• DO NOT DRIVE - DR has the highest vehicular fatalities in the world, get private transport between the towns you visit.
• While the main tourist areas are safe to visit and wander around day and night, do not venture out to other areas, our local drivers told us it is very dangerous elsewhere.
• Food is quite awful to average, we could count on one hand how many good meals we had. Although, my partner and I don't eat meat (but do eat seafood), you'll have a somewhat slightly improved experience if you eat meat and have more options.
• Average restaurants will cost between $25-35 CAD per person for an average meal that isn't special or cooked well. Very local places are cheap though ($15-20 CAD), but there aren't many of those in the areas with good wifi for remote working.
• Outside of the resorts, you will need a good basic understanding of Spanish, not just basic tourist phrases, my partner and I had a Spanish teacher for 3 months once a week and we still struggled a little.
• Wifi varies in the DR, we were lucky enough to find places that advertised over 50mbps download speed to work, but in reality it fluctuated daily dropping below 40mbps sometimes and upload speed was even worse for video calls. Their routers also only worked well in the room they were in, and not well in the bedroom/office. We got by but it was a little inconvenient.

• El Mercado - as people have mentioned in many reviews, one of the better restaurants to eat at.
• Italian restaurant - didn’t get to try, again, as mentioned, almost impossible to get a reservation if you’re not privilege. From what I heard the portions were very small but food was decent.
• Margarita - awful - AVOID, tequila tastes like watered down nail polish, people also saw mouse inside
• Sakura - terrible portrayal of Teppenyaki
• Route 66 - great for late night snacks
• Steak House - actually had great salmon here, probably the best restaurant I ate at, even though I don’t eat meat. Others said the steak was ok.
• Blue Moon - awfully slow service, but salmon isn’t bad here either
• Pez Dama - BEAUTIFUL spot for breakfast on a sunny day, only for El Beso and privilege guests. However, the variety is lacking and food was better at the buffet
• Villa Marina - closed while I was there
• Privilege Restaurant - didn’t get to try
• Snack Bar - not great, or veg friendly
• Snack Bar El Beso - crepes offered here were surprisingly decent
• Pool Bars - so fun, just don’t get any cocktails unless you like a cup of sugar with it. The pool bar by the lazy river is the most rowdy, surprisingly.
• Lobby Bar - great meet up spot for groups, especially as the lobby is beautiful
• Piano Bar - quite nice inside, cocktails are sickly sweet though
• Sports Bar - pool was fun, would be better if they had two
• Bowling Bar - incredibly hot and I almost got heat stroke, bowling was fun though
• Bar Disco - didn’t get to try
• Bar Privilege - didn’t get to try
• Beach Club El Faro - as mentioned by others in reviews, the pool bars are more fun
• Beach Club El Beso - it was nice to have a fun and quiet section
• Mike’s Coffee - as mentioned by others in reviews, the busiest place in the resort!
• Ice-cream shop - limited options but still nice to stop by after dinner - but don’t get the strawberry!

• El Ramero Solitario - Ramen Bar - decent veggie ramen that was great for our hangover that we had
• Ajuala - (EN friendly) One of the BEST meals I’ve ever had! I don’t know if it was because we had a week of terrible food but I thought I was in heaven eating here. Love how they had turned Dominican cuisine into fine dining. They also had a mother cat and her kitten living on site and you could see them when you went to the bathroom which was cute.
• Chingu Kitchen - ok Korean food, with ok pricing. Ordered veggie Japchae and Bibimbap.
• Food Truck Village - it was intense coming to the food truck places, as we didn’t realize how they ran. When you sit down, all the vendors will bring you a menu which felt overwhelming. We got a margarita pizza (DRP400) from the pizza place and salpicon (DRP500) from the ceviche place, as they were recommended by the bar owner we befriended. We ended up drinking all night with the bar owner who gave us a few free drinks, it was really nice of him and one of our funner nights. Highly recommend checking out the bar especially here for good drinks and banter!
• Likha Food Park - we ate at Taínos sea food Naco which was not the best, our fish was undercooked and heavily salted. My 1lb of tilapia and tostones was DRP750 and my partners 1.5lb of snapper with tostones was DRP1350.
• Villar Hermanos - recommended by one of our guides, was quite tasty and decent pricing since you get large portions. I enjoyed the camarofongo which was doused in garlic butter - super heavy dish though and very dense. Also ordered filette de mero criolla style with rice and extra sautéed vegetables on the side - which was way too much for two people.
• Jalao - (EN friendly) Don’t come any earlier than 9pm! We got there at 8pm and the music didn’t start until around 9:30pm. The band was good but the music was a but monotonous. The food was ok but we did see cockroaches in the restaurant which was off putting. The fun really starts after the band ends though and everyone is up dancing. My favourite part of this experience was an older man who was hired to dance and get other people to dance who he was absolutely hilarious.

