1. It is totally acceptable to wear Crocs. Like not just the cute Crocs that I have but the legit Mario Batali-style old school Crocs. Everyone has them.
2. The resort has one sign that says you cannot reserve lounge chairs. But no one follows that rule. Except some d-bags I ran into today who mocked me about leaving my towels out on 2 chairs and then were creepy and kind of racist so I took my towels and left. I know that means they "won" but oh well. I couldn't put up with it.
3. Bring ear plugs. You don't have to hear an alarm- you're on vacation! Plus the walls between your room and the one next door might be paper thin and you can hear their TV and awfully disgusting cough all night. You will be happy you brought the ear plugs.
4. Pack more sun screen than you think you would ever need.
5. Also, apply that sunscreen often. More often than you think is necessary or normal. Don't look at your neighbors on chairs next to you as examples. You're a pale white person from Minnesota- make good choices.
6. Bring more cash too. You don't have to exchange to pesos at the airport because everyone here accepts USD (for souvenirs and such) but not everyone has a credit card machine and once you have to get cash from an ATM but you get there and learn it's only pesos, things get confusing.
7. Pack light. My dad told my mom before we left all we needed was a swim suit and toothbrush. We scoffed at this suggestion but he was right. All we have done all week is sit in lounge chairs in our suits. No need to bring 5 shirt/short combos like I did.
8. Learn some Spanish. Conversational stuff to say hello, how are you and thank you. It also helps to know a little more for when the 40-year-old Dominican man on the beach is trying to convince you he loves you when one of his younger employees comes up and introduces himself to you using the Spanish word for "boyfriend" then he speaks to your older lover in Spanish and luckily you know enough to trick them into thinking you understand everything and also not somehow agree to marriage to either of them.
9. Curse your stupid American upbringing and vow that you will raise your children learning English and Spanish at the same time. Everyone in other countries can do it- why can't we? The first thing I'm going to do someday when I have kids is put them on a waiting list for a Spanish immersion school. This trip has solidified that as my number one priority when the time comes.
10. It is likely that you won't hear a lot of English as people's first language- and if you do, they're probably Canadian. I've heard more French, Spanish and German in the past week than I have ever before. It's awesome. But also weird.
11. Eat a lot of fruit! I've had more fruit with every meal this week than I probably have in the last month combined. It has been tasty and I tried new weird fruits like a thing that tasted like a very sweet lemon- I asked the waiter what it was and he told me. When I went to Google it that night, it turned out to be a grapefruit. But a delicious Dominican grapefruit.
12. Drink a lot of water. I admit I probably haven't done this enough but I'm trying- also the alcoholic drinks are just so good....
13. If you have a stay overnight between flights at an airport along the way, you will not get your checked bags as they are checked to your final destination. They will sit in the airport and wait to be thrown into your last plane to your final destination, even if your layover is like 14 hours and you have a hotel reservation. This makes sense now but didn't really at 11:30 at night at the Newark International Airport.
14. Be thankful you have a job that allows you to leave for a week (though I know they would have preferred I didn't), parents who are great and pay half your way for the trip and a mom you want to spend a week doing nothing with.
Check out this sweet burn! If it doesn't become bronze by the end do the weekend I am going to be so mad.
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