naj131

Hi all

not sure which section my query sat in, so stuck it here.

Well, anyway, I'm from the UK and was planning to spend 4 months or so travelling around the US/Canada. Being a UK citizen, get a 90 day visa waiver which I was hoping get round by also vising Canada. having looked up the rules, this is a no no . Alternatives are to get a visa (costly and timeconsuming as I want to get out in the next couple of weeks) or alternatively leave the US and re-enter.

Looking at the second option of leaving the US - rules state that going to Canada/Mexico or Carib don't count. Looking at flights and found that flights to Costa Rica seem to be fairly reasonable, and may cost about $80 or so more than the cost of the visa - so I figured I might try and fit in another country for not that much extra cost and at the same time get to spend more time around the US

My questions are:

1) does my idea seem crazy

2) where are there cheap international flights to from within the US.

3) what is Costa Rica like - anyone been there?

Any help greatly appreciated. As I get closer, my feet are getting itchier.

thanks

Naj

Somnambulation

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I know Costa Rica is the #1 place I would like to go in Latin America.

naj131

Just been checking out the Costa Rica leg of my journey - one factor I hadn't counted on was the weather!

Ideally I wanted to head out to Costa Rica in September, as it tied into when I was planning to be in Florida, where flights are teh cheapest. However, that is the rainy season! Could try and pull the date forward to August but this could prove a pain from logistics point of view.

How bad is the rain in Costa Rica in August and September? Are there any areas where there is less rain?

MolsonGirl

I've been to Costa Rica and it is amazing!!!!! I have spent the last couple years dying to go back and trying everything I can to get myself there... somehow I ended up in Englad (other direction I guess) oh well...

I 1000% recommend that you see Costa Rica, beautiful and inexpensive, there is one cacth though... it takes forever to get anywhere. the roads aren't great and all the major things to see are scattered all over the country... I've been all over the West Coast (amazing surfing) and through the middle, never the East Coast... but there are a couple places which really aren't tooooo worth seeing... 1 being San Jose, dirty and not very exciting... i reccommend Arenal (volcano) still errupting and on a clear night it's a darks sky lit up by an errupting volcano. There is a lot more to see but it depends on how long you want to stay in the country...

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naj131

As I was planning on going August/September - the rainy season, I was told that there would be less rain on the west coast, so probable concentrate on that area. Which month is less rainy - Sept or Aug?

I'll be going for about 10 days or so. What is the best way to get from San Jose to the west coast then - on a budget that is - and how long would it take?