Our Samara Beach Vacation

What can I say about our Samara Beach vacation except that it was epic and what made this vacation so amazing wasn't what we did so much as who were with and what we ate.  We had th emost amazing time trying new restaurants and eating new foods.  And being with family and friends made the vacation all the more fun.

In all honesty, this vacation could have been a fail if it weren't for one last minute change I felt I just had to make.  See, when I initially booked our Samara vacation, I reserved at a hotel called Entre Dos Aguas.  We had never stayed at this particular hotel before but it was pretty affordable and since we were paying for so many people on this trip, I thought I might try and save some coins.  However, I was never totally happy with my hotel choice and was having major regrets.  First off, the hotel did not include breakfast.  And second, the hotel had no air conditioning.  These are usually major factors in my decision when looking for hotels but something I decided I could overlook for the right price. In the back of my mind though, I was not happy.  I worried about my hotel choice because if the hotel is crap, the vacation would be crap and I did not want a crappy vacation.

About 6 days before our trip, I decided to cancel our booking with Entre Dos Aguas and book at our favorite hotel, Samara Pacific Lodge.  Initially I thought Samara Pacific Lodge was just too pricey and out of our budget but when I did a final budget breakdown, it was less than $200 more for the 4 days with breakfast included and AC.  Well in budget and more than worth the price.  Plus we know and love Samara Pacific Lodge and I knew we would have a wonderful time at that hotel.

Our vacation was truly on for the memory books and I loved having my son and his friends as well as my sister and baby nephew along for the ride with us.  I cannot wait for our next vacation.

An Almost Failed Vacation

Don't you just hate when things don't go as planned.  Especially a well planned out vacation that turns out to be an epic fail.  Thankfully we were able to save our first vacation trip to the beach and the backup vacation turned out pretty spectacular.

Our adventure to Puerto Viejo, Limon in Costa Rica turned into an adventure we were not expecting when on our way to the beach, we found out the roads were completely blocked off due to the nationwide strike.  Over 5 hours spent on the way to Limon only to have to turn back around and return home.

I was pretty sad about our vacation being a bust when hubby suggested we go to Jaco Beach Costa Rica instead.  Well, the very next day, after a quick look online for available hotels, we headed back out on the road to Jaco.  And what a wonderful time it was.  I wish we had planned on going to Jaco from the beginning.

Jaco beach is usually not our first choice when we start planning family beach vacations.  It is closer to San Jose but the beach is not kid friendly and the town isn't very family friendly either.  Not to mention, it is kind of on the more expensive side.  I had not been to Jaco in many years but I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun we had.  Maybe it was because our vacation got saved, maybe it was also because anywhere near the beach was better than home with all its chilly rainy weather.  Regardless of why we had a good time, the point is we had a blast and that's all that mattered.

To top it all off, our hotel was fantastic.  It was a wonderful little apartment style type bungalow with a living room, dining area, full kitchen and two bedrooms and bathrooms.  There was so much space not only inside the apartment but outside the grounds as well.

And there was also a sweet little park right by our hotel for the kids to play at.  We were a little farther outside of town but that didn't really bother us in the least.  It was a very tranquil spot and being poolside was like our own little slice of paradise.