Today I am taking you on a journey, my journey. Through a rainforest that surrounds an active volcano and a cloud forest where it rains often and wild dogs roam.
Where are we going? Costa Rica.
In May of 2018, my boyfriend and I decided we wanted to plan a trip. Where did we decide to go? I bet you guessed it, Costa Rica. But to be honest, we weren’t quite sure where in Costa Rica we wanted to go, but we certainly did know what price we wanted to spend.
So, after searching the deep dark web, I came across a company called Pacific Trade Winds that ended up being the best internet search of my life! With this booking company, their focus is solely on any area of Costa Rica; whether it be the beach, rainforest, or mountains, they have got you covered!
For our trip, we chose to go during May (which is considered a low tourist month due to heavier rain) and this allowed us to save on our flights and hotel bookings. With this booking service, we created a custom itinerary. With this, we were able to combine our hotel and excursions including breakfast for seven days, lunch for two days, white water rafting, repelling, transportation, zip lining, hanging bridges, and night tours all for an affordable price. (USD 1,200 each!) We got our itinerary and vouchers a week before our trip and printed them out to bring with us, even though he didn’t “have to” for our trip. For our flights, we went with Southwest Airlines.
Since we wanted to stay under budget, our person of contact at Pacific Trade Winds was very helpful in creating different combinations of hotels, transportation, and excursions until we found the right fit for us. There are SO MANY different combinations you can choose from and you can even get local restaurant recommendations and add on more trips if you decide once you get to Costa Rica. It took us four attempts to solidify our agenda, but the communication from Pacific Trade Winds was easy and effective and they truly did help us every step of the way!
I would 100% recommend using Pacific Trade Winds if you decide to travel to Costa Rica. Using them made our entire experience smooth, everyone was very friendly and overall we had a great time. Something I can’t stress enough is that we did ultimately decide to travel during a rainy month, so this was a MAJOR benefit for us. We saved money and had the best vacation ever!
In my blog post Traveling For The Broke: How To Still Cash In On Adventure, you can see more ways to save and plan a trip. You can also read more about my excursions and Costa Rica adventure in the TRAVEL section of my website. You can also get a free map of Costa Rica by clicking HERE. Pura Vida! P.S. Be sure to tip your drivers, housekeepers, and guides!
With Love,
Lex Paige
