angledge | Costa Ric-uhhhh. (Reply)

Alan & I got back home on Thursday from our delayed honeymoon to Costa Rica. We spent four nights in Tamarindo & three nights in Playa del Coco. Overall, the trip was good but not great, in large part because Alan got traveler's diarrhea at the end of our time in Tamarindo & is only feeling better today.

My highlights from the trip:

We went on a snorkeling trip on a catamaran that left from the harbor at Tamarindo. The snorkeling was unremarkable, but the trip became an impromptu whale-watching trip on the way home when we encountered a humpback whale. Alan had never seen a whale before & the look on his face paid for the whole trip.
On our last day at the beach in Playa del Coco, I was swimming laps to a platform anchored off-shore when I started talking to an older Canadian gentleman. His name was Robin Lajoie & he is a world-record holder for long-distance butterfly. We talked for a little bit while sitting on the platform & then he casually mentioned that there was a shipwreck located about a quarter-mile further out from the platform & would I like to go free-drive around the wreck?

UM HELL YES

We swam out there & had the place to ourselves (because, half-mile swim to get there). There were thousands of fish & the wreck sat in about 20-25 ft of water. I had so much fun that I kept coming to the surface, floating on my back, & just laughing into the sky.
In general, the food was delicious. Lots of seafood & tropical fruits, obviously, but there was also a lot of incredible beef. Also, fried plantains. I love fried plantains to an incredible degree & I ate some every day, nearly with every meal.

I want to capture some thoughts on how I can improve future travels:

Get a backpack to use as a suitcase. Currently, I have a gigantic Samsonite suitcase. I always end up overpacking because the darn thing is just so big. Then I end up hauling a 45+ pound suitcase all over the place, because if it fits, I pack it.
Do your research. I have gotten lazy about researching places before visiting, telling myself that I want to be "open to experiences" or "relaxing, not checking off tasks". But I have taken this too far. On this trip, I would've been very well-served to do more research on destinations (which hopefully would've had us avoiding Tamarindo) & things to do. I'm not saying this wasn't a fun & relaxing vacation, but we also left a lot of experiences un-experienced. Alan says we should've done more research TOGETHER, because different people will think of different questions & have different priorities.
Be incognito. I learned from a travel blog (too late to help on this trip) that it is a good idea to do all your travel research & bookings while browsing incognito. Apparently, many travel websites (including AirBnB) change their offered prices based on your browsing history.
Get more diverse. We booked stays in two beach towns, back-to-back. While we did end up liking one a lot more than the other (Playa del Coco >>> Tamarindo) it would've been even better to have had a few days inland in the cloud forest/mountains.
Put more thought into transport. We didn't rent a car & I think that was the right decision (driving in CR is a little wild), but once we got to our AirBnBs, we were kinda stuck there because we had done zero research on buses, taxis, etc.

Since I chose the country for this trip, Alan gets to choose the next destination. He has selected ICELAND. September 2025, bitches!