktraceb]

Thanks for sharing your trip report, I've really enjoyed it 😊

[mrsdjh]

Thanks for sharing. I love your little photo summary 🍹🌴🏝📚

Diane