Four Reasons why You Must Visit the Dominican Republic

Looking for your next vacation destination but not sure where to visit? Why not plan a visit to the Dominican Republic? The Caribbean is always a popular vacation choice, and each year millions of tourists flock to the Dominican Republic to enjoy all that this beautiful Caribbean country has to offer. This stunning island has plenty of activities to suit everyone, along with a wide choice of accommodation available.

Image by Einfach-Eve from Pixabay

Whether you're traveling alone, as a family, as a couple or with your family, you will find plenty of things to do that everyone will enjoy on your vacation in the Dominican Republic. From places to explore for culture vultures, through to action-packed adrenaline adventures, you certainly won't be bored when visiting the Dominican Republic.

Beautiful Beaches

If relaxing on a beautiful sandy beach is your idea of bliss, then you will love the Dominican Republic. The island’s incredible coastline spans almost 1,000 miles, with the Caribbean coastline on the southern side of the island and the Atlantic coastline on the northern side of the island; the Dominican Republic is a destination with a wide choice of beautiful beaches.

Nature at its Best

As well as beautiful beaches, the Dominican Republic features a breathtakingly diverse landscape. In fact, you may want to hire a car to ensure that you don’t miss out on seeing any of the Dominican Republic’s natural beauty. From a cloud forest to lagoons, the Dominican Republic showcases some truly incredible natural scenery.

A visit to the island’s national parks is an essential part of your vacation itinerary. There are plenty of national parks here to choose from, including the Jaragua National Park, which is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. At the park, you will find a combination of beaches, lagoons, cays, and forest.

Action and Adventure

The Dominican Republic is a golfer’s paradise, and the island boasts a plentiful supply of golf courses to be enjoyed by visitors.

If golf isn’t your thing, you will find a vast range of other activities to try. For an adrenaline-filled holiday experience why not try ziplining? Take a different approach to sight-seeing and have a ziplining adventure as you whizz through the trees. Alternatively, you could take an inland safari and ride through the countryside into town to get a feel for life in the Dominican Republic.

Whether you fancy getting active with a spot of caving or snorkeling, or prefer something a little less energetic and would rather try your hand at some fishing, the Dominican Republic certainly has plenty of activities to choose from!

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

Family Fun

If you are holidaying with children, then you can be sure that you will find plenty of activities and places to go that the whole family will enjoy. The whole family will love visiting Ocean World Adventure Park to swim with dolphins and meet sea lions and riding go-karts at Fun City.

Have you ever been to the Dominican Republic?

Four Unique Date Destinations in Southern Florida

Are you playing the field in southern Florida?  Are you still looking for "the one" in southern Florida?  Then forget about dinner and a movie!  Shake up your love life with creative date ideas to get your hearts pumping.

Photo by Samuel Fyfe on Unsplash

A Train Ride With a Twist

A train ride through the country sounds romantic, right?  Well, there's no reason to stop there, make it a weekend!  There are plenty of options to grab a hotel and train ride broward county, and solve a mystery while you are at it.  The two of you will feel like you are part of the plot as you watch the mystery unfold throughout the train.  Mysteries are hard work, so delicious dinner options are provided.  An experience like this can only increase your bond.

Take Your Love to the Sky

Do you want to shout your partner's name from the rooftop?  Well, you can get even higher than that!  Float your date to the clouds with a hot air balloon ride.  For many, this is a once in a lifetime experience, and they will always remember you along with it!  Pop open some champagne as you watch the rolling hills drift beneath you from high above.  Share a kiss underneath a rainbow.  Just be sure to check the weather, first.

Trot Down the Beach

Beaches are a staple of Florida.  Why not try them out from a different perspective?  Horse back riding through the surf can be a fun way to gain a new skill, meet a horse and feel like Fabio.  Challenge each other to a race, or challenge each other to stay on the saddle for more than 10 minutes.  Whatever your skill level, there's no way not to have fun interacting with these majestic hooved creatures!

Discover a New World

Looking to actually get in the water?  Try snorkeling!  If conversation isn't your strong point, this activity is perfect for you.  The Florida gulf coast offers crystal clear, warm and gentle water - perfect for beginners.  Equipment rentals are relatively inexpensive.  There is plenty of interesting sea life to look at.  Afterwards you can laugh about getting water in your mask while recharging at a beach bar!

The dating game has changed a lot from your parents' day.  Oftentimes, it's not enough to impress your hopeful lover with a bouquet of flowers.  Try adding a wow factor to your outings and increase your chances of romantic success!  At the very least, you can say you had fun trying.

