Dr. Hard Rock?
Or is it Dr. Rock, Hard??
Funny story – Kris purchased our trip through Jetsetter and someone thought it would be a funny joke to name our reservation Dr. Hard Rock instead of Kris and Ashley Simpson. Not Mr. Hard Rock, but DR. Hard Rock! That makes it even better. Once we arrived at The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, we get to the check-in desk and they can’t seem to find our reservation. It’s not until they move us to the private check-in desk that we find out it’s because our Jetsetter reservation is under Dr. Hard Rock. Now, I know there is a language barrier, but these Hard Rock employees didn’t seem to see the coincidence or think it was as funny as Kris and I did. The humor soon turned into frustration as the week went on and we were still known as Dr. Hard Rock, but there was one moment when someone called Kris Dr. Rock Hard and I about peed my pants! All the frustrating moments of not finding our name in the system were worth that one comment.
Another great story from our trip was from again when we were checking in. We purchased the Caribbean suite and they put us in a partial ocean view room on the 1st floor. I don’t know about you, but we don’t want to look at the landscape on the 1st floor, so we respectfully asked if we could be on a higher floor. I also ever-so-politely asked if we could have an ocean view room. Now, I know these rooms were set aside for timeshare owners only, but it never hurts to ask, right? Great lesson to learn, because guess what – we were upgraded from the Caribbean Suite (least expensive room) to the Presidential Suite (nicest suite they offer). The Presidential Suite is a grand 2400 sq ft suite with two bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room, living room, bedroom and breakfast area, all with a hot tub and wrap around balcony. The elation we felt when we walked into our suite was very similar to our excitement when we first saw our villa at the St. Regis in Bora Bora. It was amazing. We got such a great deal on this trip that when I thought we were staying in the Caribbean Suite, I didn’t think they were making any money off of us and I felt guilty. Now I knew they were losing money from our stay in the Presidential Suite. Just goes to show how nice the Dominican people really are.
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| We went from this Caribbean Suite (with a king bed)... |
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| To this Presidential Suite! |
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| Here is the second half of our suite. |
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| And the balcony. |
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| Our complimentary welcome package upon arrival. |
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| And this view free of charge!! |
Enough about our room, but I'm so grateful to the employees at the Hard Rock that made our upgrade happen. The trip wouldn't have been quite the same without it. With adoption costs and other costs associated with just having a baby, we wanted a more pocketbook friendly beach vacation this year. We certainly got that, but with a touch of extravagance as well.
Kris surprised me with this trip and the idea was to get away before all the stresses that come with adoption are upon us. His timing was perfect because our home study is next Tuesday and home studies are known to be one of the biggest stresses in the adoption process. If you know us, when we go on vacation, we need a vacation to recover from our vacation. We are the couple that dives in to the local culture and tries to do anything and everything unique to the location we are in. Our goal is to fully immerse ourselves into the traditions and scenery of where we are visiting so that we don’t feel the need to return one day and we can move on to the next vacation spot on our list. On our trip to the Dominican Republic, we did just the opposite. We spent every day on the beach or poolside and just soaked up the sun and scene. It was exactly what we needed and I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
The weather was absolutely perfect while we were in Punta Cana aside from a quick rain shower every evening at dinner, but that is typical to the island life. Kris sent me an email this morning titled, "Timing is everything". I opened it up and found out, Tropical Storm Emily is on its way to the Dominican Republic this week. Somehow, I don't think this was a coincidence.
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