I Am Now Officially A World Traveler. I Think I Need Some More Suitcases.

Most of you know I'm now, like, an OFFICIAL member of the quite IMPRESSIVE world of travel professionals or quite possibly the least well-traveled person to maintain a travel blog. One or the other. Or possibly both.

I'm still figuring out my position in the Travel Authority company since this was a position we basically created after I walked in, handed them a resume and said that, uh, I might like to travel and write and maybe get paid for doing that? What did they think? And they said, uh. Let's talk.

So I went to this travel event on Saturday and I talked to everyone and generally tried to appear fairly well-educated about travel and cruising but even though I had actually cruised on several of the cruise lines - SCORE - I was woefully inadequate in the number of places I had visited - FAIL.

I spent a long time talking to the representative from General Tours and can I say again my travel experience is WOEFULLY INADEQUATE? Because even though I have been to a few tropical islands and to Alaska? This woman just got back from a safari in EAST AFRICA. My tales of POSSIBLY seeing some whales and spending all our time eating in Puerto Vallarta? PALE in comparison to stories about warthogs wandering through your kitchen and pictures of leopards that were so close you could almost touch them. If you wanted your hand chomped off.

So, even though I am now OFFICIALLY a member of the travel professionals? I still have a lot of work to do. A lot of places to see. A lot of suitcases to overpack.



But I am up to the task. And I'll keep you updated.


Check out my travel blog today for some special Valentine cruises.

It's The End Of The Year As We Know It

Meme from Sundry Morning. Check it out.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?
Hopped a plane to Puerto Vallarta and ate ourselves into a near-coma.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I'm pretty positive my New Year's resolutions had to do with weight loss so, no. Unfortunately, no.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes, my nephew had a beautiful little girl.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Not this year. My dad passed away last October.

5. What countries did you visit? Mexico. Mmmmmm. Coconut ice cream...

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
 A digital camera that does not cause subjects to look like they have been turned into zombies. (with the red eyes?)

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? There was no one date, but this is the year I gave up caffeine. And it ended up being no big deal.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Actually making some money from ads on my blog. Getting some freelance writing work.

9. What was your biggest failure? Not losing as much weight as I would like. Not staying in shape.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? No.

11. What was the best thing you bought? I have discovered sleeping pants. LOVE sleeping pants. I, however, will not ever wear them to Wal-Mart.


12. Whose behavior merited celebration? As annoying as that stick-thin Angelina Jolie is, she has been doing a great deal to try to improve conditions in the world. I think she has been an influence on other Hollywood individuals as well.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? There are so many...but I have to say how disappointed and depressed I was to read recently that Brendan Fraser had left his wife of nine years. I thought he was one of the good ones.

14. Where did most of your money go? Equity payments, bills. What else is new?

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Again, the coconut ice cream in Puerto Vallarta. And, oh yeah. The scallops in cream sauce appetizer.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
"Don't Blink", by Kenny Chesney

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:


a) happier or sadder? Happier every year!

b) thinner or fatter? Maybe slightly thinner. Slightly.

c) richer or poorer? A little richer. It would help if the stock market would stop crashing.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Travel. Hopefully we will, after we retire next year.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Laundry.

20. How did you spend Christmas? With family and friends. Again, I'm very lucky.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007? I fall more in love with my husband every day. Yeah, I know. A little sickening.

22. What was your favorite TV program? We are TV nuts but one of my favorites is "Journeyman". It gets better every week.


23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Hate? No.


24. What was the best book you read? Oooooh, that's a tough one. I read a LOT of books. The best kid's book was definitely "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane"
Best adult book. Uh. I can't remember. It probably wasn't very prestigious because, when I just tried to look up a list of the best books of 2007 to jog my memory, I HAD READ NONE OF THEM.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? That I actually like Christian rock, like Casting Crowns.


26. What did you want and get?
A trip to the beach. Wow. I wouldn't have any answers to this meme if not for Puerto Vallarta.

27. What did you want and not get? There's never enough time to just relax and read.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? One of the best chick flicks I have seen was "The Holiday". There were a lot of cool guy movies, but I think I liked "Transformers" best.


29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I was...old enough to drink. Probably dinner and a movie; I can't really remember. Maybe I'm a little bit older than old enough to drink. Because I have no memory anymore.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?If my son could have found a job he really enjoys much sooner.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Classic. And classy.


