Recap

Afternoon everyone…..

Well…… we are back. Our flight landed just before midnight New Jersey time last night. By the time we got through customs and home it was after two thirty in the morning. This is the first trip I’ve had in many that did not have a delay on the flight home, which was very nice.

Let me sum up the trip or recap it for you. We flew from Newark International Airport to Liberia, Costa Rica. It was a five and a half hour flight. For those of you that don’t know here is a little bit on Liberia.

Liberia is the capital of Costa Rica's Guanacaste province, known as the "White City" for its white adobe houses and gravel roads, serving as a major gateway to Pacific beaches, volcanoes, and rainforests. It's a transportation hub with its own international airport (LIR) and a blend of colonial history, cowboy (sabanero) culture, and modern amenities, making it a base for exploring the region's diverse landscapes and attractions like Rincón de la Vieja Volcano.

We did not go to the volcanos, but saw them and were very close to them on our rainforest tour.

It was sunny and warm every day we were there. Temperatures between 91-97 with realfeels of up to 105. We stayed at an all inclusive Planet Hollywood resort. The facilities were well maintained and the staff was incredible. We had gotten a free upgrade from Costco Tracel to a star package which gave us our own private pool, bar and snack shack. Only the Junior sweets have assess to this is what I found out while there. We had a junior sweets which was wonderful, very roomy and great air conditioning.

This was the view from the balcony outside the lobby.

There were six different restaurants on the facility plus a Buffett as well. We ate at four of the restaurants, which were all top notch excellent food. We did the Tex Mex restaurant first.

Everything was delicious.

Our second night was the Italian restaurant.

The third night we got back late from the excursion, so we hit the buffet. No pictures. The following night we hit the hibachi restaurant which was phenomenal, I was a little drunk from the daytime and forgot to take pictures. Oops….. For our anniversary dinner we did the steakhouse. My god the food was so good and so fresh. Big steaks!!!!

We passed hundreds and hundreds of acres of cattle farms driving to both our resort and the excursion. Jennifer had a New York strip which had to be at least fourteen ounces. I got the rib-eye which was easily a sixteen ounce steak. I also got the crab cakes with it which were super soft and very full of fresh crab.

We walked by and in the ocean which where we were was the Pacific Ocean. The sand is black from the volcano’s and is super fine. Down by the beach in alcove of trees live a bunch of white faced monkeys. They are very friendly and come right up to you if you have food for them, which we did.

Lots and lots of sun. The decking around the pool was so hot from the sun you could not walk barefoot at all. The water was nice, there was towel service and food or drink service at your wish.

As I stated we did an excursion. It included a tour of a cocoa plantation, a coffee plantation, lunch at a local cafe and then the rainforest in the national park. In order to get into the national park you had to have a photo of your passport to enter. The entire excursion was an amazing experience. We saw the cocoa pods on the trees, they cut one open to show us what they look like fresh, then sun dried and I even was picked to grind up a bunch which we then ate with some fresh pineapple and banana. They also made us fresh hot chocolate from the cocoa shells which was amazing as well. They made fresh coffee from the beans they had just roasted, which I personally didn’t try I don’t like coffee at all, but Jennifer said it was fantastic.

Next we went to a local place for a traditional Costa Rican lunch. Which was chicken, fresh corn tortillas, rice, beans, pico, a small salad, and fried sweet plantains, and fresh passion fruit juice. They also had this sauce which was crazy good. I bought a bottle there.

The rainforest gold was NO JOKE!!! It was over two miles each way, on some terrain that was quite a challenge. But it was worth every minute for sure. We got to see some beautiful flowers, live sloths in their natural environment, live toucans and a breathtaking waterfall.

Well worth the journey!!!

The resort also had a Guy Fieri’s burger joint on the facility. Which was really good as well. The burger meat was delicious. While the French fries were tasty, they do not fry them crispy enough for my personal liking.

There was plenty of relaxation, and plenty of hydration as well. Good weather, good facilities, good food and plenty of good drinks.

If you’ve never been to Costa Rica I would highly recommend going and I would also highly recommend booking this Planet Hollywood resort package through Costco Travel.