Hi Steemians! I’m Spencer!
All my life up until I was 23 years old, I had never left the comfort of the United States. This picture described perfectly the excitement of my life.
Truthfully I always wanted to leave, even from my early teens. I wanted to experience a piece of that culture that I saw all over the internet. People traveling the world, taking fancy pictures in front of crystal blue seas. I wanted to trek across deserts, plow through jungles, cross rivers, and all of those other dreamy things you can see all over Instagram, Facebook, and TV Commercials.
Those awesome pictures you always see:
I never really had discovered the how-to though. That was always the biggest thing holding me back. How? How was I going to leave the country? Two years ago, when working as a mechanic I made a life changing decision to wonder into a field in which I never had gone.
Me in my mechanic days:
Fast forward to Summer of 2017, I made the decision to move to Cabarete, Dominican Republic. The how already presented itself. I finally found a job that allowed me to make money on the go at any time. So in June, I sold almost all of my belongings, booked my flight, and went to apply for my passport.
Believe it or not, the passport facility near me was closed for renovations. And because of that, all of the others in the area were appointment only. When I called to make an appointment, they told me the next appointment they had would be two months ahead. I couldn’t believe it. Here I was acting on my dream, and right before my eyes it was starting to disappear.
I started doing all of the research I could to get a passport sooner. I looked into expedited passport agencies but they needed to verify my identity since it was my first. In order to verify my identity, I had to travel to the closest passport agency which was two states away. However, the interesting thing was, there is a passport agency smack in the middle of Manhattan, New York. My flight to DR was leaving from JFK which wasn’t that far from Manhattan.
So I decided to book a flight to NY for before my flight leaves to DR, head up to the passport agency and hope I could get it expedited within 3 days! Yes that’s right, I only had 3 days to get my passport before my flight was scheduled to leave.
Long story short, I got my passport. On the VERY LAST DAY at 7:30 PM. That was well after the agency was closed. Yes, I was the very last person on the very last day to receive my passport. Call it whatever you want, I was LUCKY!
So, after that whole fiasco we (me and my beautiful lady 
Me and on our way to DR:
We got a beautiful beach front apartment in this amazing gated community called Orilla Del Mar (which actually means ‘Side of the Ocean’) and we were set!
Relaxing on the beach right in front of the apartment:
Enjoying a nice beer in the pool (beers are much cheaper there):
Sunset from our room:
All in all things were great. I loved it here, it was private, quiet, and gorgeous. All of my biggest dreams were coming true. I had never even stepped foot outside of the country and yet, here I was living in the Caribbean right on the beach.
The truth is though, not everything is as pretty as you see on Social Media. Yeah, it can be beautiful. However most of the time you see the best parts of any vacation destination on the Gram.
Go outside of these tourist areas, and you will see the good, bad and ugly, which in reality is still beautiful.
Farm in Dajabon:
Some city that I can’t remember the name of:
Chilling in a hammock at a house in Dajabon:
Also you must understand, that this is a third world country. And with that, you will receive some third world internet! For someone who works and relies heavily on the internet, it is really bad when your internet is unbearably slow and unreliable. However, I suppose that’s the name of the game and you just have to accept it for what it is. After all, it’s not really a spot people go to live and work but rather a spot to vacation or retire.
There were some beautiful beaches out there. The most beautiful beach I had visited was called Playa Grande. The sand was white, the water was blue, and the food and drinks were great. I honestly cannot wait to go back to this place and spend some more time there.
Sipping a coconut at Playa Grande:
Another shot of a piece of the vast beach of Playa Grande:
Eating some fish, rice, and salad at Playa Grande:
There’s also some amazing little spots to eat and sit down and relax. There’s a little spot in the center of Cabarete called Vagamundo that has some amazing coffee and waffles! It was also a great little spot to sit down and get some work done.
And then there is Janet’s Cafe. Now Janet’s is actually the closest supermarket to where we lived. And Janet’s Cafe was a little eatery above the supermarket. They had some amazing omelets that I loved to get anytime I went by the supermarket.
Enjoying a cappuccino at Vagamundo:
Playing chess at Vagamundo
Omelet at Janet’s Cafe:
All in all it was a great experience! Even living through the two hurricanes that passed by while there (that’s a story for another day) I had a blast and would love to go back.
The biggest reason I had to leave was because of the internet. Working on the internet especially executing high speed trades, it’s really important to have reliable and speedy internet and that just wasn't happening there. I’d love to go back some time to vacation and relax, but for now…
I’m glad I’m back in the United States
I’m really excited to interact with everyone here on steem and awesome kick-ass content for the entire world to see! Don’t be scared to leave a comment below!
I believe that everything I desire to accomplish, will in fact be accomplished.
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