Our incredible 2 week Costa Rica itinerary… and how we basically did it for free
We spent two weeks in Costa Rica over Christmas. Here's our detailed itinerary, overall cost, and how the trip paid for itself.
First off, we aren’t travel bloggers… we aren’t sponsored… no one is getting paid for this article and no one gave us anything for free.
… and no, we didn’t do a timeshare tour with some free vacation package…!
(though, true story, my wife and I did THREE of those in one day once in Vegas to get all our show tickets for the week paid for — Vegas during the day is hot and miserable anyway)
But for this Costa Rica trip, candidly, we paid for everything.
Let’s face it, traveling through Costa Rica for free is pretty much impossible. Unlike some places where there are endless free hikes and outdoor activities you can do (like in Utah, where I’m from), literally everything in Costa Rica has a price tag to it — everything is either a national park or someone’s private land they have laid claim to and built a park on.
And after 2 weeks we spent $3,697… (I like spreadsheets).
But before I tell you how it ended up costing $0, look at what we did!
(disclaimer: don’t judge my photos, I’m not a photographer… remember, not travel bloggers)
Day 1
We arrived, landing in Liberia. Rented a little Hyundai Accent and drove to our AirBnb — the Hobbit Cottage — in the hills above Bagaces.
Day 3
We pushed our Hyundai to its limits and drove up to the Monteverde Cloud Forest where we met a new friend.
Day 4
We left our AirBnb and drove to La Fortuna, swinging by Rio Celeste waterfall and spelunking in the awesome Venado caves along the way.
Day 5
We did a repelling and cliff jumping tour, and then spent hours at the rope swing with the locals before a quick stop at La Fortuna waterfall.
Day 7
We left La Fortuna and drove to Jaco, driving by the Del Toro and Los Gemelos waterfalls and up some insanely steep and cloudy roads.
Day 8
Went to church in Quepos and did a Mangrove tour nearby (after following our tour guide and driving into oncoming traffic on the highway and almost dying… also, PS, apparently Manuel Antonio was at “capacity” and wouldn’t let anyone in…)
Day 10
We returned our trusty rental car in Quepos and took a Cab, then Bus, then Cab, and then River Speedboat to Drake Bay.
Day 11
We kicked off our 2 day overnight tour of Corcovado, Sirena station (I have endless wildlife pictures from this, but I’ll spare you…).
Day 12
We finished at Corcovado after learning about how ants make good stitches and spent the evening exhausted in Drake Bay as New Years eve fireworks sounded over the bay.
Day 13
I threw up as we went to Cano island for snorkeling, and then explored the beaches around Drake Bay.
Day 14
We almost walked into Panama looking super touristy, but got tired, and took a River boat, then taxi, then bus, and then Uber to Alajuela where we ended with a nice parrillada and dog butt…
Day 15
Ran to the airport at 4AM because there were no Ubers and we were 100% out of colones (Costa Rica money) and flew home on our 100% at capacity American Airlines flight.
(sorry, no photos of this, I was too tired and stressed and fearing for my life to take any)
So, like I said, we wanted to have fun and didn’t want to stress over costs, so we just did whatever we wanted… and ended up spending $3,697.
So, how’d we do it for “free?”
Not as a guest… A host!
The Strategy
While you’re gone on a trip, your house is back at home waiting for you… empty… doing nothing but accruing you a higher utility bill.
So, why don’t you put your house to work while you’re gone? That’s what we do and it offsets all our travel expenses. Every… single… one…
We live in a 6 bedroom house. In our area, you can Airbnb a single bedroom for an inexpensive $40/N.
So, per night, for our 6 bed house, we can get $240 total.
We were gone 16 nights (overnight flight to Liberia) and our place was booked 100% of the time when we were gone (we’ve figured out this whole AirBnb thing).
So, we were on vacation and our house made us $3,840 — paying for our entire trip.
You might be thinking, “Ugh, I don’t want to rearrange my entire house or lock my stuff up, or worry about having people stay in my personal spaces.” We get it. We often feel that way too, so here’s what we do.
We only AirBnb half our house, but our guest half.
Of those 6 bedrooms, 3 of them are in the basement — it’s our pseudo guest suite. It’s basically a 3 bed 2 bath apartment (all our properties are the same floor plan — check out the WayBoz blog for more on that).
When we don’t want people in our personal spaces — ever — but also want to cover all the expenses for our trips, we’ll AirBnb half our house for the entire month. So, 3 rooms, for 31 days, at $40/N/room… $3,720.
The trip, again, pays for itself, and no one stays in our part of the house, ever, even when we are gone.
Obviously, you can combine both of those strategies and make even MORE money while you’re gone — it’s your call. For us, it’s our strategy we use that lets us pick up and leave whenever we want, being less concerned about money and more concerned about memories.
This is a big reason why we built WayBoz, so you can track exactly how each of your properties are financially performing and expand your business. What I shared today was simply about our personal home, but we do something very similar with all our investment properties.
Best way to see if this is right for you? Try it.
If you’re interested in becoming an AirBnb host, definitely use this link so we can help you get started — plus you’ll get a cash bonus.
And don’t forget, sign up for WayBoz today to make sure all your properties, whether it’s your personal or investment property, are performing the best they can.
Follow us on social media to stay up to speed on all we're doing. Two quick places where you should follow us are:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wayboz/
Our Blog: https://medium.com/@wayboz
