Picking a Location

One of the most fun things about planning a trip is picking a destination.  This time we picked Costa Rica!  As we were travelling with the kids, and Joel is in high school, the 'when' we could travel was a big factor in 'where' we would travel.  We didn't want to pull the kids out of school for too long as it's not as easy to catch up in high school.  So we needed to travel mostly during a school holiday.  I wasn't interested in travelling at Christmas time because I like to be home at that time.  Summer is short and we like to spend it at our camp!  Summer is also also really hot for travelling in a lot of places.  So we figured March Break would be the best choice!  Now with that that was settled, where should we travel?

We had to cancel our trip to London and Paris in 2020 due to Covid. We'd still like to do that trip again.  But March isn't super ideal for London and Paris.  Highs are around 12C and lows are around 6C.  Doable but maybe not the perfect time to go.  We also didn't really have the luxury of 2 weeks this time because we were trying to avoid missing too much school.

So where would be warm in March?  We weren't interested in an all inclusive.  We were interested in exploring the world somewhere for this trip, not relaxing on the beach.  So where could we go that was warm at this time of the year, would allow us to escape winter and be exciting to explore?  Bonus points if it's somewhere Trevor and I hadn't been before so we could explore somewhere new.

March of 2023, I saw saw my friend Angie posting amazing pictures on Facebook.  She was in Costa Rica!  That was an option!  So I started doing a bit of research.

Cost Rica is in Central America, south of Nicaragua and north of Panama.  It borders the Pacific Ocean on the west and the Caribbean Sea on the east.  It has a population of about 5 million people.  It is a tropical climate year round and has 2 seasons, the wet season and the dry season (March is in the dry season).  March is one of the hottest months in Costa Rica.  Highs will likely be around 35C and lows of 23C.  That's hot!  The language in Costa Rica is Spanish.  The currency is Colons, but American Dollars are widely accepted also.  There is a one hour time difference with Costa Rica one hour behind us.  It is quite close to the equator, so the sunrise and sunset don't vary too much.  Sun rises around 6am and sets around 6pm most days.  More about exactly where we are travelling in the next post!