Costa Rica Travel News – Costa Rica is a well-developed country where most places offer Internet access and businesses have helpful websites. But if you’re travelling through this country the Internet can also be too helpful. It can be like that annoying friend who tells you the ending to a movie you haven’t seen or the punch line to a joke you’re halfway through telling.
Google can be the worst type of friend if you let it.
Say, you’re planning a trip to Costa Rica and are going to visit Puntarenas or Montezuma. After the travel and accommodation is booked you’d plug the locations into Google and get yourself excited by checking the ‘must-do list’ of that area. Immediately the vibrant colours and exotic scenery excite you, you can’t wait to arrive. The websites show you the gorgeous sunsets in all their glory, you see the ocean wildlife, the jungles, the native culture all photographed when they are looking their best.
You watch the videos of the activities you plan on doing, the canopy walks, the waterfall jumps, the monkey feeding. Then the day comes when you touch down in Costa Rica. The sights, sounds and activities have been so well documented online that you’re ticking things off the list rather than being surprised and delighted by everything around you.
Don’t Google it.
We were staying in a place with great Wi-Fi connection. We could have gotten every map and website up for review. We could have checked the swell charts or watched the surf on YouTube. I could’ve looked at the personal pictures and videos that were online but I didn’t. I held back from asking the Internet and instead asked questions of the people that passed through.
Fellow travelers and locals alike I asked where to get fresh fruit and vegetables, who to ask for fish and seafood straight from the boat, where these people had stayed and what they recommended. The answers seemed hit and miss depending on the source’s experience, and what type of journey they were on. But all in all I had a good mental image of what to expect.
When we got here I was surprised. I didn’t know if there was a shop or if we could get money out. I didn’t know what the price ranges were for accommodation or what other travelling bloggers had said about this town and it’s people. It’s what could’ve been that made it more exciting. The risks were based on hear say and the glory was built up by the mouths of those who had scored this place on a perfect day.
‘Don’t Google it’ doesn’t apply to everywhere and everything but letting yourself stop the research can increase the enjoyment you experience.
By Harry Patchett
Instagram – @harrypatchett
Website – hbpatchett.tumblr.com
