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Adam had never left the USA before so, we decided to go to Costa Rica.
We landed in San Jose and rented a rough Dahatsu for the ride across the terrain…really having no idea what lay ahead of us.
Our first night we stayed in the City of San Jose at the
Hotel Colonial. It was a small place, but had a great breakfast and a little view of a street…not much more.
We then headed on a very windy highway up to the Arenal Volcano. We did not have a GPS, only Adam navigating with a map. We stayed at the most beautiful little cabin at the base of the Volcano,
Hotel Lomas del Volcan
We hiked the around the forests, crossed foot bridges and ate wonderful Tico food.
We then headed south to Dominical. We ended up taking an extremely long and bumpy road, the Pan American Highway.
We stayed at the
Bella Vista Lodge and although it wasn’t the most modern and clean Lodge…it was up high, with a beautiful view and a great hammock to lay on.
The owner hooked us up with a horseback ride to the largest waterfall we have ever seen…it was up close, personal and poetic.
For our last two nights we decided to class things up a bit and stayed at the
Double Tree Resort Puntarenus. (Which, FYI, if you are on vacation, you should really spend more time experiencing the natural elements a country has to offer not just stay in the all inclusive resorts. If you do, it is pretty much worthless to visit a new country, you will never see how the locals live and what the country is all about.)
We used
Calypso Cruises and took a boat ride to Tortuga Island. There was no Jack Sparrow, but it was beautiful…and we ate the best homemade ceviche.
In Costa Rica
Life in the Tropics
For everything you need to know about the Caribbean with kids read our complete Caribbean guide at adventuresweseek.com/caribbean-with-kids
How do you build a life around adventure and travel?Intentionally and incrementally. Most families who live this way did not leap from conventional to adventurous overnight. They built remote work capacity, paid down debt, tested longer trips, and had honest conversations about what they want from their lives.
What does an adventurous family lifestyle actually look like?Different for every family. For some it is long-term travel. For others it is weekend adventures close to home. What connects them is intentionality about how time is spent and a preference for experiences over accumulation.
How do you balance adventure with stability for kids?By finding stability within the adventure rather than treating them as opposites. Routines, rituals, and family rhythms travel with you. Kids need consistency in relationships more than consistency in geography.
What has travel taught your family?That people are fundamentally similar across cultures. That comfort zone is a smaller circle than it feels from inside. That the things worth having in life require effort and discomfort. And that time together doing hard interesting things is the most reliable source of family closeness.
How do you handle the pressure to live conventionally when you have chosen differently?By getting clear on why you made the choices you made and returning to that clarity when outside noise gets loud. Most families living unconventionally describe an initial period of explaining themselves that gradually gives way to just living the life.
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I really want to go to Costa Rica. It looks so lush and beautiful.