Travels with Stac

23 years old 💁🏼‍♀️ Lives in Phuket, Thailand📍 S16 to S18 Dominican Republic 🇩🇴 W18/19 Thailand 🇹🇭

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THAILAND 🇹🇭

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Tuesday 8th January

Phi Phi Island Overnight

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Monday 7th January

First island visit - Similan Island 🌴

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A reflection of my time in the Dominican Republic

November 11th 2018, 6.58pm 

Hello strangers,

Yes I know, its been a while since I last blogged. Life has been very hectic and busy with work, finally we are back to a three person team after 7 weeks of being a man down but also I have to admit I have been slightly comfortable and relaxed into my life overseas here in the Dominican Republic. Understandably as I have now been living and working in the Dominican republic for 2 years, 2 months and 15 days… and counting. And as you do, often or not just get settled. I may as well be a permanent resident (and no I haven’t got residency – shocker!). However, its not long now until I will be leaving the Caribbean to start my new adventure in Khao Lak, Phuket, Thailand, for a 6 month stint.

As for my last few weeks here in Punta Cana, I have been trying to make the most of my time off by exploring new parts of the island and revisiting places which I absolutely love. From Miches to Playa de Esmerdela, Playa Arriba, Playa Minitis, Altos De Chavon and Boca de Yuma. Next weekend im heading back to my favourite place of all, SANTO DOMINGO, the capital of Dominican republic. Don’t get me wrong, the driving in Santo Domingo is most probably the scariest out of the cities and towns I’ve visited, and that’s no surprise because I just saw a few days ago an article where Dominican republic has been listed as the second danger place to drive in the world. However, it is certainly the most cultural. Although Punta Cana is beautiful, with lots of stunning beaches, that really is it. Punta Cana is all purpose built for tourism so there isn’t authenticity, no history. So im taking the opportunity one last time before I leave to go back and visit this beautiful city again. Also, my boyfriends family live on the outskirts of Santo Domingo in a small town called Bajos de Haina, most commonly known as, Haina. Now Haina is a very stereotypical third world country town, small tin and concert block houses reaping in poverty. But what always amazes me when I visit this town, is the sheer happiness and relaxed atmosphere of the locals. They have so little, yet they live life. They live with happiness and joy and they embrace their families and their love.

So as I draw to a close to my time in the Dominican republic (well, questionable as I still don’t know when I am leaving, but maybe sometime in the next couple of weeks) I thought id take the opportunity to reflect on experiences here. First off, I want to start of by saying Dominicans certainly live a different way of life to British people in many ways, some good and some bad points. Ill start with the good; as previously mentioned, their mindset, their outlook on life. They are so chilled out. As they say, mañana. Everything is so care free, so relaxed, their way of life is as many know, the Caribbean way. However, sometimes this attitude can be very frustrating when you are not born or brought up in the environment; the most frustrating is in a work environment as it can get annoying at times. When you are so use to getting things done quickly and being pro-active, yet those around you are in absolutely no rush or urgency to do things.

Another attribute I love is there commitment and loyalty they have to their jobs and work place. Admittedly I have only seen a small percentage of their working environment which has predominately been within the hotel and tourism industry and small percentage of the farming industry. I believe that the Dominicans are very grateful for the tourism because this is the largest source of income. Tourism trades under the service sector and in recent years has become the leading employer. So understandably they enjoy their work because they are appreciative and thankful to tourists as they have given them opportunity for work and ability to earn money. With agriculture being their second largest source of income, the Dominican is very known for the very tasty chocolate, coffee, cigars, rum and sugar. As well their large production of bananas and plantains. Yet all their long days and nights working they still have very low income, however I must give absolute credit to them. Especially when some tourists are obnoxious and rude. They work tirelessly to please yet some (not all) do not always treat them with respect, yet they still do it. I guess this is very similar to me and my job, sometimes there are arseholes but those customers who are happy, appreciative and a great laugh to be around, those are the ones who make it all worth while.  