The Best Underseaters from the Travel Goods Show

So, this past week at the Travel Goods Show, I found a ton of fantastic bag options for light packers or those that want to pack light and need a little help. Let's talk underseaters!

Budget airlines are becoming more and more difficult to fly on with enough baggage, because they charge for everything. $60 (one way!) for a checked bag and almost the same for a bag that fits in the overhead. I'm a light packer, but even I need a little extra space sometimes. Baggage fees are a multi-billion dollar industry, but you can keep your money instead of throwing it away for your clothes to fly with you, plus not have to wear it all on the plane to make it happen.

When you fly Sun Country, Allegiant, Spirit, easyJet, Ryan Air, or any of those other "budget" airlines that aren't so budget after all the fees, you need a great underseater.

photo credit: Lewis N Clark

Last year I went to the show and came back with so many ideas and great bags coming our way. Lewis N Clark's OnBoard bags were fantastic. They have a duffel (which I reviewed) that has a wonderful low profile and pockets that didn't interfere with sliding it easily under and out from the seat in front of you. It was innovative and sporty, and you could pack a ton of stuff in it.

photo credit: Lewis N Clark

If you're like me and need to carry a laptop, their OnBoard backpack has similar features, but it is wide enough for your computer and is nicely hands-free and out of the way, making runs through the airport a little more convenient. Plus, it still looks cool, while being functional, especially when needed to get items out mid-flight.

photo credit: Lewis N Clark

This year LNC have introduced a deluxe packing organizer, which is essentially 3 packing cubes and an envelope that can hold all your stuff and you can close it up and throw it in your bag or carry as is. With Eric and I sharing a large carry-on when we travel, two of these would really keep all our stuff separate and organized, plus give our bag structure and packability for other necessities. No more Tetris-ing everything in nooks and crannies to jam it all in (I hope). 

When unfolded, the cube has one large zippered packing mesh cube on one side, two smaller ones on the other, and a zippered slip pocket along the entire back where you can put larger items, like jeans or pants, and this works as sort of a garment bag around the cubes. You can use it for toiletries, clothes, smaller items. Whatever you need! I'm thinking of using it inside a weekender and then packing shoes, electronics and snacks around it, so you aren't having to paw through a jumble of stuff every time you're looking for something that's probably shifted to the bottom of the bag magically. And when you get where you're going, no need to unpack, because you can lay it in a drawer or hang it up!

photo credit: Travelon

I'm dying to talk to you about Travelon's new Heritage Weekender. You guys! This bag is so beautiful and unisex and user-friendly. It unzips on top and has a phenomenal wide mouth opening, because they know what we all want and need in our bags! It can easily hold a week's worth of clothing with spare shoes and toiletries. I'm obsessed with it! The Heritage collection is lovely (remember this adorable crossbody?) and wears so we'll. The linger you use it, the more worn and fantastic the fabric looks. Every dude needs this for Father's Day, but everyone's going to want to steal it to use for their trips too. And it's so affordable. I still have reverse-sticker shock!

photo credit: Nomatic

Shall we talk backpacks that get real? Nomatic backpacks and rolling bags are going to be huge! The Travel Pack comes as a bundle and has a packing system and pockets and all the things you wish you had in a bag, but it all fits on your back and makes your travel life so. much. better. I love it. You'll love it. Your mother's going to love it. Even better? The laptop compartment is TSA ready, making security a whole lot easier.

photo credit: Thule

I went from the New Products Pavilion (because of course you start there) directly to the Thule booth. You probably recognize the Thule name from trucks with Thule shells or family vehicles with gear pods on the top. (Sorry, I don't have these things, so I don't actually know what they're called.) If you didn't know, Thule, pronounced "tooly", also makes rugged luggage and their boarding bags and spinners are both great to look at, but they're also really, really functional. The Subterra Convertible Carry-On is available now and a wonderful travel companion. There is an upgraded bag that is soon-to-be out and I genuinely had nothing that I would change about any of them.

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A post shared by Shereen Travels Cheap (@srayle) on Mar 29, 2019 at 8:17am PDT

You may have forgotten about the InTransit Bag from Walter + Ray that I reviewed last year, but it's, for real, one of the greatest bags. It has genius pockets and it super organizes all your travel goods and even has a removable lunch bag, so you can keep your foods cool while you fly. Well, she has some new bags, including the InTransit in leather now and the new Stagecoach bag that looks rugged and manly, but also vintage and pretty. 

So these aren't all the bags I saw, but they are the ones that are top of mind right now. I'm looking forward to bringing you a bunch of reviews in the coming weeks, in case you have someone on your list for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Graduation, or just need a new bag for yourself for Summer vacation.

What do you look for in a carry-on bag?