Canadian Couple Seeks Advice

[chillpill]

Hello everyone.

And wow, what a great forum … it still blows me away that there are cool little corners everywhere on the web like this.

Our story…

My wife and I are thinking about living in abroad for a time. At this time, we’re just exploring our options and aren’t sure sure if this would be 3 months at a time … or a couple years. But, we’re young and like the idea of seeing and experiencing other places beyond being just tourists.

I’ll hit the high points with some bullets …

– We’ve never been to Costa Rica. We are planning a 1-2 week trip in the next few months to kick off our research and exploration.
– We’d love to visit areas that we’d consider living in
– We own a house here in Canada, and are thinking of renting it out and relocating to Costa Rica for an unspecified amount of time
– I work as a web developer and can work anywhere there is high speed internet. I would be bringing laptop and working during our time there
– We speak fluent English and French but our Spanish sucks!

Could some of you forum members please advise where we might visit/scout around? We’ll be want to taking a holiday but also be actively scouting for a longer term commitment. This might be a tall order but here’s what we’re ideally after…

— A nice/safe area
— Clean house or condo/apartment
— Near the coast/beach
— High speed internet infrastructure
— Good public transport or walking/biking distance to shops/beach (dont want to buy a car!)
— Lower priorities are: good eating, galleries, cultural events
– A trustworthy, English speaking real estate agent that handles property rentals and isn’t going to try and milk us for being noobs 🙂

Thanks in advance for any thoughts, advice, considerations, warnings or referals you can share!

[chillpill]

I thought I’d add a one more thing to guide your replies…

1. Think of us as frugal, long-term pack-packers, with laptops 🙂 We’re looking to travel light, stay for months, be connected to the internet and live on a budget.

Thanks!

[mediatica]

Chillpill (like your screen name). My name is Becky Clower, I am the recommended Realtor in the Guanacaste area of Conchal/Flamingo/Tamarindo. We also handle property management for short and long-term rentals. I can offer you some options to see if our area is a fit for you and your family. You can email me privately at: rebecca@welovecostarica.com

[jamesgoshen4]

For the frugal explorer you should extend you vacation for two weeks and visit the areas on the Pacific. The places would include Playa Samara, Montezuma, Jaco & Dominical. From North to South. You should rent a car to explore this area. The last post for northern Guanacaste is not for the frugal visitor. The Caribbean side is also very nice & affordable and you can extend your vacation to Panama and visit Boca del Toro. Very nice area safe/cheap. Take the bus from San Jose to Puerto Viejo to visit these beaches and then the bus to Sixaola. Make sure you get to Bocas by taking the one hour boat ride from Changinola. Great experience. You can visit both coast in two weeks but you won’t be able to spend a lot of time in each place but you will see both coasts. There are dramatic differences at both areas.

[mediatica]

James, I have to disagree that there are not places for the ‘frugal’ visitor. Northern Guanacaste has backpacker establishments from $10 per night to 5 star resorts from $300 per night, so you can’t there is nothing for a visitor wanting to spend less. You just need to know where to look. I would recommend visiting Samara and Dominical as well–both great spots.

[terrycook]

Hi Terry From Texas. I traveled two times for 3 months each time in the past 3 years. I indeed traveled very very inexpensively. I Never paid over $15.00 per night and on the Carribian side stayed in a wonderful “bungalo 1 bedroom,living room Kitchen bath…very clean and nice for $150.00 month…1 block to the beach and the state park. I traveled by bus everywhere and never had a problem….I did do some research on the computer before going. I checked out some of the places I wanted to go and then looked up inexpensive places to stay….I virtually have done a huge coverage of C.R. and did it very very cheap….and safe. Same with food…local bars and smaller places have good food and not the fancy hotel or big prices.
good luck
terry

[chillpill]

Hi Terry, thanks for that. Could you please recommend any establishments by name that you stayed at?

[chillpill]

Becky I dropped you an email. Maybe check your spam filter. chillo – at – gmail.com

Cheers.

[chillpill]

Thanks for your input James. I think we might want to take it a slow and spend time mostly in one spot to really get a feel for it. Hopefully with the kind of feedback we are getting from you kind folks, we’ll have our “stay and scout” locations narrowed down to one or two areas by the time we are ready to make the trip. Cheers!

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