As for the bad, im referring to free time, days off. Of course, for those lucky enough to be in my position and to have the opportunity to work in a destination like this thrive from adventure and opportunities to go out explore, however working in Punta Cana can have its draw backs. Although, as I already mentioned, we do have stunning beaches there is not much else to do here, so unless all you want to do everyday off is sunbathe, working in a destination like so, is probably not for you. Admittedly as I already said, there is opportunity to go and explore however nothing is close by. Lets take Santo Domingo for instance, its nearly 2.5-3 hours drive away, so you need enough time to visit, and similarly to places like La Romana, Miches and Samana. One place, I lied, two places, here in the Dominican Republic where I have ALWAYS wanted to go and see is Santiago de los Caballeros and Puerto Plata. Located on the north of the island. But unfortunately the chance to go a visit this side of the island has not come up yet, as this part of the island to drive is around 8 hours away and with only 1 and half days off a week, its nearly impossible. I hope to one day get the opportunity to come back here and visit the north of the island, to go and see the beautiful waterfalls and breath-taking views as you look over at the historic buildings and take a ride in the only cable car in the Dominican republic. (sorry I realise I’ve gone of on a massive tangent there, opps! But you get what trying to say).

Lastly, what I am most grateful for is the life experiences I have learnt whilst living in the Dominican Republic. These past two years have been a big eye opener for me, its enable me to understand more about the world. Its given me opportunity to learn about the diversity. I have developed and grown so much as an individual since I left my very small town and im not afraid to say it, I am so much more grateful for everything my parents have done for me, for my upbringing and for their constant support of my choices.

Dominican Republic its been a blast! I will be back. However all that’s left to say is,

Bring on THAILAND!!

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Next adventure

So I found out at the weekend that Im going to be starting my next adventure very soon in the beautiful THAILAND!! 6 months in Phuket! How exciting

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The truth about working in tourism

Life as a holiday rep (guest relations in my position) is not what most people think. There’s no denying that for many of us, the (almost) guaranteed sunshine and exotic lifestyle of living in a foreign country is the draw that brings us to working overseas, however there is a big difference between a two week stint in the Caribbean or even Mediterranean that consists of lounging around the pool and soaking up the rays, to working an approximately 44 hour week in the scorching sun in a uniform that you can only imagine was designed by someone who clearly has never holidayed in a hot destination let alone worked in one.

Being a rep is hard - bloody - work. And to anyone who has ever said to me, ‘you’re just like on a permanent holiday’, it would be my absolute pleasure for you to have one day in life of a rep. There is no typical day at the office, however you can usually expect to deal with a lot of complaints, an illness or two and a missing suitcase – and that’s just within half an hour!

People complain. A lot. Especially British people.

I get it, I really do. The typical guest, works hard to save up their money and they want to spend their hard earned money on something special. And of course, when expectations aren’t met, it leaves disappointment. However some of the things we experience are, in the best way to word it, pathetic. I don’t know if it’s just because my own personal experience and holidays spend with my family growing up - we always made the best of a situation, we didn’t let a small or minor thing affect our overall experience, we just made the best and enjoyed our quality time together. The tourism culture has developed into a lifestyle of complainers and I do feel because of social media and pages like trip advisor, holidaymakers gloat about ‘what we got for free because we kicked up a fuss!’.

It’s difficult to explain a normal working day for a rep, as no two days are ever the same. However, you can usually expect to do a arrival meetings, sales, departure meetings and accounts as a standard day and then the guiding of an excursion, if you’re lucky. In an ideal world this would be it, and we could spend the rest of our day relaxing with guests, enjoying the sun or the hotel entertainment. However you can be faced with illness, hospitalization and in some unfortunate rare cases some reps even have to handle major things like deaths (and yes it does happen) but in my own personal case the major events consist of events like hurricanes. Despite being in the hotel an average of eight hours a day, at least six days a week and even in our case as a team of three, being there in total 12 hours a day 7 days a week – you will always get the guests who suffer from a terrible illness called ‘rep blindness’ in which they will not come to your welcome meeting that you kindly invited them to, after you’ve welcomed them in on arrival, then pass you in the reception every day of the week then proceed to write on trip advisor that “the rep was never there”, classic.

From the moment you get the job, up until your final season people will always tell you how lucky you are to do such an interesting job and live such an exciting lifestyle. Any rep will tell you however, that it is not a case of luck. It takes the right personality and the right amount of hard work to do the job that reps do. We didn’t just rub on a magic lamp and then wake up on a fabulous beach somewhere in the world. (In my case the Caribbean - which I hear more often or not, you got really lucky, no one ever gets the Caribbean, especially as their first destination). Of course, sometimes it feels ‘lucky’ to be able to lead the lifestyle, but anyone can be that ‘lucky’ if they put the work in to apply and get the job.

However you don’t have to be a rep to know that yes sometimes - things go wrong whilst on holiday, from unfortunate events that may occur at home whilst you’re away, to lost luggage or delayed buses or flights but one thing I’ve certainly learnt - it’s how that person handles the situation.