• Playa BarcoBar - good lunch spot, food was ok but view was great and service was nice and quick. Drinks weren’t bad either!
• Restaurante Comedor Johana - little spot tucked away and ran by a sweet older lady. Service is quite slow but food was very authentic.
• La Bahia Beach - The atmosphere is the only thing going for this place. You’re better off getting empanadas from a local stand and heading to the beach for free, which is what I wish I did. The service was incredibly slow, and food awful.

• Villa Blanca Beach Club - terrible service but surprisingly good fish burger and salads
• Bella Napoli Pizzeria & Restaurant - really good woodfired oven pizza - vegan options were great!
• La casita de Yeya Los Corales - food was good but very small portions so quite expensive for what it was
• Chic at Grand Palladium Bávaro - such a fun experience, the energy is incredible, the performances were 5/5 and food and drinks were great - highly recommend for a special event. If you’re not staying there it’s a bit of a pain to book though
• Dalia's Cafe & Bakery - terrible - don’t go
• Soles Beach Club - decent food and lovely staff but very slow service
• Restaurante Capitán Cook - low quality food, they served us grilled mussels that weren’t open and they lure you in with the decent prices for whole fish but you can’t order 1 or 2 lbs you have to order 6lbs.
• COFFEE & RUM - great spot for sugar cane juices and cheap coffee and snacks! Location on google maps is wrong though, it’s actually here in this plaza: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Xb5pLGmqNBgdCDHW8?g_st=ic

1. Ramen

2. Soba- Buckwheat Noodles

3. Okinawa Soba

4. Udon- Macaroni Grosso

5. Somen- Cold Noodles

6. Harusame- Transparent Noodles

7. Hiyamugi- Cold Wheat Noodles

8. Shirataki- Pasta Without Calories

9. Wafu Pasta

10. Yasikoba- Fried Noodles

11. Tokoroten- Seaweed Noodles

12. Instant Noodles

13. Chanpon- Pasta Cooked in Soup

14. Shirataki- Konjac Yam Noodles

15. Sanuki Udon

16. Toshikoshi Soba- New year's Eve Noodles

Tacos de Canasta

Nopales Tacos

Cochinita Pibil

Tacos de Papa

Chorizo Tacos

Campechanos

Carnitas

Tacos Al Pastor

Tacos de Pescado

Birria

Barbacoa

Shrimp Tacos

Carne Asada

Cabeza

Cecina Tacos

Mixiote Tacos

Suadero Tacos

Bistec Tacos

Lechon Tacos

Arrachera Tacos

• Savings & Investments: $494k
  • Investments: $323k
    • Company 401k: $132k
    • Company RSU: $67k
    • Robinhood Brokerage: $50k
    • Roth IRA 1: $47k
    • Roth IRA 2: $11k
    • Treasury Bonds: $16k
  • Savings:
    • HYSA: $158k
• 💷Checking: $9.6k
  • Checking: $9.6k (just enough + buffer to pay monthly rent + credit card balances)
• 💳Debt:
  • No debt (credit card balance paid off every month)

