Dominican Republic, Day 1: Winging it to Santo Domingo

Dominican Republic (Image found here)

A few days after Christmas, Scotty and I said "hasta luego" to our families and boarded a flight to the Dominican Republic. Why there? Well, there were two main reasons besides the obvious promise of beaches and warm weather. One was that the tickets into Santo Domingo were the most reasonable I could find for that type of place, in tandem with our plans to visit family at the Christmas. But the other was based on this article from an issue of Budget Travel magazine I read back in 2010 and saved. If you have the time, it's definitely worth the read. The author pretty much convinced me that the Samaná Peninsula seemed like it would be right up our independent traveler alley.

I'd booked us on a non-stop on Delta Airlines out of Atlanta, and though it left at a comfortable 10 a.m., somehow we found ourselves rising at around 5 a.m. to give ourselves enough time to get to the airport, return the rental car, and be there the recommended two hours before departure.

The whole went off without a hitch and we found ourselves at the gate ready to depart well ahead of time and in time to catch a gorgeous sunrise over the tarmac.

The passengers on board our flight we took were a real mix of humanity, about half English-speaking and half Spanish-speaking, the announcements also bilingual. I've always found it interesting that regardless of which airline you're flying with, international air travel can make me feel like I've already left my own country when I'm still at the gate.

Dominican Republic is in the Atlantic Time Zone, an hour ahead of the US East Coast's Eastern Standard Time (EST). The flight from Atlanta took just over three hours, but was delayed taking off, so we got in around 4:30 p.m., about an hour later than originally planned.

We followed the signs in the airport toward customs and lined up at a small kiosk to purchase a tourist ticket for $10 US each. There wasn't really any clear information about whether we had to go there first or not and I had to ask an airport employee.

Then we went through actual customs, a quick and simple "Buenos tardes" ending in a stamp in each of our passports. We's both just brought a carry-on bag and we able to bypass the baggage claim, heading instead to the car rental counter for Thrifty where our reserved car would be waiting.

Or so I thought...

I fished out my printed reservation and handed it to the young male car rental agent. He greeted us, looked at it, and started clicking on his computer. After a minute, he looked up again and still smiling said (in English), "Well, unfortunately, we are all sold out of this type of car (economy)."
A few seconds of silence ticked by.

Me: "Um, okay. Do you have anything else?"

He went back to clicking on the computer, then spoke in Spanish to another agent at a different rental place next door and eventually turned back to us.

Agent: "Unfortunately, we do not have any other cars for this price. We do have one car, but it requires that you purchase insurance." Since he didn't volunteer how much that would cost, I was afraid to ask.

Me: "Will you have any other economy cars tomorrow?"

Agent: "You can call us, but I do not know right now if we will. We are all sold out."

Me: "Okay... would there be a time we can show up in the morning to get one?"

Agent: "It's best to just call. Sorry! You guys are great. Okay, bye!" He was still smiling and appeared completely unfazed. Obviously, we were getting our lesson about traveling independently in the Dominican Republic.

We proceeded to go to each and every car rental counter in the airport, all to be met with the same answer, "No cars, sorry." By the way people booth-hopped in front of us, it was quite obvious that they were all in the know about our situation. Only one told us they had a car for nearly $500 including insurance but that was the only option. (For comparison, our original reservation was a total of $150 for a week, through otherwise reputable CarRentals.com, which I understand was way too good to be true).

Knowing that we were staying in nearby Santo Domingo for the next two days before we really needed a car to get to the other side of the island, we declined. We also tried to rent a car with our cell phones but couldn't get any service in the airport. Eventually we gave up and decided to just take a cab to our hotel.

 Zona Colonial, Santo Domingo

Outside the airport, we walked towards a line of waiting taxis that actually appeared somewhat organized and were quoted for $40 US to the Zona Colonial in the heart of Santo Domingo. The cab fare was exactly the price the hotel had told us to expect, so we hopped in the small beat-up car that looked something like a Toyota Camry, and were on our way.

Next up: more about our experience in Dominican Republic's capital city. And it does get better.

Waterfront, Santo Domingo, DR