{"id":48303,"date":"2026-05-16T13:45:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T12:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=48303"},"modified":"2026-05-16T13:57:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T12:57:00","slug":"costa-rica-towards-a-new-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/05\/costa-rica-towards-a-new-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"Costa Rica – Towards a New Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019ve just got back from an epic adventure in Costa Rica. Starting on the Pacific Coast, I hiked, biked, rafted and kayaked across the entire country to the Caribbean coast \u2014 and what a country it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, this is the first instalment of a mini-series of blog posts about my Costa Rican Coast to Coast, starting, as usual, with the trials and tribulations of long-haul travel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Costa Rica might be a small country, but it packs an astonishing amount into it: rainforest, volcanoes, wildlife, beaches and mountains, all squeezed between the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. Covering just 0.03% of the Earth’s surface, Costa Rica is a global biodiversity powerhouse.\u00a0It is home to roughly 500,000 species, about 5% of the planet’s total biodiversity. A quarter of its land is protected in national parks and reserves, making it an exceptional haven for wildlife. San Jose, the bustling capital in the middle of the country, would be our launch point before heading west to the Pacific to begin the crossing properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wales – Manchester – Paris – San Jose<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Getting there was, of course, a long, drawn-out process, but it actually went quite smoothly. I left home at around 11:30 am on Friday for three trains to Manchester. The previous train had been cancelled, so the train out of Borth was very busy. This remained the case for the next two legs as well, with standing room only for the middle leg, and for some reason, the air-con wasn\u2019t working either. Maybe I should look for the positives \u2014 the hot and sticky train was good acclimatisation for Costa Rica, I guess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Manchester, I found the Tribe Hotel and a very nice room for the night. Once settled in, I popped downstairs for a pizza in the restaurant and then retired early as I needed to be up again at 2 am, ready to check in for a 5 am flight. I did of course have holiday nails!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tribe<\/a><\/figure><\/div>
\"Holiday<\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t get much sleep, so I was at the airport with plenty of time to spare. Check-in and security were all good, and I soon found myself on a short flight to Paris, where I had a five-hour wait for a flight to San Jose in Costa Rica. I wandered around the shops, watched the various airport robots and chilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Parisian<\/a><\/figure><\/div>
\"Airport<\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When checking in for the 10 and a half hour flight to Costa Rica, I tried to guess which of the available seats would be the most likely to have a spare seat next to it. My plan worked. I was sitting in the middle row on an aisle seat, and there was a spare seat next to me and an Italian girl in the other aisle seat. Her name, I think, was Wilamena, and I got chatting to her for a bit. She was really nice and was off to Costa Rica to run a fitness retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A little later in the flight, she decided to make use of the free middle seat and lie down for a while, and was soon sound asleep. I\u2019d hoped to do the same at some point, but she looked so comfortable that I wasn\u2019t going to wake her. Later, she briefly stirred, turned around, and went back to sleep \u2014 this time with her head towards me rather than her feet. As the flight went on, she gradually stretched out until she was practically asleep on my lap! Somehow, she managed to stay asleep for almost the entire flight. I, of course, didn\u2019t sleep at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once on the ground in San Jose, Costa Rica, it took a while to get my luggage. Everyone else had theirs, and there was just me and another guy waiting for ages. We were just about to go and find some help when our bags finally appeared on the conveyor \u2014 phew!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Jose, Costa Rica<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I met my taxi driver just outside the airport for a half-hour transfer to the Sleep Inn Hotel in central San Jose. The hotel was nice and had a casino next door. I met the first of my fellow travellers there. I\u2019ll refer to them by their initials only. There were four of us in total: three men in our 50s and a younger woman:<\/p>\n\n\n\n