Upon exiting the airport, I am reminded of the negatives of the Dominican Republic: Everything is kinda crappy. I paid 2x for a "nice" Uber, and it's a trashy car that looks like it's been in an accident. I get to my walkable neighborhood, and there are no trees in sight. All the sidewalks are half-finished, wires hanging from the polls. I eat at a restaurant for lunch, given a lime so old that not a single drop comes out. Then, I am reminded there are two extra charges on receipts; one is an 18% tax labeled ITBIS and another is a 10% included tip labeled as a tax (so that you give an additional tip with noticing). The ATM fee increases with the quantity of cash ($20 to take out $300). Much better than getting 45DOP per dollar at the "commission-free" option at the airport - that's an unheard-of 25% tax to convert your precious USD to local currency (it's usually ~5%). Then I arrive at the Airbnb with a cookie-cutter, no-concept design and cheap, uncomfy furniture. Sitting on the couch, I turn on the SmartTV with busted speakers making all sounds crackly. I'll just stop there..
Air Quality: 95 (moderate)
Tap Water: 423ppm (bad)
Dew Point: 75F/26C (oppressive; dew point is a better measure for humidity)
I've traveled enough to know if I like a spot before arrival. I should have known better. This is not a place for me. It's a resort town, kinda like Cancun. It's hot and humid. It's only mildly walkable. Low-energy locals selling drugs, women, tours, party, and massages like San Andres. But what really gets me is the little attention paid to the things just outside the eyeball zone. The beach is somewhat clean, but take a tiny little step off it and it's full of trash and smelly. It's the epitome of lazy humans pillaging the land for all it's worth; just this time, they're pillaging tourists while disrespecting the land. It's reflective of the people and the government. The cars are trashy, the streets are trashy, the buildings are trashy, the food in the supermarkets is trashy.
I've made other mistakes (Mumbai, Casablanca, Belize), but I'm really disappointed in my latest error. So, to avoid them in the future, I'm going to list what I need in my ideal location in order of preference:
Those are things I want. There's one thing I do not want: normie tourism. That's resorts. That's Punta Cana. It's also Cancun. It's not how I travel. I am not on vacation. I like to explore real neighborhoods and authentic culture, so yes, I should have known this before coming because Punta Cana was developed for tourism. I thought I was possibly, maybe finding a hidden gem outside the tourist zone that does not exist. The beach and direct flight from Medellin helped. Tourism isn't necessarily bad. Bali, Tulum, Playa del Carmen are overrun with tourism but that is offset by a large digital nomad/expat scene to make things nice, creating nice shops, a good gym, coffee scene, and supermarkets, and expat events if you so choose.
The above is subject to what else is offered. For example, if I get superb walkability, a high-end gym, nice supermarket, and a good cafe scene (Playa del Carmen), then the climate can be less than ideal. However, Honolulu had 1-5, 9, and 10, but was a disappointment. Why? This was a bad choice after much research on my end. I put too much preference on a beach, and on pretty girls, which there were plenty on Tinder prior to my arrival. Upon arrival, I went on zero dates during my time there. I will preference this much less in the future. I realized that although walkable, it was only so in the touristy zone and, thus, the variety of cafes and nice local spots like barber shops were lacking. It wasn't local. Punta Cana isn't local. It's created for tourism. But so is Playa del Camren and I like that because of the awesome gym scene, the ability to avoid the tourist traps, and the pretty women. It has an expat scene. So does Bali and I didn't like it. I think I need to give Bali, yet another chance. Tulum had an expat scene and I liked it. The parts I didn't like was the inability to escape the tourist traps which you entered every time you went to the beach. Honolulu does have an expat scene and locals do live in Waikiki so why didn't I like it? It was created for tourism. I have to be honest with myself, the girl situation also didn't help. Part of the reason why I came to Punta Cana, again, was because of the success I had with women in Santo Domingo. But attractive local women don't live here. Thus, we have only really #9 from the list above with one passable gym which I will check out tomorrow. I should have stayed in Santo Domingo and came here for a night. You can figure out a lot in one day. Then I could have went also to Samana and Las Terrenas for a daytrip to explore. Next trips, I need to think more about where to choose. But I did that with Honolulu and didn't love it. Maybe that was an exception. I hope so..
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In 2015, Danny got fired from Airbnb. Just two years later, he started two successful businesses and wrote a best-selling book. Since then, he's become a bodybuilding, location-independent, minimalist traveling the world while living in Airbnbs. He describes himself as a skeptic, contrarian, and expert cuddler. In his spare time he reads, cooks, and plays basketball. Follow his journey on Instagram or YouTube.