• History:
  • Started working after graduation in 2018 with a $77k salary + $8k bonus the first year with a 10k sign on bonus. Promoted to $85k salary in 2019 and then $108k salary in 2021. Then later in 2021 switched jobs to earn $135k base with a $15k bonus.
  • In 2022, I switched jobs and moved to the Bay Area for a job with a total comp of $215k ($155k base + 10% and RSUs) and received a $10k relocation allotment. Last year I earned ~$240k total comp.
• Monthly Take Home: $3,033
  • Note: The take home amount here is low as I max out my 401k, company ESPP (15% of salary) and after tax contributions (20% for mega back door roth). ESPP (I purchase company stock for a 15% discount) and after tax are automatically taken out of my net salary. See math below:
  • Monthly Investment Break Down:
    • 401k Trad: $1,976 (employer contributes $833 which is not incl. here)
    • Company ESPP: $1,976
    • After Tax (to be converted to Roth IRA): $2,634
• Partner Stats: We have not combined our accounts/income so I will not include his spend but will mention expenses he pays for the both of us throughout the week. He is 29 years old and makes ~$300k base (+stock but for a private company so I won't include that here)

• 🏠Household Expenses:
  • Regular transfer to joint account: $2100 (my half of rent for 2 bed 2 bath apartment, partner pays for utilities, insurance separately)
• 📃Other Monthly:
  • Credit Card Annual Fees: $91 (avg per month)
  • Gas: $50 (partner and I share his car, this is my contribution to gas)
  • Copilot Money: $8
  • Cat Expenses: $100 (inc. insurance, food/snacks - does not incl. boarding costs when we travel)
  • Note: On my parent's family plan for phone, partner pays for Netflix, Spotify, Youtube TV and Premium
• Note: My total expenses incl. rent is typically more than the ~$3k take home after investments are taken out. I get company stock every 3 months through ESPP and sell right away. This money is used to cover expenses.

• 10am: My partner R. and I wake up a bit later today as we just drove back from a night in Big Sur the night before and are feeling fired from the trip. We get up quickly though as we're going to a friend's bday/housewarming party in San Francisco.
• 11am: Quickly we heat up leftovers from dinner and rush to eat something filling before heading out as we know we'll be drinking later.
• 11:30am: We are ready to leave and drive to a friend's house nearby since we plan to carpool to the party. We wanted to get something for them as a gift but didn't have the time. Gift giving doesn't usually happen between us so while we wish we got something, ultimately we need to get going to make it on time.
• 1pm: It's a great time catching up with friends and meeting new people. Their new place is gorgeous and we take some notes on how we can make our apt more homely as well.
• 5pm: People start heading out as many are going to a concert after. We head out as well and plan to grab dinner with the friends we carpooled with. After we leave, R. and I realize we both left our bags with our keys and wallets inside so we quickly call our friend and luckily she's still close by and comes back to unlock the doors so we can get our stuff. We drive her to the concert hall after.
• 6pm: We head to a ramen shop and it's pretty busy. There's a long line outside and we wait for about 30min which isn't too bad. The ramen is pretty good and we got chicken karaage and a rice bowl to share with the group but not worth the wait. R. puts his card down when it's time to pay. Total for the 2 of us is $47.
• 9pm: We arrive home and catch up on shows and some online errands befofre heading to bed.

• 11am: I wake up late and feel super groggy after a busy couple of days. It's an errands day though and I know I have to wake up. R. makes me an oat latte using our espresso machine and I'm so happy to get caffeine in by body.
• 11:30am: I get a pot of soup started and add in pork bones, corn, and carrots. A classic Chinese soup from R's childhood that he loves. For lunch I take the spicy soup from our leftovers, some thinly sliced hot pot meat from the freezer, and veggies to make a spicy boiled beef dish.
• 1pm: R. and I head out to get our car washed and go to the local Korean market for groceries. We don't get the car washed often and it's pretty grimly from our recent road trips. R. pays $18 for it. Unfortunately the first pass doesn't wash off anything and we complain to the staff and get a free 2nd pass which helped a lot to get the car clean.
• 2pm: We get to the Korean grocery store and buy basic product (spinach, mushrooms, scallions, carrots), fresh noodles, some frozen onigiri for a quick snack, and replenish our instant ramen supply. We have a lot of meat in our freezer which we buy when there's a sale so we just need the basics. I spend $37.68.
• 6pm: For dinner, using a pack of chicken thighs from the freezer, I make oyakodon (a Japanese dish of chicken and egg simmered in dashi) and air fry some broccoli. We have the soup which has been boiling since the morning on the side and it's the perfect comforting meal at home.
• 8pm: I purchase some memory foam stuffing from Amazon to fill the leather poofs we got from Morocco last year on vacation. We haven't have the chance to fill them yet and have tried using old clothes but surprisingly needed a lot stuffing so I bit the bullet and specifically bought stuffing for $32.73.
• 9pm: I get ready for bed and take a peek at my work schedule for the next day. I see in my Copilot Money app that my annual fee for my United Card hit and it's $99. I got the card recently for the 100k points sign-up bonus and just reached the min spend.

