It’s with a heavy heart that I spent the day reminiscing about a perfect vacation that we embarked on one year ago today.
On February 23rd, 2011, Siobhan, Me, Phoebe, Cory, Dana, Steve and a plane load of Dana and Steve’s friends flew to Puerto Plata to spend a week at the Iberostar Costa Dorada in the Dominican Republic. Steve’s good friends were getting married there and we were invited to join them all.
The trip was perfect! (did I say that already??) The people of the D.R. were some of the friendliest people I have ever met. Always smiling and always there to have a laugh. The resort was perfect and the food and drinks were great. We had one bartender – Julien, who served me up a “Red Fruity Drink” at 10:30 one morning after I had spent an hour hunting the resort grounds trying to find anyone I knew. I then introduced the rest of the gang to Julien and the drink and we’ve been hooked ever since. After returning home we spent many weekends trying to figure out the right mix of different beverages until we were happy with what we had.
We made many new friends, and shared many great memories. The Star Friends were great, the staff was great. Elvis, the excursion salesman in the hotel lobby was a great help. He introduced us to Mindy, a wonderful tour guide who took us out and showed us the sights of the city. We had a great bus and boat ride to “Paradise Island” where we went snorkeling. We experienced the beauty and simplicity of a Caribbean Resort wedding.
Up until this trip I had never really thought about going South for a vacation… since this trip I haven’t stopped thinking about returning. The only problem is that I want to go to other places but at the same time I want to revisit the Iberostar Costa Dorada!
Check out the video below. I put it together as soon as we returned. The music is the same music we heard throughout our trip, ending with the Iberostar theme song (Dale Palla) that was played every night at the end of the show. If you look closely you can see Siobhan dancing on the stage at the end of the video.
What a trip!