Uncategorized – Jim's Travel Culture and History Blog

Getting a Driver’s License in the Dominican Republic

We moved to the Dominican Republic in March of 2020 during the onset of the pandemic. We had many different plans, but of course due to Covid, those plans were altered. My wife is from the Dominican Republic, so we decided to purchase a house in the Bavaro area. One problem was that I wasContinue reading “Getting a Driver’s License in the Dominican Republic”

Renewing passports

While the US passport is desired by many in the world for a variety of reasons, renewing it is highly inefficient, expensive and takes a ridiculous amount of time. https://www.passportindex.org/byRank.php The US passport ranks behind about 20 other countries now. This is based on how many countries one can travel to without visa or gettingContinue reading “Renewing passports”

Photos 2 from Bávaro

Photos of the world

Discovering The Treasuries of the Nile, by Guest Writer, outstanding doctor and friend, Dr. Raul Barrios

Dr. Raul has an impressive background having studied and worked all around the world. To see his bio: http://www.burjeel.com/abu-dhabi/dr/dr-raul-barrios/ Discovering the treasures of the Nile I have been following with excitement my friend Jim’s blog and promised to make a small contribution. On the day of his birthday I decided to start writing about theContinue reading “Discovering The Treasuries of the Nile, by Guest Writer, outstanding doctor and friend, Dr. Raul Barrios”

Photos around the world

This will be my last post for a while. Hope you have enjoyed them.

Yerevan, Armenia

While living in Abu Dhabi I had always wanted to go to Armenia which was a short flight from Dubai… About three hours. The capital is Yerevan and we went with our 15 month year old twins. Traveling with children can be a challenge. We took a 90 minute taxi to Dubai and then hadContinue reading “Yerevan, Armenia”

DIBBA, Oman

Oman was the first country I traveled to outside of Qatar when I first arrived in the Middle East. I went to Muscat, the capital. It was hot and of course seemed a little exotic. I loved the Rocky landscape, the lengthy coastline and beautiful Wadis to hike and swim in. It is a countryContinue reading “DIBBA, Oman”

BENTOTA, Sri Lanka

I have been to Bentota or close by four times. It is an hour plus in taxi from the airport and you are near the beach. What I enjoyed most there was renting a scooter and trying to get lost. That was my goal each day. Take a turn off the main coastal highway andContinue reading “BENTOTA, Sri Lanka”

Two days in Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka

I have traveled to Sri Lanka six times, so clearly I am fond of it. Recently it was ranked the number one travel destination in the world. Unfortunately a terrible terrorist attack occurred shortly after. The terrorist attack occurred on Easter Sunday and killed almost 300 people. There were eight explosions. It is a countryContinue reading “Two days in Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka”