Travel Adventures By Amanda

Our fellow adventurers at the Chocolate Rainforest Experience After three amazing days in Arenal, it was time to say goodbye and head to the Pacific coast.   We packed up our bags and set them outside our room before heading out to our last breakfast at the Kioro Resort.   While we were at breakfast, our bags were collected and loaded on to the bus.   Adventures by Disney really does make it that easy.   Today would be a big travel day and one that involved a lot of windy roads.   Easton is prone to motion sickness, so I was little concerned.   The adventure guides reserved the first few rows on the bus for those who suffer from motion sickness.   Thankfully, he held it together on the ride, but at one point, he did announce very loudly that he didn’t feel good and he thought he might throw up.   We sat in the front row for the remainder of the trip holding a bag, just in case.   To break up the day’s long drive, we took part in a private tour at the Chocolate Rainforest.  

Arenal Volcano The most anticipated day of the trip had finally arrived!  These kids were ready to zipline!  After breakfast, we loaded on the bus for the short ride to the other side of the Arenal Volcano to the zipline outfitter.  Due to cloud cover, we hadn't seen Arenal since our arrival.  Right as we were unloading the buses, the clouds cleared and we had a gorgeous, clear day.  We were quickly outfitted with harnesses, helmets, gloves and our pulley.  We were given a safety briefing and then lined up to enter the sky tram, which would take us up to the zipline platforms.  An alternative activity is offered for those who choose not to zipline or do not meet the minimum age or minimum/max weight.  In our group, every single person chose to zipline.  We even had a grandfather in his 80s participate.  If I'm still ziplining in my 80s, I've done life right. Due to their weight, Easton and Clara would zipline together with a guide except for the first and last

Our day started with breakfast at the hotel.  Breakfast was included daily on our adventure.  Our group had two large tables reserved in the back of the restaurant.  We had a great view of the surrounding trees.  Breakfast was, yet another, amazing buffet.  It didn’t have as many offerings as the Marriott San Jose, but all the food was equally good.  Every morning we had rice and beans, eggs (prepared differently daily), a breakfast meat (the selection changed daily), plantain (a weakness of mine), an omelet station, fresh breads and pastries, and an assortment of tropical fruit.  There was also cereal, yogurt, and oatmeal.  Coffee service was by the wait staff. Our group could dine anytime within breakfast hours, but on this morning, we had to be at the bus at 7:30 a.m., so we wanted to be early.  I am so glad we arrived early.  Someone noticed some movement in the trees, so we stepped out on the balcony to investigate and heard  this. After breakfast, we loaded on the bus for

Day 2 of our adventure started at the Marriott San Jose.   After a long day of travel the day before, which I covered  here , we were ready to truly kick off our adventure.   Our bags had to be outside the door for pick up by 6:30 a.m.   Chris and I woke up early to make sure we were dressed and had the kids’ clothes ready to go before our deadline.   This is where my OCD packing methods paid off.   We traveled with a Chris/Easton suitcase, an Amanda/Clara suitcase, and a shoe/miscellaneous duffle bag.   We packed everything inside the suitcases in packing cubes designated for each activity.   Thankfully, I had the foresight to label each cube.   We simply popped open the suitcases and grabbed the cubes labeled “whitewater.”   We changed into the clothes we would be rafting in and packed a dry change of clothes inside the waterproof drawstring Adventures by Disney bag that came with our trip documents. We then headed off to breakfast.   Breakfast exceeded my expectations in ever