What? You are taking the kids to Costa Rica with you?

"TRAVEL IS FATAL TO BIGOTRY, PREJUDICE AND NARROW-MINDEDNESS." - Mark Twain

TWO WEEKS. Less than two weeks. More like 11.5 days but who is counting. All four of us are headed to one of my favorite places on earth, Costa Rica. This will be our first international trip with the kids. I'm hoping and wishing with every ounce in my body that it goes well. Over the last 5 years, since we have become parents, Josh and I have been lucky enough to continue to travel the world. Because of the support of good grandparents, we have gotten to explore: 
Belize, Croatia, Paris, Thailand, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Kauai and Mexico (a few times). We are ready to share our love of travel with our kids and allow them to be transformed as we have. 

So, why the heck Costa Rica? People have asked me this a lot. Knowing I don't like to revisit places. There are just too many countries on my bucket list right now. Costa Rica has always been the exception for us. We've only been twice but both trips were special. (you can read my typical partial reports on here - I hope to do better this trip) I initially tried to convince Josh we should go to Portugal. He countered with a return to Hawaii. CR ended up being the negotiation since it fit my bill for international and his for somewhere we'd feel comfortable and not too unfamiliar with. 

Planning a trip for 2 active and adventurous adults is very different than planning for a family of four with two kids not even in school. Luckily, I like challenges. I'll pretend like I came up with this wonderful and symbolic plan to choose one destination from our 2005 trip, one from our 2008 trip and then one completely new place. Yep, I thought that was a great idea!

Arenal - How do you take kids to Costa Rica and not take them to the volcano? Just say lava to a 5 year old and his eyes light up. That became stop #1. 

La Carolina Lodge - When we went there with our friends in 2008 we celebrated Josh's 30th birthday. It was hands down the most magical place I've ever been. It could have been the company, but I think it was the place. Only candlelight, eating family style some of the best food I'm ever tasted. No real agenda. This will either be great or a disaster with the little ones. 

Samara Beach - We knew we had to go to one of the beaches. Malpais is our normal but last time it was starting to becoming too "discovered". After a bit of searching I stumbled on Samara and it reminded me of what we originally loved in Malpais. Laid back. Calm. Beautiful. No way they won't love this. 

I'll save all the details of what we are doing for when we are there and I can give the full report. I get a lot of questions on how I research and find all my stuff. Before I get burned out with the reports I thought I'd share how I did this one. 

PLANNING SOURCES

TripAdvisor - I don't usually use the hotel searches but I have been finding their forums to be the most active lately for the lesser known destinations. You can get very detailed on location. If I find a reference to an activity, hotel, etc. I will then dig into it deeper through searching it specifically on tripadvisor and read reviews there. It's a been of a fact finding mission. 

Fodors Forums - for a long time I have been using Fodors forums. I feel like they used to be more active or maybe I'm getting more off the beaten path. What they are really good for is Trip Reports. I found a trip report for a family almost identical to ours in age and activity style. I used a lot of their itinerary when making ours. Other peoples reports can be highly helpful if their tastes match yours. 

AFAR - This is my newest planning tool and I'm still testing it a bit. A few months ago I discovered their magazine in the Airport and fell in love. I started following them on Twitter and their feed is one of my two favorites. (Dark Rye is the other with GOOD as a close third - could change at any minute though!) They provide all sorts of hidden gem, off the beaten path, information around the world. They feel grittier, if that makes sense. They have a new App out that I've been playing with. It's not highly populated for CR but I hope to add to it. It's meant to help you identify little hidden gems when you are traveling and document things you find. It lets you create a trip plan and save your items offline for when you are traveling and have the iPhone on Airplane Mode. I've already noted a secluded beach with a Turtle Sanctuary to visit while we are there. 

Would love to hear if anyone has any other favorite planning or travel sites, apps or tools. Otherwise, talk to you guys in Central America! 

PURA VIDA