Receipt for Disaster?

[baby boy]

Hi,

New guy here. I planned to travel for the first time to Santiago (DR for that matter) in November by my self to do a little exploring of the country. I don't speak any Spanish. I want to rent a car for my trip so I can get around more easily vs the guagua or caribe tour or metro. I planned to spend couple days in Santiago, then off to la Vega and then up north to puerto plata and semana, all alone sight-seeing and exploring alone the way. I'm pretty savvy with my sense of directions. I want to know if this is a receipt for disaster for someone who's never been to DR or speak the language?

TIA

[Rbh44]

You can learn enough Spanish between now and November to get by if you really want to. I have visited twice this year, by myself. I traveled to Santo Domingo, Santiago, Puerto Plata and Cofresi. I did not rent a car either time. I would highly recommend you learn some simple Spanish, verbs especially. I want, I need, You have, You can, eat and drink ect. It is not that hard to be understood if you try. My biggest problem is understanding what anyone says.... almost impossible for my level of Spanish, but I am working on it as I hope to relocate next year.

[ben jammin]

just be ready if you do it. i'd have a gps if possible with a DR map on it. there is good info on the search function on this site. i'd make sure i had a phone and some contacts available to translate if need be. travel during the daytime and avoid rush hour in large cities as it will be difficult to navigate and mapread simultaniously. it could be great touring and a nightmare also if not prepared and careful... good luck and happy journeys, ben

[badpiece33]

Originally Posted by baby boy

Hi,

New guy here. I planned to travel for the first time to Santiago (DR for that matter) in November by my self to do a little exploring of the country. I don't speak any Spanish. I want to rent a car for my trip so I can get around more easily vs the guagua or caribe tour or metro. I planned to spend couple days in Santiago, then off to la Vega and then up north to puerto plata and semana, all alone sight-seeing and exploring alone the way. I'm pretty savvy with my sense of directions. I want to know if this is a receipt for disaster for someone who's never been to DR or speak the language?

TIA

This is definately a recipe for disaster if you are unfamiliar with the driving in the DR. Remember you are also sight seeing and everything you see is new and you want to take it in, Then out of nowhere comes a guy on a motor cycle with a washing machine or 2-6 relatives hanging onto bike at all angles, a large truck critically overloaded and leaning to one side, and 2-3 cows in midddle of the road.... Then what do you do???? Sounds far fetched? This is an everyday sight driving in DR. Take taxis or use the busses till you get a feel for the country,you will thank me later trust me.

[baby boy]

I want to thank everyone for the inputs. The wheel is in motion as we speak, booked the flight last night. The other details is still up in the air.

BP, you had me LOL with you comment. As far as driving, I feel pretty confident. I drive for a living in the states for the last 2 decades and I have been to southeast Asia and see their driving, I can't imagine it be that much worst. I think if I do decide to rent, I'll stick to day driving and utilize the public transportation when in the city.

RBH44, I'm taking your advice. I need to brush up my Spanish. I took couple years of Spanish way back when in high school, but as they say, if you don't use it, you lose it.

As for GPS, I searched here and googled but seem like nothing really solid out there in the market. Does anyone know the latest news on the GPS nav for the DR? It would help greatly but are prepared to go old school paper map if it come to that, which I'm pretty good at.

See you all in DR in November. I'm buying the first round of Presidente if we should bump into each other.

[ctrob]

Originally Posted by baby boy

BP, you had me LOL with you comment. As far as driving, I feel pretty confident. I drive for a living in the states for the last 2 decades and I have been to southeast Asia and see their driving, I can't imagine it be that much worst. I think if I do decide to rent, I'll stick to day driving and utilize the public transportation when in the city.:

Your making a big mistake - you should not get in a car and drive. Listen to the previous posters and If you do some reading you'll understand. Going to the DR and driving without any knowledge of it can send you home broke or dead - or both. You can have a great trip without driving. Bus transportation is very economical, then walk or taxi around town.

Being outside the tourist areas will be enough of a struggle without Spanish. But at least you can live thru it.

[william webster]

Originally Posted by ctrob

Your making a big mistake - you should not get in a car and drive. Listen to the previous posters and If you do some reading you'll understand. Going to the DR and driving without any knowledge of it can send you home broke or dead - or both. You can have a great trip without driving. Bus transportation is very economical, then walk or taxi around town.

Being outside the tourist areas will be enough of a struggle without Spanish. But at least you can live thru it.

It may not be as bad as everybody says.

I have rented from my first visit ( w/o asking any advice ) :
Trip #1
Sto Domingo... old road to Samana peninsula (deadly). Tour north coast and return to SD ( tortuous )

Subsequent trips - SDQ to north coast and various trips back to Sto Domingo

Currently, my own house and car parked on the north coast which (w/ the help of a local driver ) picks me up at any airport.

Yes, its different/difficult...... impossible=no

POSSIBLE=YES with due care and diligence as suggested by the "wise men"

Life is different, but if you respect the local attitude (in all ways) and go at a cautious pace.... things should be fine.