• 7:30am: It's a work from home day so I get up a bit later. I make myself a quick oat latte and start work.
• 11:30am: The work day has been fairly light so far and I've been able to catch up on some tasks. For lunch I cut up and season some broccoli to roast in the oven and through a defrosted prepared piece of unagi we got at the Korean grocery store the day before for lunch.
• 4pm: Almost done with work, I spend some time playing with my cat and making sure he used some of the energy from sleeping all day.
• 6pm: For dinner I start making thai basil pork and a soy braised fish in the air fryer. Both the ground pork and fish are from R's mom who we saw over the weekend. Dinner is quick to put together and we happily eat our meal in front of the TV watching some Netflix.
• 10pm: I'm feeling especially tired today so I head off to bed early after doing my usual evening skincare routine and add on an AHA peeling mask as my skin has been looking extra dull from getting too much sun over the last week.

• 7am: I get up check my work phone for any urgent messages I need to respond to and get ready for work. My hair is a bit messy but I'm too lazy to style it and just put on my usual makeup for work and start work from home while I wait for R. to be ready to go.
• 9:30am: R. woke up and is ready to head to work. We typically car pool if R. is heading into his normal office site as our offices are only 10 min apart. He drives me to work and traffic surprisingly isn't too bad. I order an iced oat matcha for him and an iced oat latte for myself on the way. The barista bar at the office is free and hosts local coffee shops onsite. Such a nice perk to get a made-to-order drink for free!
• 12pm: After some morning work and meetings I go to grab lunch. There's a $10 voucher today to apply to lunch in the cafeteria to celebrate summer so I take advantage order a black bean Chinese short rib dish, a roast turkey and bacon panini, and get myself a salad from the salad bar to go. The entire order is $11.10 and with the voucher, I pay $1.10. Food is subsidized and the salad bar is priced by container rather than weight so I always pile on the steak, chicken and whatever roasted veggie they have and today there is salmon which is awesome. I eat the panini and bring the rest home.
• 3pm: R. gets home and remarks that it's so odd getting home so early. We head out to Costco to take advantage of the rare weekday afternoon we get to ourselves. At Costco we pick up the usual essentials (broccoli, spring mix), pick up a prepared beef japchae since it's on sale, decide on a rotisserie chicken since R. wants to leave work early before dinner this week, and grab a pack of ribeye cap (our favorite steak cut) for our bbq on Friday. The ribeye cap is $22 per pound and R. thinks it's actually dropped a $1 per pound. We decide to marinate the meat and eat it with lettuce wraps Korean bbq style so I grab butter lettuce as well. In total it's $210. We use the cash back we got from our Costco card and R. pays the remaining $127.
• 4:30pm: I get home using the company shuttle which drops me off right at my door. It's more of a shared UbeLyft than a shuttle with a set route which is nice and finish up work. It's $6 per ride but I get $130 in commuter benefits from my company which I can apply to the shuttle so it's free. Our apartment mgmt confirms that our lease renewal is done and sends over the confirmation. Our rent has gone up 4% since our last renewal which isn't bad so we opted to resign to avoid having to find a new place and moving.
• 5pm: I browse social media and check my usual websites. I look for a new cat tree as the one we have is more than 2 years old and I've been meaning to upgrade it. I send some options to R. for him to take a look.
• 7pm: R. has evening meetings so I eat the salad I got from work with a spring mix, roasted brussel sprouts, salmon, and chicken skewers and top it with a sesame miso dressing from my fridge. It's filling without being heavy and I snack on some ripe cherries we got from R's mom for dessert.
• 8pm: R. finishes his meetings and eats the short rib meal I bring back along with the leftover Thai basil ground pork I made yesterday. I take inventory of the food in our freezer and find a bag of leftover chicken bones and decide to make chicken broth. I quickly throw the bones along with carrot, green onion stems and the celery I have in the freezer into the instant pot along with black peppercorn and a bay leaf to pressure cook for 3 hours.
• 11pm: I dry my hair after a quick shower and go through my nighttime routine before bed. I take a quick scan of my meeting schedule the next day and finish off the night with some phone time before setting my alarm and falling asleep.

