Travel Adventures By Amanda

This was our final full day of our tour.  Chris and I awoke early and were able to enjoy our coffee in the living area of our suite at El Mangroove without disturbing the kids, who were still sound asleep.  While we were sipping coffee, we heard monkeys in the trees outside our window.   When the kids woke up, we dressed in bathing suits and cover-ups and headed to breakfast.   The breakfast buffet at El Mangroove did not disappoint.   Overall, the breakfasts were my favorite meals throughout the trip.   It was excellent at all three of the properties where we stayed.   After breakfast, we took a leisurely stroll down to the beach to wait for our catamaran.   There is no dock at the beach, so our catamaran anchored as close as it could.   A small motor boat ferried us from the beach to the catamaran.   This one was the cleanest catamarans I've seen and the crew was top notch.   They provided plenty of water, punch, and beer....

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...

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...

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 breakf...