32. What kept you sane? My family. My friends.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Toss-up between Michael Biehn and David Boreanaz.


34. What political issue stirred you the most? Drilling for oil in Alaska


35. Who did you miss?
My dad.

36. Who was the best new person you met? I can't think of anyone new, but I have new insight and understanding of my sister-in-law because of her blog.


37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
A baby's laugh can absolutely make your day.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.



So I just sit right here and have another beer in Mexico:
Do my best to waste another day.
Sit right here and have another beer in Mexico:
Let the warm air melt these blues away.

"Beer in Mexico, Kenny Chesney




OK, I'm kidding. How about this one instead?



My blessings are in front of me
It's not about the land
I'll never beat the view
From my front porch looking in

"My Front Porch Lookin In", Lonestar

Thar She Blows!

One more story about Puerto Vallarata and I'm done. Really. Unless I think of something else. But that probably won't happen. Probably.



The last morning at the resort, we went to have a leisurely breakfast before the final packing and organizing. As we were scarfing down the last homemade omelets and fresh baked goodies (how I wish I had one of those chocolate croissants at this very moment) when Tom said "Hey, look. There's two whales out there." And pointed out by the rocks at the end of the beach. I was not completely surprised since I had actually seen a couple of whales the day before while lolling by the pool. (Lolling is actually the perfect word here since, after a long weekend of gorging ourselves, we probably resembled whales ourselves.)


They were far out to sea but were clearly discernible as they surfaced and swam by and we watched them as we finished our breakfast.

Let me be clear that both of us clearly saw two whales surfacing and blowing foamy white water over their back. We studied them as we ate, marveling that nobody else seemed to notice them. They were so close to shore! We enjoyed watching them, their fins breaking the water as they dove up and down.

After breakfast, we decided to take a closer look, so I ran up the room for the binoculars. We walked out on the patio, close to where the whales were located.

And then we stopped. And looked at each other. The two whales we had been so avidly watching for the last ten minutes? Were two big rocks out in the water.

No wonder nobody else was excited.

At least it wasn't just me.

And They Were So Pampered They Did Not Want To Go Home. But They Had To.

It's going to be kind of hard to adjust to not staying in a fancy resort. Not being pampered every minute. Not having a phone in the bathroom.

Not having flowers everywhere you turn.

Not even having to get your feet wet if you want to cross a little stream.

Not having to sweep the beach yourself. I hate that, don't you?

Actually having to get up from your beach chair to shop. Instead of having someone come to you.With what looks strangely like a VCR on their head. And Tom totally made fun of me for hours when I said that.

And having even more flowers everywhere.

I just don't know how we are going to manage. It's going to be hard.

If only there was just someone to make me a tomato and mozzarella appetizer for dinner tonight. If only.

Bye, bye, scallops appetizer. Bye, bye coconut ice cream. Bye, bye frozen drinks brought to us on the beach as we lounged in our chairs. Bye, bye sleeping late and long naps in the afternoon and having someone make our bed for us and not having one, single, solitary responsibility. Except thinking about our next meal.

Sigh.

Ice Machines And Iguanas. But Not Iguanas IN Ice Machines. Because That Wouldn't Be Right.

When our bellman took us to our room in Puerto Vallarta, he showed us two very important items. The bottle opener under the counter in the dressing area (to open the drinks in the mini-fridge) and the ice machine in the hall. Tom was very excited about the bottles of Corona in the mini-fridge and I was excited about the cans of Diet Coke. All of which would be instantly replenished as we polished them off.

After we had our much-needed nap the first afternoon, I went out in the hall to fill up the ice bucket with ice while Corona boy went on the balcony to have a Corona.

However. Apparently, the bellman had neglected to mention that the ice machine had been built in approximately 1864 and was extremely cantankerous and arthritic. When asked to dispense ice, it grumbled, complained, shuddered and finally spat out a single cube. If you were very persistent and held down the button you could, just possibly, be rewarded with two cubes. Sometimes three. If you got three, you considered it a good day. It's the small things really.






And, on a similar topic...no. I have no transition between subjects.

