Advice -- Vacation Related

shan87 · November 2011

I'm in a pickle. H's buddy is getting married the wknd of our 1st Anniversary on the east coast. H had a great idea of taking some extra leave to take a special trip. H wants to take our planned Honeymoon but that wont work-- so he wants us to switch it. But I don't want to.

Soooooo.... WWYD? Any Ideas for Vacation destinations? Oh it'd be next May which may change your location.

C- wants the weather like in Costa Rica in May? That is pretty high on our list for trips.

FTR- Cruises are out, none of the sail dates match.

ggirl2001 · November 2011

Where on the east coast are you going? There are some great vacation spots on the east coast. When H and I take our honeymoon we want to go to Aruba.

shan87 · November 2011

I believe the wedding is in PA, more specifically Pittsburg. I mentioned a B&B but H didn't seem very interested. We both like to do activites/excursions/sight see while on vaction (more than just sit on a beach etc.)

kara811 · November 2011

How about an AI in the Caribbean? I've been looking at them for our anniversary trip too. Costa Rica really seems fun too, that's on our list along with the Bahamas and St Lucia. Also, there's Martha's Vineyard if you don't want to fly.

calindi · November 2011

Weather in CR in May is PERFECT! It's just on the edge of the sunny season before rainy season, so you might have an hour of rain a few days in the afternoon, but the weather will be stunning 95% of the time. If you go to the Arenal Volcano, you will get some of the best views of the volcano all year round.

Check this out: http://www.leavesandlizards.com/

And then you'd stay here to spend some time on the beach, about 4 hours of beautiful driving away: http://www.encantadacostarica.com/

Or, if you have a bigger budget, here: http://www.gaiahr.com/

Seriously, I'll help you plan!!!! Even if it's not CR, I'm pretty good at this stuff, if I do say so myself.

Beachy730 · November 2011

How much leave does he think he can take? If he can't take enough for how long you would want to be in Costa Rica, then I would maybe hold off on that. If you guys are willing to drive and like wine, you could go about hours from Pittsburgh and do a few days at the Finger Lakes in NY. It's really pretty there and they have a ton of wineries. Or you can drive to Philadelphia and do some history things.

H was gone for our 1 year anniversary, but he was at Fleet Week in LA so I flew down to spend a few days with him. It wasn't our dream vacation by any means, but it was nice to just be somewhere different and spend our first anniversary together, since who knows how often we can be together!

kara811 · November 2011

C: I might just look at those sites you posted if you don't mind, we haven't given CR a whole lot of thought but this will help! I think if we do go we'll end up going sometime in Aprile during Palm period. H will be gone on our actual anniversary and probably Valentine's day too. Ugh

calindi · November 2011

Kara, April is nice, too, though you might get more rain near the Leaves & Lizards place I mentioned near the Arenal Volcano. We went in March, and it did rain near there but we still had lots and lots of fun. However, it's perfect weather near the beach (the other two places, Encantada Cottages and Gaia Resort, are both near the beach). I personally don't like the Nicoya Peninsula as much since to me it's more touristy and for surfer bums, and the scenery tends to be more deserty rather than tropical paradise like the central coasts (both east and west).

We spent $110/night at Leaves & Lizards - you get your own private cottage with a king sized bed and a gorgeous front porch with a hammock and a straight on view of the active volcano - yep, you can see red flames at night from bed! It's stunning and absolutely amazing. It's also a working eco-friendly farm, so you can go riding on their horses, milk the cows and collect eggs for breakfast. They serve breakfast every day, and it's really tasty. We really felt like we had found a piece of paradise!

Encantada Cottages is on this private beach, and it's just amazing. You get your own private cottage on the beach with airconditioning, and they also serve breakfast of tropical fruits and jams and deliciousness. If you can count 15 people on the beach as far as the eye can see, that's a crowded day. We also collected the most amazing shells there.

Here, now I'm goin to be an AW and post pictures, but only because it was seriously the best vacation I've ever had:

The private balcony where we drank amazing Costa Rican coffee every morning in bathrobes.

The view from said balcony (when it wasn't raining - I didn't take this picture but someone did from this very same balcony. You can also see this from the bed because there's wall-to-wall windows on that side of the cottage)

The cool monkey-dogs that we saw while driving around - they are called coatis, but we called them monkey-dogs. This was taken outside of our car window!

The seashells we collected at the beach!

The sunset on the beach - amazing waves, too!

kara811 · November 2011

C: You just made me want to go to CR even more with those pictures! It seems like paradise!And I know CR is starting to become a very popular vacation spot too. One of the things I'm really excited for are the zip lines!!

ETA: Isn't the Gaia resort a spot where they filmed The Bachelor with Brad? It sounds very familiar, I think it is! I remember seeing the volcano from the show and that resort was so beautiful!

shan87 · November 2011

Beach: We don't know how much leave he can take yet. If we flew from PA the sunday after the wedding I think we would have enough time for 5 full days in Costa Rica (2 traveling and 2 for the wedding = 9 days total). Our base has been crazy busy but we are in a break right now so they are encouraging everyone to take a week of leave. However, H can't do that at the moment so we really don't know if they will be okay with taking a week in May. All we can do is ask and see if it's approved. Then wait to make sure they don't change their minds LOL.

C: We were thinking about going through http://www.costaricaexperts.com/ (they are basically a travel agency that specialize just in Costa Rica vacations)-- I like their selection of packages put wondering how their prices compare to DIY and if the Hotels are really what they make them out to be or if they are like a Holiday Inn just in Costa Rica LoL. We don't need luxury by any means but they make them seem too good.

calindi · November 2011

The only travel agency I know in Costa Rica that I liked was TicoTravel, and I only use them for car rentals. Seriously, you'll get way better deals if you do it yourself. TripAdvisor.com was my best friend in planning the trip. I can plan you a Costa Rica trip in like an hour and obviously wouldn't charge anything. You can call up and negotiate directly - most places will knock 15% off if you agree to pay in cash when you get there (you'd have to put a credit card down to secure the room).

I dislike packages because you can't pick and choose and negotiate with individual vendors and hotels.

The Leaves & Lizards place is rated as the #1 B&B in all of Costa Rica, it's incredible. And it's only $110/night. The Encantada Cottages is awesome and it's only $90/night in May.

In Costa Rica, I'd avoid the big hotels for the most part. They cater to tourists and it's a super safe country and so there's no reason for the security of a resort-type facility. Especially American companies - they're usually lower quality and more expensive.

Advice -- Vacation Related

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