After months and months of planning my family's dream came true, we were finally going on our first out of country vacation. From buying plane tickets to packing our bags I couldn't stop thinking about how much fun this trip was going to be. We knew how much time and effort went into this trip making it all the more exciting.

Unfortunately for my whole family our plane was departing at 5:45am meaning we would have to be up and out of the house by 3am, a problem for both my sister and I because we love our sleep. As we left the house the cold night air hit our faces but I knew it wouldn't be much longer till we were on the sunny beaches.

Once we finally arrived at the airport it was like a ghost town, not a soul to be found, only the strong smell of early morning coffee and bagels. The sun was just starting to rise as we boarded the plane and a light drizzle had started to fall. As the plane started to ascend down the cold tarmac I had not once thought of how rough and loud the take off would be. I squeezed tightly on the armrests of my chair and took deep breaths.

Finally I could feel the plane level off and the pilot’s voice come over the loudspeaker, “Attention Passengers, thank you for flying with American Airlines, our flight attends with soon start to come around with food and beverages available for purchase, please sit back relax, and enjoy the rest of your flight.”

Four and half short hours later our plane was starting its descent toward Punta Cana International Airport. Our landing in the Dominican Republic was easily more enjoyable than the take off in Boston, mainly due to the fact that it was 90 degrees, sunny, and not as windy. I’ll never forget the feeling of the warm air pushing against my face and the sweet smell in the air. The hot weather here was a different kind of hot than back in Massachusetts, it wasn't as humid and not as sticky making the long walk off the plane to the entrance of the airport enjoyable plus the bright blue skies were a nice bonus.

Once we were through customs and bag check it was surreal as we were waiting in the transportation section. Only problem was we had no idea where our vans back to the resort were.

My mom started to look through any paperwork hoping to find the name but she had no luck. I started to panic at the thought of being stuck in a Dominican Republic airport with not a clue of what to do. She said, “I can’t find any paperwork with a name on it and no one here understands what I'm saying”, I told her, “Call our Tripadvisor see what he can do for us”. After Nearly a half hour of no response he finally picked up and I could see the stress in my mom's eyes diminish.

Nearly two hours after our plane had landed we were finally in a van thanks to our trip advisor and some understanding people at the airport. The rest of the trip was amazing and nothing can compare the amount of fun we had in that one week.