On the way back from breakfast one morning, we happened to glance out the back window of the hotel, which backed up to the side of the mountain and noticed there were three iguanas out there. Luckily, this window was across the hall from our room. Even luckier, we were several stories up from the iguanas. So they were waaaaay down there. Because if they had been any closer to me, I would have run shrieking and gibbering to the nearest bar and had several mojitos. Not altogether a bad scenario, in hindsight. Anyway.


Dark gray with striped tails, they blended perfectly into the gray boulders at the base of the mountain. They moved sinuously, bobbing their heads and sliding their tails against the rocks. They were quite large, Tom estimated 3-4 feet long. I had to get a picture for you. I tried taking one from the window, but it was too far away. Tom suggested I go to the tennis courts which looked like they were right beside them. He did not suggest he go with me. He does not fully appreciate the concept of blogging everything interesting that happens. So I went to the tennis court alone. Luckily, there was a high wire fence between me and them. And I got a picture for you.





And looking at this. I'm once again glad we were waaaay up and there. And they were waaaaay down there.

Second Day In Paradise. Or When We Decide To Do Nothing But Eat And Lie On The Beach. Every Day.

Dreams Resort and Spa in Puerto Vallarta is located on the quite wonderful Bay of Banderas. Most of the other hotels in Puerto Vallarta are located in the hotel zone, which is near or in downtown Puerto Vallarta. I did not want to be in downtown Puerto Vallarta in the crowded hotel zone. I wanted a lovely, secluded hotel. So, that's what I found. And that's what we had. Here's the newer club tower, where we stayed. It backs up to the Sierra Madre mountains. Our room was just about in the middle of the tower.

The mountains come right down to the water on both sides of the beach. This makes the beach at Dreams very, very private.

The left side of the beach.

The right side of the beach.

The beach is completely secluded. If you don't want to go anywhere, you don't have to. If you don't want anyone to bother you, they won't. If you want to spend every day either planning your next meal or lying on the beach, you can do that.

So that's what we did.

We sat right here. Every day. And talked about our next meal. What we should order. Whether one of us should go get some more coconut ice cream. Whether we should apply more sun block. Or not. Whether we should take a nap now. Or wait until later. It took a great deal of time to make these decisions. Pretty much all day. Every day.

It was wonderful.

A Tale Of Two Foodies

Let me just tell you that if you are ever considering going to Puerto Vallarta and you, just possibly, like to eat? Go to Dreams Resort and Spa. All the reviews I read talked about how wonderful the food was, so we had high, high expectations. And they were met. Oh, baby, they were met.

And to just express to you how truly wonderful all the food was? The first night, we took ONE picture of ourselves. We took FOUR pictures of the food.

The first morning, we had breakfast at the seafood restaurant, Oceana. And can I just add that the whole concept of me getting up in the morning and exercising before Tom woke up? Hah. I say again, Hah. The first night I slept from 10:00 until 9:30 the next morning. Tom said he woke up and was just a teeny, tiny bit concerned that I might be dead because I was lying so still. I think he was mainly concerned because that would have put a serious dent in our food consumption. Which turned out to be a PRIMARY focus of our trip.

So, about eating breakfast at Oceana. Can you just see yourself having breakfast with this view every morning?

We ordered fresh fruit. This is what it looked like. This was our first taste (pun intended) of what the food would be like.

The tables always had fresh flowers on them.

Here is the view from the Seaside Grill, where we normally had lunch. We are still dreaming about their homemade coconut ice cream.



The first night, we had dinner at Portofino's, the Italian restaurant. This is grouper with shrimp.

Sunset from Portofino's our first night.

Not only did we sigh over the beautiful sunset, we sighed over dessert as well. Tiramisu.

And chocolate cannoli.

The second night, we ate at Oceana, the seafood restaurant.

Shrimp eggroll for an appetizer.

Now, I have to share a story about this scallop appetizer from Oceana. Tom ordered this, took one bite and his eyes rolled back in head in ecstasy. I took my fork and speared one scallop, intending to take just one small bite. "Oh, I didn't mean to take one of your whole scallops," I exclaimed. Then I looked up into his face. "Well. You. Are." he said, very seriously. And his fork was dangerously close to my hand. I put the scallop back. And ordered my own.


The scallops in a cream/cheese/wine sauce. Oh my God.