Take nothing for granted... assume the worst... and drive on.

I am trying not to be cavalier... other parts of the world are worse, I'm sure.... but this is surmountable with the right attitude

Try it-- if it scares you -- change the plan

In all my travels/rentals... not 1 accident or extra charge from the rental company.... Italy is WAY worse-- all ways around. IMO

Live and learn but LIVE !!

BTW my spanish is limited but the local population can be VERY helpful.

If I sound too "feel good" about the whole thing..... YES, I feel good about the DR.... I support it.
I suppose - in this forum - I may be considered to be in the minority

So be it...... we tried a "fell good " thread a while back It died :-((

[wuarhat]

Originally Posted by baby boy

I don't speak any Spanish.

Originally Posted by baby boy

I'll … and utilize the public transportation when in the city.

That might be fun to watch. I’d stick to driving, especially if your time is limited. There is a book entitled: Mapas de Ciudades y Provincias R.D. I have seen in La Sirena and Jumbo for between 700 & 1000 pesos, that looks pretty good. Not driving at night is the safe way to go.
If worse comes to worse and you find yourself plying the rural roads after dark, you definitely, regardless of what the driver behind you thinks, should not let your braking distance exceed your down the road visibility. There can be some very surprising things, such as people where you least expect them, knee high speed bumps (unpainted), and very slow unlighted vehicles on the Dominican roads. Also, navigating rural roads you are unfamiliar with is very interesting during the day and close to scary at night. If you know how to use a compass bring one, the rural roads can be very poorly marked. If you haven’t taken the trip before in daylight it would be foolhardy to take it in darkness.
Driving the cities at night in and of itself is not that bad, but that is usually when the police have the roadblocks with about ten to twenty cops set up. Prepare for these at the rental desk by making sure that you are insured and know how to show it. Also when the guy shows you the car for damage make sure it has a holographic matriculation sticker on the lower right of the windshield.
Nighttime is the most likely, but by no means only time, to be pulled over by a single police car and be shaken down for a bribe. They start out offering to save you a lot of trouble by taking your money themselves. I’ve yet to pay one or be written up with a ticket. Usually this requires denying their charges for twenty minutes or so. After that they say: OK, no problem, bye. I’ve had a single guy pull me over on a motorcycle, and start out asking for 4000 pesos and work his way down to coffee money, and I’ve had one guy get in my car and tell me to drive to the police station while his partner followed me. Then all of a sudden he told me to stop, got out of the car, and said, “OK, no problem, bye.”
One last thing you should look out for is zeroing of the meter when you get gasoline.

[GKLSY]

I rented a car one time, so I'm not claiming to be the expert, but here's my input. The contract I had to sign was in Spanish (I did not rent from one of the big international companys). You may want to have someone you trust with you to read the contract since you don't speak much Spanish, if necessary. I had my digital camera with me so I took pictures of the car in the lot to avoid getting hit with any $ for damage that was already there. The car I rented did not have enough clearance to make it over some of the speedbumps without bottoming out so I was sweating that possible damage, but everything went fine. On advice I got from local people, I paid someone to watch the car when I left it (maybe I got suckered?) I did drive after dark and will NEVER do it again. The motorcycles with no lights were just too much for me, I was really afraid that I would kill someone. I have been warned by several people that there are countless scams to get $ from tourists in rental cars. One is for a pedestrian or motorcycle rider to fall over and pretend that you hit them. I ran into a guy from NY right after this supposedly happened to him, he was trying to contact a lawyer because they were trying to get money from him for the "hospital" although he says he absolutely did not hit them and they had no visible injuries. I don't want to feed these type of stories if they are not true, so maybe someone who lives there can confirm or deny. Like I said this info is just what I have heard. I made it back to the rental place without killing myself or anyone else, but did not really enjoy my time in the car... I would strongly recommend riding around with a local awhile before deciding, unless you're from Massachusetts (just kidding-kinda)

[GKLSY]

Originally Posted by william webster

It may not be as bad as everybody says.

...If I sound too "feel good" about the whole thing..... YES, I feel good about the DR.... I support it.
I suppose - in this forum - I may be considered to be in the minority

So be it...... we tried a "fell good " thread a while back It died :-((

I love the DR, that's why I go there, but even paradise has it's perils. I am glad that I had several great visits behind me before I found this site, otherwise I may never have dared to go. But I think the same would happen with travel advice to New York, Boston, Miami, Las Vegas... When you're giving warnings, it's not usually about the good things. But here are a couple attempts: Don't bring a book, you're going to be having too much fun to read it. Leave your ipod at home, you'll be hearing great music everywhere you go and people will actually speak to you when you're walking down the street. Don't go to the corner store unless you feel like socializing because someone will take a chair off the stack and invite you to hang out. Bring an umbrella, because rain doesn't dampen the sprit of the DR.