So there I was, my flight to Costa Rica was cancelled and I was sitting in the airport about to just go home on my adventure weekend. No says I…
When planning a last minute trip I have a sequence of priorities:
1. What are the entry requirements for Americans. The majority of the countries I be been to either don’t require a visa or have a visa on arrival. This is something you definitely want to check before planning a trip to anywhere. I use travel.state.gov. It lines out what is required, how to get it, and how long it could take. Luckily for me, Colombia didn’t require a visa for Americans visiting for 90 days or less. Win 🙂
2. How safe would it be for me to travel there? Am I by myself or with with my boyfriend. What are women’s rights, etc. travel.state.gov has some good info for this, but also check out a decent amount of travel blogs. For my Colombia trip, I found this one super helpful: https://www.adventurouskate.com/solo-female-travel-colombia-safe/
She was super honest not just about her experience but what could happen 🙂
3. What do I want to see/ where will I go in the country? Most countries have more than one airport. Make you you’re flying into the right one. I say this because I’ve made the mistake haha. There are also a lot of different options to get around depending on the country ie: buses, boats, trains. It might be worth the money to explore a few of these options. It could be a lot cheaper/ easier to fly into a big airport like Bogota or San Jose and then travel to the smaller towns by another means or local airline. For this specific trip, I flew into Bogota and booked my flight to Cartagena via the local airlines. This saved me about 10 hours of layover time and almost $500.
4. Where will I stay? A quick scroll through booking.com or Hostelworld.com will let you know what is available in the area and how much it will cost you. Even if I am booking right before I get on the plane, I’ve found it’s a lot less stressful to know where you are going to sleep that night.
I hope that this helps all of you plan a last minute trip!
Until next time
-Dez