The third night, we had dinner at El Patio, the Mexican restaurant. I wish I had gotten a picture of the roast cheese which tasted like cheese cooked on an open fire, but we stuffed it into our faces too fast for me to take a picture. I did get a picture of the sea bass and shrimp.

And the shrimp tacos.

Sadly, I never did find the coconut shrimp which had been recommended by someone online. I guess that means we'll just have to go back sometime soon so we can try that!

Chocolate mousse for dessert.

And...the diet starts back up today.

First Day In Paradise or How To Get Totally Snockered On Free Corona

Hola! Buenos Dias! Buenas Tardes! Buenas Noches! Mojitos! Tacos! Oh, sorry. I'm still on PUERTO VALLARTA VACATION MODE!!! But we are BAAAACK and I need to share every, single, little detail with you, my faithful readers, and then the experience will become really real. First, just let me say that I hope you appreciate your faithful blogger and all the blogging I had to do in between the many, many, many bouts of eating we experienced. And I'm not talking about sitting down and typing out a few words. NO. We didn't TAKE our laptop. So I had to engage in some serious LOW TECH blogging. Like this. But I did it. All for you. Now, for the details about our trip. But first. Before anything else. Before I even tell you about the horrifying experience at the airport. Look at the toilet paper in our room. A golden satin ribbon was tied around it. I am going to immediately do this at my house. Aren't you?

Anyway. All the problems I anticipated in this post? Non-existent. Tom was as excited as I was and he was up before I could even go in and shake him awake. We got a cab, we flew, yada yada, and then we were at the Puerto Vallarta airport. It was muggy and warm, but not unbearable. I had made arrangements online to be driven to the Dreams Resort and Spa by a private company. I had been warned time and again and again by reviewers on Tripadvisor to ignore the timeshare sales people in the airport. So we did. Or thought we did.

We checked in at a desk where they were holding up a sign with our name on it and got a VIP pass for the luxury car that would take us to the resort. Then the trouble began. A guy in some sort of uniform began to take our luggage and put it on a luggage cart. I stopped him. "Are you with Puerto Vallarta Tours?" I asked him. He replied (lied) "Yes." and took us to another desk where a guy spent 10 minutes telling our sweaty, exhausted selves all about Puerto Vallarta while we stood there, waiting for him to lead us to the car. Finally, finally, he mentioned that if we would just look at these condos for just a few minutes...and I realized we had been duped. I told Tom to get the luggage and we just rudely walked away. Finally, after dozens of people screaming at us that yes, they were just the ones we were looking for, we found the correct place and headed for our resort. We drove through the gates into a beautifully landscaped and gorgeous location.
Our room was not quite ready, so we went to have lunch. Right here.

Remember, we were hot, and tired and thirsty. Very thirsty. When we sat down, Tom confirmed with me that ALL the food and drink were already paid for, correct? Correct. Then, he proceeded to drink three ice-cold Coronas. You have to remember that we are not big drinkers. Far from it. And I can't remember the last time Tom drank three beers. When I asked him if he was OK, he said he was just fine, NOT EVEN DIZZY! Then we stood up. He didn't actually stagger, but he did admit that his head was spinning. That was fine, because we got checked in, took a picture from our balcony...

And then took a serious, long nap. And then had dinner. But dinner actually deserves it's own post. In fact, the food deserves a post of it's own. Check back tomorrow for the food post. And have a snack on hand. You will need it.

What He Doesn't Know Won't Hurt Him. Or Me.

So, we are in Puerto Vallarta!!!!!

Or, maybe not.

It depends on when you are reading this. If it is between 6:30 A.M. (Central time) and 1:00 P.M (Pacific Time), then we are probably still flying. After that, barring any unforeseen circumstances like a blizzard in Chicago (unlikely) or a bird in the airplane engine (much more likely) we should be in Puerto Vallarta getting ready to gorge ourselves at the lunch buffet.

Hopefully, at that point, my husband has not had a serious Aneurysm about the teeny, tiny little bits of information I kept from him about the trip until the very last minute.

1. When my family went on vacation, we left at the crack of dawn. Sometimes even before it cracked. It was always pitch black. My dad always wanted to get a couple of hours on the road before we stopped for breakfast. So, I am ready to go EARLY when we leave on trips. Tom. Not so much. He would really prefer to get up about 10:00, have some coffee and read the paper and then, very LEISURELY make his way to the airport.



