Hopefully, you’re getting excited about the Belize Birthday Bash/Journaling Retreat coming up!

If you haven’t already read my FIRST BLOG REGARDING OUR BELIZE TRIP, please do so here:

http://trawblogs-belize-it.

Now, first and foremost, about your traveling info…

You haven’t gotten your ticket yet? What are you waiting for? Here’s some tidbits of helpful information if you’re still at that juncture of your planning.

Right away, you must book your flight! For the best flight prices, check out Cheap Tickets http://cheaptickets.com. Hopper is a great app to download to your phone for cheap fares as well. After you sign up and enter your destination, Hopper will ding you anytime it finds cheaper rates among all the airlines for your destination so you can keep comparing prices until you’re ready to book the flight. Also, what has helped me find cheaper rates is to piece together my itinerary. For instance, I booked a one-way ticket from Las Vegas to Belize, then a one-way ticket back home. Don’t ask me why but it’s worked in my favor twice for me now.

Second most importantly, make sure you have a valid passport. That’s all that is needed—no Visa. If you haven’t used your passport in a while, doublecheck the date to make sure it’s not expired. It would be horrible to discover at the last minute that your passport is no good. Processing time to get a new one varies tremendously.

 All US flights into Belize come into Belize city (BZE), Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport. Once you arrive at BZE (9 miles north of the city), we will all head to the island of Ambergris Caye (pronounced am-BER-gris kee) together via flight (in a puddle jumper plane) or water taxi. That is where we will spend the majority, if not all, of our time—there in the town of San Pedro.

The island of Ambergris Caye, and its town of San Pedro, are 35 miles northeast of Belize City. The island is 25 miles long and only 4.5 miles at its widest point. It is considered the “Queen of the Cayes.” So that should tell you there is lots to do there.

My preference is to get there by way of water taxi, but I still need to weigh all the options of cost and convenience. Either way, ideally, if everyone can arrive on Thurs June 20^th, somewhere between 10am and 4pm, we can all travel to the island together—unless, of course, you are okay with going on your own to the destination on the island. Once I get a solid headcount, I can start sending you more succinct information about getting to our final destination in San Pedro.

 If your flight gets in early in the day (around 10am ish) and you want to wait around for the later folks to arrive from the US around 4pm, there are day tours to the ruins and other points of interest there near Belize City we can have set up through my local contact there. Again, once it gets closer to that day and I have a better headcount, I’ll share some adventure options.

 The two options for getting to Ambergris Caye…           

• Fly Tropic Air or Maya Air (in country puddle jumpers).
  1. You can board them from right inside the international airport
     1. Flight time: approx. 20 minutes
     2. Fare/person: approx. $65 there and $125 return.
  2. You can travel about a mile north of the city center to the Belize City municipal airport and take those two domestic flights from there.
     1. Flight time: approx. 20 minutes
     2. Fare: $37.50 there and $72.50 return (10% to 40% cheaper than the flights at the international airport). Plus, don’t forget to factor in a fixed fare taxi cost of $25 each way between the international and the municipal airport.

• Travel on a fast ferry-type boat that holds 50 to 100 people. Six to seven trips per day.
  1. San Pedro Belize Express boats depart from a nearby Brown Sugar dock at 111 North Front Street near the Tourism Village.
     1. Travel time: 75-90 mins (with a drop off at one of the other islands)
     2. Fare: $27.50 roundtrip. Plus, don’t forget to factor in a $30 taxi ride to the water taxi terminal.

Closer to the date, I’ll take a poll on this travel biz between Belize and the island. No need to fret over it right now. Whew, it can certainly have your head spinning if you’re not careful.

Next, your sleeping accommodations…

Accommodations are very inexpensive there around in Belize. San Pedro is much the same price-wise but slightly more when it comes to food because of everything having to be shipped there to the island.

I have an AirBNB secured already. It sleeps 4 and I believe at this point is full. I am in the process of securing a second unit by that same AirBNB property owner, so have no fear, there’s still room for you!
The cost is approx $200/person for the entire four days. Whoohoo! Can’t beat that! Here’s a photo of the unit that is already full. The other location should be similar.

Finally, just some fun stuff for you to know about!

The best sources of information, regarding the island where we will be staying, are online. Here are three that will give you plenty of insight.

1) The number one source with thousands of pages of info on San Pedro is http://www.ambergriscaye.com.

2) You can also check out American expat, Rebecca Coutant’s blog, The San Pedro Scoop (http://sanpedroscoop.com)  I enjoyed this particular blog of hers because it gives you a handy map of the area as well: https://www.sanpedroscoop.com/2015/05/map-of-san-pedro-walking-panades.html

3) This link gives plenty of Belizean things to do for the more adventurist type. https://www.belizeadventure.ca/things-to-do-in-san-pedro-ambergris-caye/

Writefully yours,

Terri, aka t-RAW

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