Traveling to Santo Domingo

[Dminicanbabydoll]

Hi guys
I'm hope everyone had a great 4th of July.

Well this is kind of last minute..
I'm leaving for D.R 2morrow in mid-morning (for a week) and I'm debating whether to or not to take my laptop. I'm probably going to be in La Capital and San Cristobal area to give ya'll a idea.
Also, any advice anyone wants to me about anything else such as where/what places to visit and any other info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys!
Dminincanbabydoll

[bigbird]

I think a lot would depend upon your hotel having WiFi, some do, some don't. Just about anywhere you go you will be able to find an Internet Cafe.

For some info on Santo Domingo try this site.
The Complete Guide to Colonial Zone, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Tourist Information, Restaurants, Night Life, Hotels, History, Monuments, Maps, Music, Businesses, Folklore, Calendar, Language and So Much More.

[Dminicanbabydoll]

Thanks Bigbird!
I will most likely be staying with family over there.
But thank you again : )

[Yachtmaster]

Originally Posted by Dminicanbabydoll

Hi guys
I'm hope everyone had a great 4th of July.

Well this is kind of last minute..
I'm leaving for D.R 2morrow in mid-morning (for a week) and I'm debating whether to or not to take my laptop. I'm probably going to be in La Capital and San Cristobal area to give ya'll a idea.
Also, any advice anyone wants to me about anything else such as where/what places to visit and any other info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys!
Dminincanbabydoll

If it is primarily internet service that you are interested in, some hotels do provide WiFI, however, I do not take my laptop to the DR for fear of theft. Internet centers are plentiful and cheap, at least in SD.

[amparocorp]

i know of an instance where a businessman staying in a major SD hotel was followed for three days by thieves waiting for the right opportunity to steal the laptop. they got it.

[Theforceinme]

You guys are the worst, what the heck.

Petty thievery is no worse here than where she lives now. Tourists are just dumb!! Yeah, I did mean that - I have watched tourists get up from their hotel table, to the bathroom.... leaving their laptop on the table! This is NOT something you would do even in your home town!

Just bring it, use it, and don't do something silly like leaving it unattended.

[amparocorp]

she must live in calcutta if the thievery is no worse. with 20 years of friends and relatives in SD, everyone i know can tell you a story of something being stolen. this includes poor barrios and rich ones. tourists aren't dumb, they are smart enough to work a job that pays them well enough that they can afford a vacation. a few tourists do a few dumb things, a few posters post their own stupidity, and theft of cameras, laptops, passports is not petty.

[Theforceinme]

I stand by my ground, SD is no worse than any other big, crowded city of the world. If you get into dark alleys, you will get mugged. If you get careless, stuff happens. Tourists are just a bigger target since they usually have cash and valuables and they don't know where they are going sometimes.

So, amparocorp, I think you are just paranoid. I have lived here 25 years and I know how bad or not it is.

[drloca]

Originally Posted by Theforceinme

I stand by my ground, SD is no worse than any other big, crowded city of the world. If you get into dark alleys, you will get mugged. If you get careless, stuff happens. Tourists are just a bigger target since they usually have cash and valuables and they don't know where they are going sometimes.

So, amparocorp, I think you are just paranoid. I have lived here 25 years and I know how bad or not it is.

I agree. Many travellers leave their common sense behind and dont apply the same standards and precautions that they do at home.
Havent heard of too many school or campus shootings in the DR...now in the US, totally different story.

[Rocky]

Originally Posted by Theforceinme

I stand by my ground, SD is no worse than any other big, crowded city of the world. If you get into dark alleys, you will get mugged. If you get careless, stuff happens. Tourists are just a bigger target since they usually have cash and valuables and they don't know where they are going sometimes.

So, amparocorp, I think you are just paranoid. I have lived here 25 years and I know how bad or not it is.

And I stand there next to you.
In my hometown of Montreal, twice now (maybe 3 times?) there have been school shooting incidents where some freak indiscriminately shoots as many as he can.
Now that's scary shyte.
And when I was a teenager and the FLQ kidnapped some politician and was going around putting bombs in mailboxes..
Even more scary.
They have tabloids there, just to report the mountains of crime everyday.
They wouldn't have survived all these years, if all they had to report was a laptop being stolen and some john getting pickpocketed.


10 years ago, where could a gringo go to report that he was a crime victim, other than the cop shop?
Now he/she can plaster it all over the internet.
It gives some folks the illusion that crime is now rampant.
It may have increased, but not the way some folks would have you believe.
If Montreal had a forum such as DR1, where the members were permitted to report any and all crime, good grief...
There wouldn't be any room left for the other forums.
You'd never catch up to the last post, as the crimes would be committed faster than you could read the stories.


I respect and value the opinions of those who see it differently than I do, and am always ready to learn.
I also value the posts from those who hope to keep others safe by issuing warnings of potential crime, but like anything in life, there needs to be a harmonious balance between the warnings and the suggestion that the DR is a Utopia of freedom & safety.
IMO, the DR is safer than average.
It ain't perfect, but it's better than where I come from.