Google failed us in the Dominican Republic
How Google Tricked us in the Dominican Republic?
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The Dominican Republic
Our Dominican Republic journey was one of a kind. It was filled with many contrasting experiences, from mind blowing moments when you are mesmerized by the beauty of the place, to moments of sometimes anger and a little scare. Even though, when things happen, I tend to be very frustrated and disappointed, now, looking back, we are proud that we have stories to tell.
After staying in lockdown for a few months, but still managing to travel a little, even with the imposed restrictions, we wanted more. Last year, during spring time, we started receiving lots of e-mails and offers for Dominican Republic. Of course, it made a click and we decided to visit the Caribbean country.
For us traveling outside Europe, is quite tricky, but in the pandemic, it became harder. The first check point on the list was to manage to book flights that will not get cancelled and to try to avoid charter planes. We know that they don’t provide the comfort level necessary for such long flights.
The second important thing for travelling outside Europe was that we need to stay as long as possible. The plane tickets are quite expensive and the travel time is big, so more is better in these circumstances. We decided to stay 15 days in the Dominican Republic, to have the necessary time to see what it has to offer, besides 5 stars resorts.
The Plan
Our Dominican Republic layout was like this: 7-3-2-3. We wanted a full week in a nice resort and just to stay there. Lots of touring agencies provide day trips to different point of interests. They will take you from the resort and will drive you directly to the place, but because the distances are very big, the prices are accordingly big. For us it was best to just relax in the resort for the whole seven days and move across the country to be as near as possible to the places we wanted to visit.
Seven Days in Punta Cana
Three Days in Bayahibe
Two Days in Boca Chica
Three Days in Santo Domingo
The three days planned in Bayahibe, were spent in Dominicus and were incredible. We had two days for visiting Saona and Catalina Island and one day to spend there and relax on the beach.
The days spent in Santo Domingo were also amazing and probably was best to stay a little bit longer, but unfortunately, we decided to spend the extra nights in Boca Chica. I say unfortunately because it is one of the dirties places we have ever been.
For more about our experience in the Dominican Republic, read this article: https://traveliciousduo.com/what-was-really-like-in-the-dominican-republic/
Why?
That is the real question. How we ended up booking this city break to Boca Chica? The main reason: lots of advertising and false directions. We were tricked, without being tricked.
When travelling, we hate being unprepared. Everything from flight, hotels, local transportation and what to do there, is researched, noted and probably booked in advance from home. In my opinion, to go with the flow in such a far away country it can be risky, but of course sometimes things won’t go as planned.
For us, Boca Chica was presented like a dream resort city, with beautiful beaches, amazing restaurants and the place of fun. Many tours from Santo Domingo to Boca Chica are made daily and the prices are quite big.
The most important thing that made us book a hotel there was Altos de Chavon. It is on the top 10 things to see in the Dominican Republic, practically a must-see place. Altos de Chavos is in La Romana and it doesn’t move from there. If you ever did some research, point by point, you will see the taglines of each photo, from the day added, to the location. That is what we did and the location given, was in Altos de Chavon, Boca Chica. After a little search on google, there it was, Altos de Chavon, the beautiful Mediterranean village, is in the well-advertised Boca Chica. From this point, we didn’t see any reason not to book some nights in this marvelous place.
Don’t trust the pictures
In Boca Chica nothing is like in the pictures, the place is incredibly dirty and very expensive. Fun, it probably is for some people, because at every corner if you are asked to sit at their restaurant and refuse, they will try to sell you some illegal substances. Maybe those who took them looked at this city with different eyes.
After a horror first night, we woke up, eat breakfast in a hurry and headed for Altos de Chavon.
We almost fought the taxi driver
In the Dominican Republic, we traveled a lot with Uber, so for this trip we ordered an Uber. On the map it said that the whole journey won’t take more than five minutes from our location. The first Uber car arrived and he didn’t want to take us, too short the ride for four persons (we did order Uber XL). After a few Uber drivers refused us, a taxi approached us. We started speaking with him, both in English and in Spanish and we taught that maybe something is lost in translation.
The driver asked for 70$ for that 5-minute ride. We were revolted and said to him that this negotiation will not go anywhere and we prefer walking there, then to pay those money. And so, we did, but the taxi driver came after us and started to ask how are we supposed to walk over 100 km? What 100 km, when on the maps appears to be 3.4 km away from our hotel?
Shamefully, we were quite nervous, but the man explained us, that Altos de Chavon in Boca Chica is just a small neighborhood and he could drive us there if we want, but it may be dangerous. This is how we found out that we were played by google and people who wrote the reviews.
P.s.:
Remember, that the actual Altos de Chavos is only in La Romana, if it appears to be in Boca Chica, just skip the photo tag. I wrote a review correcting it, but it is still added at the wrong location.
Sometimes false advertising and wrongfully written reviews and articles can mess up a little your perfectly planned holiday and it is not so… Travelicious.
If it happened to you, take it as it is and be glad to have memories and experiences to share.