Pura Vida.

Costa Rica, where do I even begin? Well, we were not there long enough, that’s for sure. Our original trip was booked months ago for Puerto Vallarta, where we planned to reunite with some friends from Canada whom we hadn’t seen in over three years. Unfortunately, we decided to cancel and pivot our plans after seeing the cartel violence unfolding within the city. I was extremely disappointed, but ultimately, I felt that our pivot was the right choice. We also had to stick with the original trip dates because our dog sitters (shoutout to my in-laws) were already booked to fly to our place during that time.

Costa Rica has always been on our bucket list, but it was one of the places we just kept putting off. Although we only had two weeks to plan this completely new trip, we decided that it was time to check CR off the list. I will say, I highly recommend spending at least a week in CR so you can do a mix of inland and beach, but we chose to lean into the beach vibes this time since that was the vacation we were originally looking to have, and we were only going to be there for three full days.

Alright, now onto our trip details...

Day 1: Travel Day

We were scheduled to fly out of STL at 5am. It was daylight savings (yes, poor planning on my part), so we had to get up at 1:30am since the 2 o’clock hour didn’t exist that day. We had no issues with security and got settled at our gate only to receive an email about 15 minutes later that our flight had been cancelled, and we were being rerouted on a different flight an hour later....cool. It was a slight inconvenience that got us in 3 hours later than scheduled, but I’m thankful we had no further travel issues, and our layover went smoothly!

Upon arrival, we passed through immigration and customs without any issues. We waited at most 30 minutes and were moved to the family line, but I’m not sure if it was much faster than the regular line, since each family had at least three people in their party. We found our shuttle driver waiting for us just outside the airport exit. If you travel to CR, you will be bombarded with people asking you if you need a ride, so make sure you confirm your driver is with the company you booked with! We used Fayla Tours for our shuttle from the airport to the resort. They were super easy to work with, affordable, and we had a private shuttle for just the three of us. The drive from LIR to Playa Flamingo, where we stayed, is about an hour without traffic. It took us about an hour and a half on a Sunday afternoon (and a potty stop), and by the time we got to the resort, we were EXHAUSTED. We had dinner, spent a little time in the pool, and got settled in for the evening.

Day 2: Beach and Pool Day

Since I didn’t have much time to plan, I wanted to make our trip as seamless as possible, especially traveling with a 4 year old. There aren’t many all-inclusive resorts in Costa Rica (it’s just not that type of vacay spot), but I was able to book an all-inclusive package at Margaritaville Playa Flamingo. I wanted to know that I didn’t have to stress about meal planning, but if we decided to eat out, we could. I had also read that this resort was family-friendly and had a beautiful beach that didn’t get too crowded, so I felt good about the choice.

We started our morning on the beach! The resort has beach chairs, so we were able to relax (sorta) while Mia built sand castles with her million dollar bucket I got from the gift shop. The one perk to waking up at 6am is that you won’t be sharing the beach with many people. The waves in Playa Flamingo are huge, but the water was so refreshing. We moseyed around the beach looking for “treasures” Mia could put in her bucket and use on her sand castles. After our beach hang, we headed to breakfast, where we were greeted outside by the largest iguana I’ve ever seen in my life.

Margaritaville has three restaurants and a swim up bar that also serves food. The kid pool is fully covered, so although we applied sunscreen, we never had to worry about the sun on Mia while she was in there. It was also connected to the big pool, so if we wanted to be in the pool in the sun, we could still watch Mia while she played with her new friends. Mia and I also loved our unlimited fruity poolside drinks!

We ventured off the resort that afternoon to the shops nearby. Mia got a stuffy (obv.), and I picked up some souvenirs. We also got ice cream from Cremrica and walked along the marina before Mia’s first meltdown sank in. We headed back to the beach so she could build more sandcastles, and we got to treat ourselves to some fresh coconut water, straight from the coconut, courtesy of one of the locals.

For dinner, we ate at the resort's upstairs bar, which was covered but open air, so the warm breeze (and the birds) blew through. There was live music, and we had a really nice view of the sunset. It was the perfect end to our day.

