General travel
- Always land with data available on your phone (so you don’t have to spend $70 @ $19.99/mb to check for your car rental reservation email)
- Travel with snacks
- Bring Tylenol and Advil
- A wool shirt is great for travel
- When jetlag isn’t a factor, reading material is primarily for the plane
- Bring a check card so you can easily get money from an ATM
The Beach
- Go running in surf shorts
- Bring cheap sunglasses
- Having a waterproof camera rules, bring a lanyard so you don’t lose it in the water
- Bring a ziplock bag for iphone
- A lightweight, packable backpack / bag is handy to avoid toting around plastic grocery bags
- You don’t need a towel
Costa Rica
- Tap water is fine for drinking
- A 10% service tax included (or added) on all restaurant bills, it generally isn’t expected to tip more (this might be why the service usually sucks)
- People generally don’t expect to be tipped, negotiate the price and pay that price.
- 13% tax might be included in food prices, along with the 10% service tax, the menu should state this
- Colones and USD are completely interchangeable
- There is a $29 tax to leave the country, first pay that when you get to the airport, then check in
Tamarindo
- Kelly’s Surf Shop is a great place to get lessons and super easy and cheap to rent boards from
- Luis (the older one with longer hair) from Kelly’s was a a great instructor
- Nico who sets up shop on the beach in front of the beach club is a great guide / contact for activities
- A car isn’t very necessary (and if you want one don’t book it on Expedia)
American Airlines Sucks
- Their mobile boarding pass is completely worthless
- Wifi is not available unless you are over cell service in the US, regardless of what they say
- 737 power supplies were spotty
- Watch out for their seat assignment game, you probably won’t get a good seat at the gate unless you are checking in onsite very early