Costa Rica, here I come!
 

So, after having to give up my solo trip to Scotland last May, I've finally saved up enough vacation time to take my trip in late January/early February. Not wanting to wait any longer than I have to, I've decided to go south instead of Scotland during the winter (don't worry, I'll get there eventually). I also want to do something more natural vs. historical since I've just gotten back from Egypt.

At the moment, I'm checking airfares and starting to do some research. Costa Rica was Mike's & my original destination last year before we ended up in Mexico City because we couldn't get a flight to CR. I'm finally getting to go & see all the beautiful nature & wildlife that I was looking forward to seeing then. YAY!

I've been reading a lot of the old threads & would love to get some suggestions of what to see & where to stay. I'm planing on going the hostel route to save some $$. I am not a big beach bum, so I'm looking more at checking out the natural sights - hikes & maybe a zip-line. I'll have about 1 1/2 weeks saved up by then. I know, not a lot of time, but I've gotta get out of here soon.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice you great folks can impart.

Jen

Don't have anything too helpful to ad, just want to say I'm jealous. I'm tryin gto book a little trip to Costa in like May or June, but i think we would be aiming more for the chilled out beach lifestyle. I look forward to reading about your research, getting some tips myself, and hope you have a great time when you do go.

I have a cousin who owns a "surfer's resort" on the beach in Costa Rica. He loves it down there. I would look into some of these small resorts because some of them can be very cheap and may be closer to the wildlife that you desire to see. I don't know about the hostels, however.

Yay Central America! :D

If you've been reading old threads you probably have stumbled across my writeups already...but I did spend a week and a half in CR - a night in San Jose, some time in Monte Verde (where there be ziplines, although I didn't do any), Manuel Antonio/Quepos where there be monkeys and sloths and surfing and beaches and Parque Nacional Chirippo, where I met up with Amber. :) I listed the hostels that I stayed at in my CA hostel thread. The volcano that everyone goes to see is Arenal, although I didn't make it there either - I figured I'd seen enough volcanoes in the rest of Central America by then. :p

A friend of mine wants me to go to Costa Rica with her for two weeks next month. I'm still debating . . . . $ . . . . two new jobs . . . . about to start school . . . . I dunno. Yeah, I should just do it. I'm becoming so much less adventurous now that I live in the States, what's wrong with me?!

Alright . . . I'm going too. Did some thinking, not much though, and ummm . . . yeah, I'm going. Not sure if its gonna be next month or January, gotta discus dates. She wants to do two weeks, I'm thinking I might go a little longer just to make the flight $ worth it, maybe check out Nicaragua or Panama.

Oh I forgot, she's on this board. Ummm, what her name . . . .

GO FOR LONGER! :D I didn't make it to Panama but I loved Nicaragua very muchly.

Yeah, even my barebones research has showed that there looks to be awesome jungle resorts for bargain prices. Man, i gotta go...now how to tell my wife we're going on vacation again...who needs a retirement fund!?!?!