Day 3: Excursion in Tamarindo

We really wanted to do an excursion off the resort, but our choices were a bit limited due to the lengthy drive to most inland places. I didn’t want to spend half the day in a shuttle, so we chose to do the Estuary Boat Tour in Tamarindo, about 40 minutes from where we were staying. We booked our excursion through the resort, and although I’m sure we paid way more than booking it through a third party vendor, our experience was worth every penny. The excursion was with Discover Tours, and we were told it would be about 4 hours long. I assumed that included 2 hours for total drive time and 2 hours on the boat, but we were pleasantly surprised when our shuttle driver brought us downtown Tamarindo first, because we had 2 hours before our boat tour to venture around town to eat and shop. I do wish I would have known that because I wouldn’t have eaten breakfast at the resort, but we were able to check out Cafe Tico, which was recommended to us by a friend! AMAZING coffee. Then we walked around some shops and a little market, dealt with another little Mia meltdown, had some street mango, and then headed toward our tour.

There were about 7 of us on the tour, and Mia and I were the only ones who didn’t speak Spanish LOL. Our tour guide was incredible. He was extremely knowledgeable about the environment and is currently studying environmental sciences, so we learned a ton from him on this tour. I also really appreciated his enthusiasm for protecting wildlife and their habitats. For those who don’t know, the Tamarindo Estuary is a protected, biologically diverse mangrove forest located within Las Baulas National Marine Park. Mangrove trees are fascinating! They can filter up to 90% of salt in water, their roots provide shelter for young fish, and they store up to 10x more carbon in their soil than terrestrial forests, making them EXTREMELY important for combating climate change.

We were lucky enough to see crocodiles, many species of birds, iguanas, raccoons, and howler monkeys on our tour! It was such an incredible experience and really felt like we were on a jungle cruise.

After Mia’s quick car nap on the way back to the resort, we made our way to the pool for a bit and had a late lunch. Side note: I highly recommend investing in a the Ride Safer Travel Vest if you’re going to be in shuttles and taxis on your trip. It fit conveniently into my backpack and made it so much easier for us to bop around with Mia. It’s crash tested and completely safe, but do your research ahead of time to make sure it’s the right choice for you!

Mia played on the playground, and before dinner, we watched the sunset. We ate at the Italian restaurant at the resort, which served incredible wood-fired pizzas. One of Mia’s new friends from the pool was having a birthday, and he shared his cake with her. It was so cute!

Day 4: Final Day in CR

I woke up at about 5am and could not fall back to sleep. All I wanted to do was drink coffee alone on the balcony while watching the waves roll in. So I took a risk and somehow quietly brewed coffee and made my way to the balcony without waking up Mia. Dreams really do come true. The waves at Playa Flamingo sound like thunder; it’s pretty amazing. I soaked in about 30 minutes of alone time before my tiny human joined me on the balcony.

We all made our way down to the playground for a few minutes on the swings, then back to the beach to start our day before the rest of the resort woke up. The tide was pretty high that morning, so we moved down the beach further to make sure we’d have some space to ourselves. Mia was pretty scared of the waves, so she and James sat further back on the beach while I kept walking. I was looking around and noticed something moving in the trees and brush. There were too small agoutis moseying about, finding their breakfast. I waved James and Mia over to come take a look. Honestly, some of my favorite life moments are unexpected wildlife sightings (from a safe distance) and being able to observe them in their home. It’s such a gift to get to experience that!

After breakfast, we headed back to the pool. Mia had a blast swimming and enjoying more fruity drinks. Not going to lie, the most stressful part of our trip was lying in the sun, wondering if one of the iguanas was going to make its way under my chair. There were 3-4 of them living at the resort (and Mia named them lol).

Our last sunset was bittersweet. So beautiful but so sad to be the last of our trip. I took in every single second until the sun set beyond the horizon.

Day 5: Travel Day Home

The good thing about waking up between 5-6am is that when your shuttle is scheduled to pick you up at 9am, you still have plenty of time for the beach and breakfast! We went back to our favorite beach spot so Mia could make her final sand castles, and we could put our feet in the ocean one more time. Security wasn’t too bad once we got to LIR, but I will say, it’s a small and BUSY airport. Expect there to be no seating available, and if you want coffee, it’ll be about a 20 minute wait. Our flight to O’hare was long, but we had no issues, and thanks to our Global Entry, we made it through customs in less than 5 minutes. We were feeling good after getting through security again, and then our flight got delayed. Thankfully, we were able to grab dinner, and after a long travel day, we made it home around midnight.

Although our trip was short, it was so good. The people were warm and welcoming, the vibes are so chill, and the country is so beautiful. I’m thankful we’re in a position to experience new places and cultures, bringing Mia along for the ride. What an honor and privilege it is to travel to a place like Costa Rica!

We’re already planning our trip back next year so we can spend some time inland as well as back on the beach. A huge thank you to the people of Costa Rica for welcoming us and making our experience one we won't forget!

xo, Stef