Our flight leaves at 6:30 A.M.



2. We have a very, very, very comfortable bed. It has a pillow top mattress, soft comforter and high thread count sheets.



All the reviews of this resort talk about how incredibly, indescribably hard the beds are. Some may, just possibly, have even mentioned plywood.


3. Tom loves cold weather. He hates and despises hot weather. When we went to Cancun in January a few years ago, the weather was perfect. Slightly cool but warm in the sun and very cool in the evenings. I blithely assumed Puerto Vallarta would be like that in October. I checked the weather the other day to plan what clothes to pack.



It was 91. The weather report said it felt like 104.



These items are precisely why I am setting this to post on Thursday. After we are already in Puerto Vallarta. When it's too late for him to...shall we say...express his displeasure. After he has seen our fabulous resort and our fabulous room and had several fabulous Coronas.



And after he sees this when we get back...Hi, baby! Love you. Really. I do. And didn't we have a GREAT time?

Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall But Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining

I did not want to get up this morning. I did not want to drive to work. I did not want to work. I did not want to get out of my soft, warm, comfy bed. But then I did. Because I remembered. In less than a week I will be here.

And I will sit in one of these lounge chairs on the beach.

And a white-clad waiter will bring me one of these.

And then maybe. Just maybe I'll have one of these.


And I forgot all about how I didn't want to get up today. Because I won't have to get up early for four whole days. In paradise. And life is good.

Very, very good.

Don't Worry, Be Happy. Not.

You know how some days are just.so.great. You are just lookin' good and you are so relaxed and your job is stress-free and things are just so frackin' fabulous you don't know what to do with yourself.

Yeah. Last Tuesday was not like that. From the moment I got to school until the moment I left 13 HOURS LATER, I was busy. BUSY. Somehow, I have become the designated technology expert at our school (Liz just sprayed Pumpkin Spice Starbucks on her keyboard because she is laughing so hard) so I had to revamp a Power Point presentation for a program that night (incorporating a video clip of our new Chinese class ), finish downloading a video of a student teacher in Microsoft Moviemaker and put it on a web page for her, tape a video of our new playground safety lesson plan with some kids on the playground, create and print out a brochure about our student technology group, put some clips from the morning show on a laptop to show at the program, and work on my online curriculum and the school web pages.

This is in addition to helping the students put on the school-wide morning show, teaching my regular classes and staying after school to grade arts and humanities tests.

Then, I had to set up a table in the front hall, decorate it and set up the laptop to show the morning show clips. THEN I had to clean the library and shelve books and make sure everything was presentable since the parents who were visiting the school were meeting in there.

The program was supposed to be from 6:00 - 7:00 in the evening but we had a couple of parents who...kept...asking questions and we didn't get away from school until almost 8:00. I got home, watched some TV and fell into bed.

When I got here this morning, I felt like I never left.

And then yesterday I got a call from my travel agent. Our travel documents for Puerto Vallarta were in. In two weeks, I'll be lying on the beach. Don't worry. Be happy.

Vacation Brain

I read a blog post a while back that made me think about my vacation plans for Puerto Vallarta in October. (like I need a reminder) But I can so relate when she talked about "Marathon Brain". I TOTALLY have "Vacation Brain". I think about it all the time. When I am driving to school, it's like "At this time in so many weeks I will ordering an omelet at the buffet overlooking the ocean."

And sometimes? When I am reading aloud to my students? I will drift off into a daydream about the jacuzzi on my balcony at the resort and realize I have just read aloud 3-4 pages and have absolutely no memory of it. Hopefully, I was reading the story and not just muttering "Jacuzzi. Jacuzzi. Jacuzzi." I'll never know, since bless their little hearts, they would probably just think it's part of the story.

I'll be talking to someone and they will be talking about their lives and I'm thinking "Will you just hurry up and finish because I MUST tell you what I just found out about the shops on the boardwalk in Puerto Vallarta". Or I am having lunch with some people and someone might say something like "Next fall we can do thus-and-such with the students." And instead of processing this and thinking about a plan for changing my curriculum to correlate more, I am thinking "Next fall I will be in Puerto Vallarta."

