Leslie asked: I’m interested in learning how to surf in Costa Rica, as I am told it is a great place to learn, do you have any recommendations on surf schools and where to stay?
When people land in San Jose, Costa Rica, I tell them to get out of San Jose and go up to Tamarindo. Tamarindo is right on the coast. There’s a lot of surfing hotels up there, a lot of surfing schools up there.
In addition, if you time it right, you can do a volunteer vacation while you’re learning how to surf. At night, the Earthwatch Institute does an entire program where they help to preserve all these leatherback turtles that crawl up on the beach to lay their eggs. You’re out there at 2 a.m. with infrared lights to stop the poachers. To watch this happen is just amazing. It’s out of another era.
Find out more volunteer vacation ideas in Costa Rica with Save the Sea Turtles Save the World.
Dan in Fern Lane, Nevada emailed: We are 50 and 60 and have never been on a vacation. We want an all-inclusive cruise including airfare that lasts approximately two weeks and costs about $2000.
If you had planned a little earlier, you could have done Alaska, Dan. That would have been a great trip for you and your wife, it probably would have cost about $1,000 for the week for each person, so that’s $2,000.
It’s probably too late to go in July, but you might want to travel in early September. Kids are back in school, so the ships aren’t totally crowded and harbors like Skagway or Juneau won’t have 16 other ships at the same time.
Get started on your first cruise, with our Cruising 101: How to Choose and Book Your First Cruise.
Nicole on Facebook asked. I’m new to travel and would like to travel to Europe, but I’m on a tight budget being a single mom. With one son leaving for college now and another teen at home, I will be more free to travel. How can I get to Europe in the most economical way that I can?
Very simple. You don’t fly to London. They have a huge tax on flights to London, which is going to add anywhere from $100 to $150 to the cost of your ticket. What you want to do is fly to another European city and fly out of tertiary airports. You don’t fly out Charles de Gaulle for Paris. You can fly to Orly or other French airports. Then get yourself a Eurail pass, get a two-week pass if you’re going to be over there for two weeks, and do the trains. Pick the trains during the times when you can actually sleep on the trains so you can avoid the cost of a hotel room and only stay at a hotel every-other night. You’ll save a whole lot of money.
For more money saving-ideas, check out Cheap Flights Europe’s Open Skies Airlines And Vueling.
By Peter Greenberg for Peter Greenberg Worldwide
