Archive for March, 2011

March30

Tips for Visiting a Costa Rica Rainforest

By: JoAnna

Tips for Visiting a Costa Rica RainforestThe actual definition of a rainforest has to do with certain environmental conditions, which I won’t go into here, but suffice to say that Costa Rica has a lot of public and private land that could easily be classified as such. From hiking the dense vegetation of the old growth ground forest and marveling at the way the light hits the trees in the misty environment of the cloud forest to swinging across the canopy from hanging bridges, there are many ways to explore and enjoy the rainforest in Costa Rica.

On a recent trip to the Arenal region of the country, I learned a few things about exploring the rainforest that are worth noting. If you have plans to visit in the future, keep the following in mind:

Prepare for rain.

We were incredibly fortunate and experienced just a couple drops of rain the entire week we were in the country, but I happen to know that Costa Rica’s weather tends to be a bit on the damp side. When I asked about the seasonal weather patterns, I was told that the two seasons are wet and wetter.

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Posted in: Do, Resources9 comments

March28

Pros and Cons of Off-Season Travel

By: JoAnna

Pros and Cons of Off Season TravelI was knee deep in snow on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, my hands cold from the snow. Why, I wondered, had we made the decision to visit in the dead of winter? Then I looked around me and saw … no one. We’d hiked on a trail that saw heavy foot traffic in the summer, but off-season, not a single soul had ventured as far as us, and that made the off-season trip completely worth it.

Considering our constraints of time and money, we are forced to make decisions about when we want to travel and how much we want to pay to do it. Because of this, traveling in the off-season — the time of year when people are least likely to visit a destination — is both a legitimate idea and a bad choice. If you’re not sure if the off-season is for you, keep the following in mind:

Good reasons to go in the off-season:

It’s less expensive. The two biggest expenses associated with travel (transportation and accommodation) are cheaper in the off-season. There are more open seats on the flights heading to your destination, so it’s easy to find cheap airfare. Hotels need to fill their rooms, so rack rates are down.

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Posted in: Resources8 comments

March25

Here’s a Question for You: Week 12

By: JoAnna

One of the things I most enjoy about traveling is talking about it. In this new weekly series, I’d like to pose some of the questions I’ve discussed with friends, family and fellow travelers over the years. I invite you to pull up your backpack, grab a handful of the local snack food and chime in with your comments and thoughts. Feel free to respond to others, but remember to play nice!

Here’s a Question for You:

What is the most difficult part about traveling?

I think that the most difficult thing about traveling is deciding where to go. Every time we start planning another trip, we labor for days and weeks about where to go. “We could go to XYZ.” “Yes, but we always wanted to see ABC.” “If we didn’t go to JKL, we could take two trips, one to EFG and one to QRX.” Though making the initial decision about where to go is an agonizing one, very rarely do I regret what I’ve decided.

Posted in: Here's a Question for You9 comments

March23

Images: Flowers of Costa Rica

By: JoAnna

I love snapping photos of the colorful flowers I find around the world, and Costa Rica did not disappoint. From the huge mounds of blue and purple hydrangeas to the delicate golden orchids found in the rainforest, Costa Rica was a living rainbow. There’s no way I could capture it all, but here are a few of the flowers that I found particularly beautiful.

Images: Flowers of Costa Rica

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Posted in: Photos6 comments

March21

How to Survive a Flight Cancellation

By: JoAnna

How to Survive a Flight Cancellation

48 hours after being delayed, I’m still smiling!

My recent vacation in Costa Rica was perfect. The weather, the activities, the company … everything was stellar.

And then I boarded my plane in San Jose for my flight home. That’s when things started going wrong. I’ll get into the details at a later date, but suffice to say that the flight was canceled, and all 130+ passengers (which included one baby and one dog) were stranded in Costa Rica. Most of use were stuck for the night, and a good percentage of us were delayed yet another day once we finally got stateside. All told, I arrived home 48 hours later toting two flight vouchers and a ridiculously awesome story.

What I learned during the those two days, though, was priceless. If you’re ever caught in the same situation I was in, here are a few tips to help you survive your flight cancellation:

Know your rights.

That is to say, know the few rights that actually exist. There were all kinds of rumors circulating while I was stuck in Costa Rica about what we, as passengers, were entitled to. According to the Aviation Consumer Protection Division of the U.S. Department of Transportation, there are no federal requirements that airlines compensate passengers in the event of a flight delay or cancellation. Every airline has its own policy regarding how passengers will be compensated for the inconvenience. In other words, be thankful for what you do get when your flight is canceled, and know that you need to plan well enough to deal with other expenses (such as hotel reservations, car rentals or other flights) you’ve invested in at your final destination. This is where travel insurance comes in handy.

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Posted in: Resources12 comments

March18

Here’s a Question for You: Week 11

By: JoAnna

One of the things I most enjoy about traveling is talking about it. In this new weekly series, I’d like to pose some of the questions I’ve discussed with friends, family and fellow travelers over the years. I invite you to pull up your backpack, grab a handful of the local snack food and chime in with your comments and thoughts. Feel free to respond to others, but remember to play nice!

Here’s a Question for You:

If you could spend one year in any country, which would you choose?

I’m choosing to answer this question as logically as possible. The fact of the matter is that I really haven’t spent much time exploring Europe, but I would like to. In order to hit the European highlights, I’d like to set up a home base somewhere centrally located that allows me easy access by train to the rest of the continent. Therefore, I’d have to choose Germany as my country of choice if I could spend a year abroad. As a side bonus for me, I studied German in college but have never had the chance to practice it in a real-world setting, so my year abroad in Germany would also be a great crash course in brushing up on my foreign language skills!

Posted in: Here's a Question for You16 comments

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