It's a little distracting. I try to turn off my brain. To put it on the back burner since, after all, that is several months away. Actually, it's about 5 months. 24 weeks. I don't know how many days. I almost counted, but then I realized I had my planner in my hand counting the time for an event that is ALMOST half a year away. And realized maybe I need to calm down a little. I'm trying. But you know how you lie awake at night sometimes thinking about things, thinking, thinking, thinking and you think "I need to stop thinking. I need to go to sleep. This is silly. GO TO SLEEP." But it doesn't work? You just keep on thinking? It's like that. Only all the time.

So, I will try. Honestly. I will. I just formulated the plan and made our reservations, so I think the concept will fade a little before it swells and gets huge again in about September. But these words are seared into my brain. Seared. Into. My brain. As we count down to the end of the school year. As we go through testing. As we deal with students who would much rather be out in the sunshine than listening to us teach. Wouldn't they be seared into yours as well?

In a lush tropical paradise, Dreams Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa is a luxury resort secluded in its own private beach cove. Luxurious accommodations include spacious ocean-view rooms and suites overlooking the hypnotic blue-green water and large private beach. Several suites and penthouses even have twin floors and private swimming pools. To unwind there are three pools, four gourmet restaurants and friendly lounges.

Three. Pools. Four. Gourmet. Restaurants. Wait. Did I say that out loud?

I Have a Little Problem

Yes. I do.

I have a little addiction problem. What? Drugs, alcohol? Pshaw. You can have those silly little things. Oh, and then perhaps it occurred to you - clothes, shoes, earrings? No, no, no. Although...those might be considered MINOR addictions. But, no. I'm talking about...my beach addiction.

I need it. I must have it regularly. Otherwise I get jittery. Nervous. Unhappy. Moody. When Tom announced that we really shouldn't (in other words, couldn't...and, in all fairness, he is right) take big vacations for the next couple of years until we retire, I felt a little twinge of withdrawal. No beach for a couple of years. But it wasn't until just lately that really became real and I realized...two or three years with no beach. NOOOOOOOO.

So, we had a discussion the other night, out on a terrace at a local seafood restaurant overlooking a lagoon with ducks and geese. It was cool and lovely and we were just enjoying ourselves so much. So, I thought it an opportune time to broach the subject of couldn't we just take a mini, teeny-tiny long weekend vacation to the beach? If I work and slave on EBay and pay for it all by myself. (and do ya have any extra chores, like milking or mucking out the stalls for me, Ma?) And, even though he really thinks we should save our money and even though he really doesn't even LIKE the beach and much prefers cold weather, because he loves me SO MUCH, he agreed.

So, now I begin what I consider ALMOST as much fun as the vacation itself - the planning. And you get to help me! What lucky, lucky Internet readers are you! I think we will stay at an all-inclusive resort somewhere in Mexico. Mainly because we can get there in just a few hours and because we really like all-inclusive resorts. We have stayed at the Moon Palace in Cancun and Liz and I have stayed at the Punta Cana Princess (site of the infamous topless bathing incident) and we just really like the whole idea of paying one price and having your room and all the food and drink you can cram in your mouth for four days.
I'm choosing Mexico over the Dominican Republic, which both have lovely beaches and are within easy travelling distance, because I was a little careless while at the Punta Cana Princess and BRUSHED MY TEETH WITH THE TAP WATER. Luckily, the bacteria didn't really blossom until I got home or we would have had to get a hotel room in Florida on our way home so I could have died peacefully. They provided us with plenty of bottled water, but I forgot one time and paid the price. I just don't like staying somewhere that I will suffer agonizing pain if I forget and brush my teeth with tap water. Just doesn't seem right to punish me like that.

We also really like Vacation Express because we have been very impressed with their service and their professionalism. Liz and I were all alone in a strange country and I liked the way the Vacation Express employees were always accessible to us. So I will probably book with them again for our getaway in October.

So, the planning begins. I have just begun looking at the various locations and resorts but I'm leaning towards Puerto Vallarta. We have been there before, but just for a day on one of our cruises, and it was beautiful. We toured the rain forest and had lunch on a patio overlooking the jungle with monkeys screeching and rainbow parrots flying overhead. So, we would like to do some other things while we are there.

I would love input and suggestions from ya'll. Has anyone else been to Punta Cana? Where did you stay? What did you do? Thanks. I knew I could count on you.