Don't Travel To DR Without THIS!!

Welcome to the Grubernation Weekly Newsletter!

I share information, tactics and tips for moving abroad, living your dream and EVERYTHING in between.

In this week’s edition:

• Don’t Travel to DR Without THIS!

• Lessons From a Networking Event in Santo Domingo

• The Place I Will NOT Live

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Don’t Travel to DR Without THIS!

I recently saw a sad story of an 18 year old Canadian boy who was viciously assaulted at a Punta Cana resort.

I took exception to the headline implying the Dominican Republic is dangerous when in reality, the attacker was another Canadian man/tourist at the resort.

But there was something deeper in the article that ran chills up my spine.

Mostly because I’ve been warning people about this fact of living abroad in a country like DR and I need you ALL to listen to me!

While I have your attention, I’d love for this community to rally to do some good.

The family of the 18 year old boy has mounting health bills in country while their son is in a medically induced coma and had a grapefruit sized blood clot removed from his skull.

Here’s a GoFundMe for anyone willing to donate to the expenses they are incurring while staying in this beautiful country.

I donated $100 yesterday but please donate what you can if it’s on your heart. I can’t imagine the dream of coming to DR ending in such a nightmare, regardless of what many may speculate happened that day.

Before the clot was removed, the young man was rushed to a local hospital via ambulance.

Here’s the part of the article that may get overlooked…

“She said her son had to wait to get surgery once he arrived at the hospital because the staff there were trying to confirm his insurance would cover any help he required”

We can shake our heads at that sentence.

We can wring our hands.

We can say that’s BS

And we’d be right.

But we also need to acknowledge that not everything is the same everywhere and for a private hospital, often the priority regardless of the status of the patient is ‘how do we get paid’. 

To be honest, I believe this is most egregious at one specific hospital group and I say that from personal experience.

And to further that, the doctors in the area, even at the hospital group I’m referencing above, are GREAT.

But the triage and business leadership of the hospital I have issues with.

If there was no way to pay or agreement, this young man would have been sent to a public hospital and who knows what would have happened on the way.

The good news is, to bridge the gap between horrifying experience like this family is going through to much smoother and more seamless access to the caring and qualified doctors is VERY easy.

Buy. Travel. Health. Insurance!!!!

I want to be more direct - because you may be nodding your head in obvious agreement while simultaneously thinking ‘I have AETNA and it’s accepted by xyz’, or ‘I buy this international plan’ or ‘my credit card company provides that coverage’.

You may be right, but being right can also kill you.

It’s like those that go into a cross walk defiantly despite traffic because they have the right of way only to be hit by a car whose drive was on their cell phone.

I’d rather be wrong and alive then right and dead.

So let me modify - buy LOCAL travel health insurance!

For this family, if they had a coverage and card that was not immediately known to the front desk staff at the hospital they were sent to - the time it will take for a low dollar per hour employee to check the system and confirm the coverage may be the difference between life and death.

But if I flash a Humano card?

“Right this way sir”

I’ve said before that the MOST important thing for me to have on my person is my health insurance card.

More than my phone, credit card or ID.

Because if I’m unresponsive in a medical emergency, I want the ambulance to see something they instantly recognize.

From my understanding, Humano offers “Buen Viaje” as their travel health insurance plan.

My quick search of chat rooms and forums seems to have it at about 2000 pesos for 7 days or so.

That’s $30 USD.

Even if it’s 3x as much, buy it! 

I’m not sponsored by them. I’ve never purchased this particular plan. I receive no compensation from them (but boy, maybe I should!).

But I’m a customer of their annual coverage plan for my family and it was HUGE when admitting our oldest son into the hospital with dengue fever 18 months ago.

I first hand saw the process we were about to endure until we flashed that Humano card.

I mean like different door to go through for triage. Different people to talk to. Different process. Different room.

Thankfully our son walked in under his own power, but you get the point.

Please - consider travel health insurance when coming here.

Or if you come often, buy a plan and pay for the year.

Our Humano plan for a family of 4 was $3500 for the entire year (USD).

I’ve heard a single person pays closer to $30-40 USD/month.

I hope you take two actions after reading:

1. Offer some support to the family and young man in the form of prayers, donation or anything else you can

2. Don’t travel here without travel health insurance again .. please!

Lessons Learned from a Networking Event in Santo Domingo

On January 22, I’m proud to say we raised nearly $5000 to support Second Mile Missions work in providing education to unprivileged kids.

To those that generously donated, thank you!

In exchange for the donation, I hosted a mixer at Hasta La Tambora in Santo Domingo.

(Gotta go check them out if you love AMAZING drinks and awesome music!)

I’m always amazed at who I meet.

We had a gentleman who moved 3 days ago to DR and a lady who’s been here 21 years.

Seeing them connect so she can usher him in and shorten his learning curve was amazing.

Here are 3 lessons I learned:

• The Culture is About Connecting

As a guy who goes to a TON of networking events, there’s a different energy and ease to connections made in DR.

Maybe it’s the chill of island life vs the grind of the states, but when people exchange numbers in the US there’s a transactional feel to it. Like it’s a gesture from the head.

In DR, the exchange of info has a warm feel to it. Like it’s a gesture from the heart.

There is a HUGE desire for the community of expats or native Dominicans that share an undersatnding of both cultures, make a generous living even by US standards and are living the Caribbean life and loving it to get together and build relationships.

I think for anyone reading this that is wondering how to build friendships on their anticipated move abroad, it’s good to understand the above.

• We Got Some BALLERS Down in DR!

I got to meet a Buffalo Bills fan with a signficant position that she does remotely and a HUGE heart to help others in the room.

There was a high end leader for a major alcohol brand in attendance.

A gentleman who has a big job for a major international hospitality brand casually stopped by.

I was hanging with a guy from NYC that split his time in DR because he sold his business for a crazy evaluation some years ago and has time to go wherever!

And so many more!

While it’s hard for me to get a ton of time with any one person at an event like this, it was humbling to be in the presence of such accomplished people.

• DR Is All About ‘Who You Know’

This is true everywhere in the world including the US.

But the extent to which it’s true in places like DR, other island nations, european countries and so on is next level.

When you build your network in a place like DR, you’re literally getting in roads to income opportunities, access to key people, direct lines to rain makers and so much more.

Prioritize your network when living abroad! Make the effort - it’s worth it!

And here’s a secondary tip - those ballers above all select the $100 VIP donation because they know the best rooms are the most expensive ones!

The Place I Will NOT Live

I got real in this video when answering the question for a viewer..

“Can you share more about living in Cap Cana”

From the context of being a family man, I gave you my honest take.

The good, the bad and the ugly.

Enjoy!

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