Working as a rep can be very difficult at times, as dealing with guests can sometimes be very stressful and emotionally challenging, the obsessive complainers can get you down, the truth is that the majority of British holiday-makers are bloody lovely and memories with some guests will stay with you for life. Not to mention, living in some of the best locations in the world with a fantastic bunch of people - it is the most opportunistic job i have come across with regards to working and living abroad and experiencing things you wouldn't experience at home.

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Reflection on my time here in the DR So I’m coming into my 20th month now here in the Dominican Republic. It’s definitely been an incredible time so far and I still have another 6 months left working here however I will be very sad to have to leave this place. I feel like I’ve grown and developed as an adult here. At just 21 years of age when I arrived here I was so unaware of the world and what there was to see and learn. I had virtually spent my whole life in one small village up until the age of 18 then I went of to a small city to do my undergraduate degree. When I came to the end of my degree I knew I wanted to travel and work overseas but never did I imagine that I would be doing what I’m doing now. I came to the DR as a sports and activities entertainer and I’ll be leaving in October from a job as a TUI guest relations. Both jobs have given me so much life experience and this is really just an appreciation post for the opportunities I’ve been able to receive. I know that not everyone is lucky enough to have had this chance so I’m thankful and enjoying the rest of my time here before I move onto my next adventure. Again I have no idea what that will hold and I’m still unsure what I would like to do but I know firstly I would like to go home and spend some much needed quality time with family and friends. And then maybe... who knows I may go to another destination! 🌴☀️ I know for a fact I certainly do like working in the sunshine!! (Working in the UK doesn’t seem like one of my options any time soon)

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What an incredible experience this was!!!

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An eventful September

Well what can I say - September was one hell of a month for us. Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria. All in the space of two weeks. It really was a tough couple of weeks for us all both employees, locals and customers visiting Dominican Republic; particularly for sensatori azul resort guests.

On Wednesday 6th we were all packed up and heading to the island capital of Santo Domingo. All of my apartment packed up into two suitcases. We took the three hour drive up to the capital on coaches loaded with out sensatori guests - spread across four different hotels. It safe to say this was my biggest challenge yet since working as a guest relations for TUI. To my surprise the biggest concern and upset for these guests was the no all inclusive package aspect to our evacuation to Santo Domingo. As if! I think in a scenario like this, the least of your worries is having to pay for some alcoholic beverages - which of course is a privilege to have. Understandably these guests had booked and paid for an all inclusive package in a luxury hotel but in a natural disaster situation our hotelier karisma acted rapidly to hurricane warning that went from a category three to five in the space of hours. To successfully manage an operation as big as this and evacuate 100's of people to another location was phanominal. It was a lovely and stressful three days but we worked incredible efficiently and effectively. Everyone was taken from what could of been a very dangerous situation. Fortunately for us, hurricane Irma did not hit us like it was predicted to. Everyone was returned back to sensatori in Uvero alto by the Friday. And slowly everything began to return back to normality.

Unfortunately not for very long. Exactly 11 days on, my manager messages me to tell me we could very possibly be evacuating again. Late Tuesday 18th it was confirmed we were relocating to Santo Domingo again. By Wednesday 19th morning at around 8:00am we were heading back to the capital. Hurricane Maria was on its way. These ladies do not stop. This time we were more knowledgeable and aware of how to deal with the situation and how to communicate with our customers. Of course, like the first evacuation I did get a lot of bollocks from people but this was expected. And this time I felt more confirm and at ease on how to handle the situation. Even when you have screaming angry and rude people. In circumstances like this, we were fortunate to be removed from a dangerous situation. Again, I cannot praise both karisma and TUI for their swift actions and profesionalism throughout this whole ordeal. Moral of the story, I am one HELLER proud to call TUI and Dominican Republic my second Family and home. ❤️ 🇩🇴

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Exploring the real Dominican Republic. A trip to miches, barcadi island - samana and the national park.

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Last week was rough week from being in hospital for 24 hours on a drip and lots of medication to being evacuated to Santo Domingo due to hurricane Irma but I'm still here and I'm still alive!

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This destination definitely does have its difficulties. It can be a lonely destination at times, it can be a struggle, and sometimes I can really think 'why am I here'. I also think about how much I miss my family and how I would love to be back home with them, doing the simple things like sitting at dinner together. But then I remember all the experiences I have done and still have to do, the memories I've made, the people I meet and continue to meet. I have some amazing people alongside me that make every experience incredible. I have met the love of my life here. And 99% off the time I am happy, content and enjoy life. Im doing something that so many dream of doing and some many often don't get the opportunity. So I'm going to grab every opportunity by both hands!!