A short diary entry to get me back into the habit of writing I think! The year is 2026 (oof can you believe it). I am currently sitting on a bus in Manuel Antonio, having fallen over in the street, so now I can add partially scraped knees and ruined feet, to the bumps and bruises my body has endured so far. And food poisoning too – that for sure I would not recommend on the day of a 13-hour travel trip.

I’ve been in Costa Rica since just before Christmas and it’s a beautiful place. The people really do make this country 10x better, other than the driver of this bus who shouted at me for taking too long with the change – but again turned out to be super nice when I got off at my stop. They’re 99.9% more friendly, more kind and more helpful than the London locale I’m ever so used to, and who, me included, give anyone the devil eyes if you so much as breathe on the London Underground before 8am.

What have I done so far in Costa Rica?

I’ve not actually done everything that I guess I’d have ‘hoped’ to do maybe seven years ago when I was travelling around the world by myself. I’ve not paid for every excursion so lots of animal tours have been missed; my visit to Rio Celeste did not happen because I refused to pay 80 dollars for it; I haven’t gone paragliding or been on massive walking tours or gone out partying every night and instead, have done the minimum amount to enjoy what Costa Rica has to offer without going too crazy – although I have probably spent that money on food because the meals, especially in Santa Teresa, have been amazing. Shout out to The Bakery. 

I suppose I’m being more intentional with both my time and money, and don’t intend to go home broke as f, which is what happened last time. I also know that this time, I’m certain I will also see waterfalls in other countries, go on lots of cheaper tours and if I feel bad about missing things, perhaps will return in the future. I still have feelings of missing out, but I just don’t have the urge to do and pay for every tour possible. Costa Rica is not cheap, dorm rooms are around £20 (minimum) per night and that’s very different to Colombia 2018 where a dorm would cost between £3-5. Also I don’t even want to characterise this trip with dorms – I love private rooms in a hostel where I can be social and then retreat, but it’s not worth it for triple the price.

Therefore, the only way I can afford this type of trip is by sleeping in dorms and although its been great to meet people so far, I think I’m also absolutely craving my own space. The last few days I’ve been pretty affected by I assume food poisoning of some sort and having nightmares/screaming and disturbing my dorm mates is not the one. Sorry guys!

The route so far

So far, my route has been landing in San José, enjoying La Fortuna, having fun walks in Monteverde, beaching and celebrating new year in Santa Teresa before moving onto the many others beaches. I start work online tomorrow and perhaps it will be good to have a form of structure in my life. Usually I’m a lot more prepared for trips, but this time round I feel like I’m not. I feel like on this trip I had the vaguest of routes and it all got messed up by realising that Costa Rica is hella expensive and I can’t afford half of what I would like to do. 

Anyway, I’ll be writing my mini itinerary for Costa Rica soon, but as usual, it’s not always the easiest solo travelling and I’ve got to be real about that ❤️