One of our trips planners forwarded  me this email from a prospective guest and asked me for advice on how to answer it.  Help!!!!!

“Like I said in an earlier e-mail, our children are 8 and 12, mature for their age, very athletic and adventurous.  We like whitewater rafting, hiking, snorkeling, and nautre. We are not particularly interested in spending time at the volcano – we did that on Maui, and got our fill of volcanoes for quite awhile. I have been to Costa Rica and would love to take them back to Monteverde. It was stunning!

I have been to Manual Antonio, and Corcovado.  Both were gorgeous and very interesting.  However,  I literally almost drowned in Corcovado in a rip tide, after being told the ocean there was perfectly safe for a good swimmer like me, so no interest in returning to the Pacific. It also required a ride in a tiny plane that was literally jump started with a Volkswagen!  The flight over the canopy was one of the most memorable parts of the trip.

We were so close you could almost pick the flowers. The pilot landed on an airstip in the jungle, literally shoved us out the door as he shouted Adios and pointed north as the plane took off a few seconds later. We were abandoned in the jungle and had to find our way to the tent camp in the general direction of north, in the extreme heat, with no map or water. Other than being abandoned by the pilot, and then nearly drowning, that part of the trip was really fun.

Then the next week we rafted on a gorgeous river – loved it, except it was at flood stage, and the guide had a severe hangover from partying the night before.  He dumped the raft in a huge hydrolic, and we all had to swim class IV-V rapids-almost lost two rafters. Not sure we are quite up for that again.  I like adventure, but the trip was a bit more adventure than even I had expected. (yes, we did book through a well respected travel agency, and I think it might even have been with Costa Rica Expeditions.)

As for accomodations, we are interested in simple accomodations as long as they are clean and safe. I really do not wish to be robbed again either.  Oh, and our Costa Rican guide/driver  hit a cow on the road and totaled the SUV.

You asked for feedback on the email with all the reasons not to plan your own trip. I had to laugh!  Could I have actually done any worse had I planned it myself??

In spite of all this, it was still one of my favorite trips of my life.  However,  I am thinking maybe I should wait a couple years until the kids are older and a bit more ready to cope with these types of challenges.  We might do better to go to a beach in Riveria Maya and focus on snorkeling and adventure parks – as much as I hate the contrived theme parks.

At least I am unlikely to die there. But still, since we are undecided, tell me more about the family departures!  Itinerary? Cost?

Thank you!
Sincerely,
Kathy“