More Questions

There are a lot of things to consider when deciding to go to a foreign land for vacation, even more when it is for dental work.  We still had a few questions that needed to be answered and things to consider and double check before we left so that we were prepared or as prepared as we thought we should be. 


Passport, Visa or Both
  For citizens of the U.S. at this current time there was only a need for a passport.  No visa necessary, however, before entering Costa Rica, you must have a round trip ticket or a ticket to another country.  Your passport should have 6 months minimum left on it from your date of entry.   Once in Costa Rica you only have 90 days to stay before you must leave for a minimum of 3 days and then you may re-enter again for another 90 days and so on.  Also, note there is an exit fee that you pay when you leave the country ,currently it is $29 U.S. per person.  If you are coming to Costa Rica you might want to consider trip insurance.  This is especially true if you will be here for medical reasons.  You never know if you will have to extend beyond your allotted time or not.  You can go to this website for more information: http://www.costarica-embassy.org/?q=node/72

Diseases
  Did I consider the possibility of some disease?  No, actually I didn't. We have traveled all over the world and for most of those places we visit, we have never worried about what we might catch.  We try to watch what & where we eat/drink, and really haven't had too much of a concern of getting a deadly illness.  We have picked up a parasite or 2 in our travels and have managed to rid ourselves of them.  Would I consider vaccinations?  Probably not, and that is a whole other issue and I am choosing not to delve into it at this time.  :-)  
  However, If you tend to be the worrisome type or you feel that your health is not as good as you might wish and that you may be susceptible to illnesses, before you go you can check with your physician, local free health clinic, as well as this website, http://www.who.int/ith/en/, to determine what you might need to protect yourself against while traveling in Costa Rica or any other foreign country.  The choice is completely yours.

What to Pack
  This is going to be primarily determined by what you plan to do while in Costa Rica.  As I said before, I am the ocean, sun, beach loving girl!  So for me, a couple of bikinis, flip-flops and a cover up would have worked just fine, except we wouldn't be at the beach the whole time we were there, so I had to consider other articles of clothing.  Bakty on the other hand would have gone with soccer & tennis attire.
  We would be in the city and walking, so comfortable walking shoes were a must.  The temperature in San Jose, which is pretty much a city in a valley, is cooler than the coast.  Although cooler, the temperature still ranged from the low 70's to low 80's during the day.  It was very comfortable weather, a bit breezy and almost always sunny for most of our visit.  We packed sleeveless & short sleeved shirts, shorts, and an extra pair of long light weight pants. I packed 2 pair of dressier capri pants, sleeveless casual/dressy shirts and a lightweight dress and we wore jeans on the way to San Jose. We had our personal toiletries, minus shampoo and lotion, a few pair of socks, underwear, sandals, a light jacket for the cooler evenings (sometimes low 60's in San Jose), 1 set of workout clothes for both of us and a beach towel. 
  We filled 2 carry-ons and 1 large suitcase.  We over packed!!!   Hard as we tried not to, we did.  I could have done with 2 less pairs of shorts, 2 less pair of capris, 1 less pair of long lightweight pants, and 4 sleeveless shirts.  Bakty only wore half of what he brought as well, so we could have gotten by with just our carry-on bags.  When we travel we aren't usually looking to dress up a lot anyway so we tend to be a lot more casually dressed. Note to self:1 carry-in is all you need, no matter where you are going!  If we didn't have to worry about the larger suitcase we probably could have traveled a little differently than we did. But, having the large suitcase did give us that extra room to bring back lots of Costa Rican coffee!
  You might also want to bring your own washcloth or extra towel depending on what type of hotel you will be staying at.  Both of the hotels we stayed at had towels and washcloths, but I understand that some hotels are bare minimum in that area.  If that seems too much to bring, you can always buy them if you find the need. Costa Rica is very environmentally conscientious and they don't want to wash more than necessary so you need to hang your towels out to dry and not just dump them on the floor.  They will replace them about every 3 days with clean ones. Also note that you have laundry service available in most hotels or depending on your hotel, you may have a laundry available for use.  We had washers and dryers available at the Cristina Hotel, it was $6 U.S. to wash and dry 1 load of laundry.
  If you are traveling during the rainy season or plan on trips to the mountains & volcanoes, you will want to be sure you have packed items that will keep you warm and dry.  When up in the higher altitudes and the dampness it can be a bit cooler.  So, bring a jacket, some light weight water proof clothing, a compact umbrella, and some good shoes for the wet slippery environment. 
  You will want to have sunscreen, if you like hats bring one, and insect repellent. We didn't bring any of these and just purchased what we needed from the local store.  We never saw one mosquito the whole time we were in Costa Rica, that doesn't mean they weren't there, we just never got bitten or saw one anywhere we were. If you just can't live without them, bring a hairdryer and/or your flat iron.  One of our hotels didn't have a hairdryer in the room. You could have one if you asked, but we were at the beach and I like beach hair, so I didn't ask. Check with your hotels if you are not sure.  Bringing them certainly expands the need for more luggage. 

Next Post: Arriving in San Jose and the Dentist Office