• 6:30am: I wake up before my alarm and have a hard time going back to sleep. Half-asleep I start scrolling my phone and search for the weekly ads at the grocery store in front of my apartment. I know I'm getting old now that I'm actually excited to see what's on sale at the grocery store.
• 8am: I get up and get ready for a WFH day. I attend to morning messages and later hop on a 1:1 with my manager to discuss my goals for the upcoming year and immediate projects. It's always a bit stressful to have these 1:1s as my old manager recently joined another team for a promo so now I'm directly meeting with my skip level manager but it goes well.
• 12pm: For lunch I quick cook some spinach and mushrooms to make sure R. and I get our veggies intake. For myself I make a simple salad with spring mix, mushrooms, and rotisserie chicken with my miso sesame dressing. R. and I usually eat lunch on our own and he grabs leftover rice, chicken and spinach a bit later.
• 3pm: As a work benefit, I get a free session with a money coach so I try it for the first time and connect with an advisor. I run through my numbers and he gives me some basic advice. I have some specific questions but he doesn't really answer them well and tells me the wrong information about my 401k limit. It's my first time talking to someone about financial planning, investments, etc. but I'm left unimpressed.
• 4pm: I have a break from work and use the time to stuff a leather pouf I got from Morocco with the memory foam that arrived. The foam is in little pieces and it's quite difficult to stuff fully. R. comes out and we work on it together. When it's finally done, the pouf looks nice but compresses a lot when we try sitting down. The 10lbs of stuffing I bought also only fills one pouf so I make a note to buy another 10lbs to fill the other one we have.
• 6pm: After work, I run for a quick mile on my walking pad and catch up on Youtube videos. I also run to the grocery store right outside our apartment to grab ingredients for a bbq we're hosting Friday night. I'm planning to make some sides incl. a dill potato salad, chimichurri for steak, cucumber salad, and roasted broccoli so I grab the produce and herbs for $21.31
• 7pm: For dinner, I roast some broccoli, make more rice and air fry salt & pepper marinated pork ribs we got from R.'s mom. We usually don't have so much food from her but on our recent visit she kindly gave us a ton of food. We also try the frozen kimchi rice ball filled with mozzarella cheese we got this weekend.
• 8pm: I purchase another 10lbs of the filling for my remaining pouf for $31.09. Somehow the price went down a tiny bit from 3 days ago.

• 8am: I wake up and get ready for an office day. I do a quick morning skincare routine. put on basic makeup and consider straightening my hair as it's messy but end up being too lazy to do so. I start my morning work at home and wait for R. to get as always so we can head out.
• 9:30am: We're running late as R. overslept and I have a meeting right at 10am so we hurry to my office. I get in and grab a drop-in room right on time to join my meeting.
• 12pm: I head to the cafeteria to grab lunch. There's a message in our site location slack that lunch is free but I didn't expect the cafe to completely be transformed. Instead of the usual stations serving meals, there's hundreds of samples set up. Each sample has a portion of food everything from pizza, spam misubi, coconut shrimp, bahn mi, to salad and fruit. Outside there's a luau bbq with poke and pulled pork along with a whole lechon on display. It's super festive and I sample all the food I can with my team. For dessert we get freshly shaved hawaiian ice and I choose the mango syrup which is super fruity and not too sweet surprisingly.
• 1:30pm: I head back to my workstation and finish up my tasks. Luckily I don't have any meetings this afternoon so I get the chance to catch up on some work.
• 4pm: I head home on the company shuttle and pick up an iced latte from my office's barista bar before leaving.
• 5:30pm: I wash dishes as R. didn't have time to do so last night. Washing dishes is his task. Afterwards, I start prepping food for the bbq tomorrow and boil potatoes and eggs for my dill potato salad. I also look up a recipe for chimichurri and decide to use the blender rather than having to finely chop parsley. I add in some cilantro and serrano peppers I have handy for more herbs and spice.
• 7pm: I'm tired after washing dishes and throw together mushroom soup using some homemade chicken broth I have in the fridge, oyster and baby bella mushrooms and scallion oil I have from a previous meal. I eat my soup with leftover rice and pork ribs from last night.
• 8pm: R. gets back late after a team happy hour. We clean up our place to get ready for our friends to come over tomorrow and I end the night by doing some laundry and preparing for an important meeting in the morning.

