Starbucks Cup #233, Central Square

The Way I See It #233

I used to think that going to the
jungle made my life an adventure.
However, after years of unusual
work in exotic places, I realize
that it is not how far off I go or
how deep into the forest I walk
that gives my life meaning. I see
that living life fully is what makes
life -- anyone's life, no matter
where they do or do not go
-- an adventure.

-- Maria Fadiman
Geographer, ethnobotanist and
National Geographic Emerging Explorer.

We-ell this is certainly a funny post for today. Why? The jungle part! As of today, Jam and I are officially booked on a flight to Costa Rica!! Hurrah! It still hasn't sunk in yet, but in another 50 days or so, I'm sure it will. I'm tempted to put a countdown on this blog, but I don't want to be totally obnoxious, because I am already pushing it with all the other crap I have in the margin.

Anyways, we decided to do the "Costa Rica Quest" featured on GAP Adventures. Having never heard of this company except in a magazine (National Geographic Adventure, maybe?) I was very apprehensive about booking through them. On tripadvisor.com and similar sites, there were some neutral and negative things about them. Then of course I remembered that half of the people who post on travel websites, do so to bitch, and since even in the most negative of situations I am a glass half-full person, I decided to read up on GAP in other places on the internet, and what I found was most interesting. I liked what I read on other sites and I liked GAP's mission statement. After looking at that and checking out some of the trip options, I ran the trip company through Jam to see if he found it appealing. We agreed that it was probably the best for us - we'd get to see a lot of the country, the major highlights, and partake in some of the activities we had been interested in from the get go - such as ziplines and canopy tours.

I wasn't too stressed about planning the trip until I noticed that some of the June tours were filling up quickly and that some great airfare deals only had 3 or 4 tickets available at that price, so I pounced on Jam and he said he was ready to make plans. Of course I went for it right then and their because I'm psychotic like that! I decided on airfare first because we needed passport numbers to book with GAP. I managed to score us the good airfare deal I saw on Orbitz, $500 Newark to San Jose non-stop with Continental! It's funny that Newark is our best option for getting to Costa Rica as it's probably the farthest away for both of us. No matter though, we're ripe for adventure of all types. After I got home, I went and booked with GAP, and now we're plotting what we're going to do while we're there. The possibilites abound :D