And of course, it is always tough to leave a good beach. I don’t think that I will miss the long walk from our room to the beach even though the surroundings were pretty.
Just one more shot of the reception area as we are waiting for transportation to the airport.
The Airport:
Getting off the island proved to be a bit more difficult/interesting than coming onto the island.
First there was the running the gauntlet of eager assistance almost before the bus came to a stop.
“No thanks” “I don’t need any help.” “I can handle my own bag” “Thank you”
Each bus load of tourists was greeted with all the help that one could ever wish for. Saying, “No, gracias” worked on some but not others and getting your bag to carry yourself without assistance was a real challenge.
Once inside there was another line-up to to take care of the departure tax, drop off the bags, etc. Of course, there were forms to fill out and, somehow, I had missed getting a copy of the form somewhere along the way. Always a bit unnerving to be standing in line looking around and observing that everyone else, except you, has an official looking form in the their hand. Found lots of the ‘wrong’ form but finally found the ‘correct’ form, filled it out, paid my departure tax and then headed through to the waiting lounge.
Wasn’t expecting much of a wait. Sat around. Stood up. Sat down again. Stood up. Eventually someone said something in Spanish at our departure gate and everyone lined up. And waited. And then, EVENTUALLY, found out that our plane had been delayed. Started the sit down, stand up, keep limber cycle all over again.
Our plane was late – real late. Apparently it got delayed in Quebec City for de-icing and then was out of the queue in Ottawa and therefore delayed there again and then encountered stronger than expected head winds, etc., etc.
Meanwhile in Punta Cana airport we waited, and waited without much update information.
Our plane finally arrived but was parked in the spot farthest from the terminal, so we got to take a nice hike on the hot tarmac under the Caribbean sun. Looking at this photo shows a bit of the trek since we started out a good distance the other side of the Condor jet seen here in the distance. The next shot shows how far we still had to go. Every tale has a story to tell though. Those at the front of the line, when we left the terminal, tried to board the first Sunwing jet that they got to only to find out that they were on the wrong plane after climbing the steps. This led to quite a bit of confusion as everyone else had been following them. Then, thinking that the second Sunwing jet must be ours, a similar confrontation occurred between the ground crew and the new leaders of our line when the head of the line reached that second Sunwing plane. Finally, some airport staff was identified as our real leader and off we went for a good long walk.