• 7:15am: I wake up early before my alarm and check my messages quickly as I have an important meeting this morning. My manager sent me a couple of messages early and I get out of bed and open my laptop to respond and correct a couple of inputs before the meeting.
• 9am: R. gets up and I finally get a chance to wash up and get ready for the day. I do a quick skincare routine and put on basic makeup.
• 1pm: My meetings go well and my manager calls me after to debrief. I throw together a quick lunch with leftover chicken broth, rotisserie chicken, mushrooms for a hearty soup and eat it with leftover rice. I also spend time washing dishes that we didn't get to the night before.
• 3pm: R. comes back from work. We usually WFH on Fridays but he had an all hands meeting today. I'm exhausted from the work day and take some time to destress and relax in bed.
• 4pm: I fall asleep and R. goes to Costco to return a box of lychee that's molding after 3 days and buy the cat tree we saw this past weekend. I usually don't return food at Costco but the lychees were pricey at $8 and I was really sad that they molded so quickly. R. comes back with the cat tree but no lychee as they didn't have it. He does get a box of manila mangos so that will have to do.
• 6pm: I finish up prepping for the bbq. Initially we heard 3 friends were coming but then only 1 could make it. We bought 5 steaks in total so of course he have too much meat now but R. and I will eat it over the next day. I throw together a quick smashed cucumber salad with soy sauce, vinegar and chili oil. The recipe I find calls for garlic but we don't have it so I add extra chili oil. I also make some rice and wash butter lettuce to wrap the steak in.
• 7pm: Our friend arrives and we go to the common area outside our apartment to start grilling. The grills can be too weak but today we luckily get a strong flame going and the steak sears nicely. We eat sweet soy marinated ribeye cap with lettuce wraps and american wagyu zabuton we got from Eataly a few weeks ago that we had froze. Both are delicious but the ribeye cap had to be my fav.
• 9:30pm: Our other friends arrive and they finish the remaining steak. We continue to chat outside with some red chianti wine and after another hour move inside as it's getting colder.
• 11pm: R. and the boys head outside to hang out while I watch some Youtube videos to end my night. We have plans to play pickle ball with a couple friend tomorrow so I'm hoping to call it an early night. R. and his friends usually stay up late and typically they leave at 1-2am but I'm ready to head to bed before midnight.

• Food: $60.09
• Home: $63.82
• Subscriptions: $99

1. I live in Canada, one of the greatest places on the planet for having a nut allergen.
   • 2. I am more diligent than most people with a nut allergy - I base my decisions on safety and employee transparency. I have had 3 attacks in 24 years, and all have been from family members whos food I refuse to eat now. I know lots of people with anaphylactic allergens - including several who will just "eat around the nuts". I don't eat in store bakery food due to cross contamination, I actively avoid restaurants that use nuts (based on frequency in the cooking) and am low risk adverse
   • 3. I speak next to 0 Japanese, so communication was a bigger hurdle than it may be for you. Its worth noting that more Japanese people speak English fluently than its made out to be online; for a secondary language, its pretty impressive.
   • 4. I work retail and in a high school in Canada; I have trained around 50 people in customer service and witnessed a few hundred. I can say with out a doubt in my mind that the minimum wage/part timers/service industry people here are WORLDS above the average here. I would say 80% of my current department would be fired for their customer service skills in Japan. I have 0 bad to say about the service, and appreciate how difficult it is for my allergy
   • 5. Japan has 28 major allergens - but not every nut is one. This means they don't have to identify them all on the wrapper of food in the same way we have it here.
   • 6. Tokyo was, overall, Slightly better equipped for dealing with allergies. this is probably due to the fact its a major tourist spot, and closer to the major airport