On May 17 2004 Becky and I stepped foot in our first country outside of Canada and the USA. It was our honeymoon and we were in Costa Rica. Our first few minutes in this strange new land didn’t go so well. The automatic doors of the Juan Santamaría International Airport slid open and we stepped into the humid heat of the tropics. The heat felt nice.

Rewind a few months. We decided to go to Costa Rica for the most mundane yet profound of reasons. We wanted to see a jungle. Becky had seen a “jungle treetop skywalk” brochure somewhere and decided that she wanted to walk in the jungle’s canopy. Wanting to be an agreeable husband I immediately started making arrangements for Costa Rica to be our honeymoon destination.

In the months leading up to the wedding, and of course the honeymoon, we did what most people do who are going on their first international trip: We went to the first few results on Google for “Costa Rica” and then succeeded in over preparing ourselves by looking at the travel sections of stores and magazines. We bought money belts, we got needles, we bought guidebooks, we planned who would pick us up and when. We then sat back and thought that due to our shrewd planning all would be perfect in Costa Rica. We had visions of the doors of the airport sliding open and us being ushered into a beautiful relaxed tropical world. Our hotel’s shuttle would be parked outside on a lush grassy knoll, it would be the only vehicle there. There would be birds singing and maybe some sort of tropical fruit smells wafting by.

As the airport doors closed behind us and our eyes adjusted to the outside light we were greeted by hundreds of taxi drivers behind a crowd control barrier. They were all yelling at us in broken English that they were our drive. Oh my. We immediately became 100% overwhelmed. The sliding doors were one way only. We were stuck. We couldn’t crawl back into the North America we knew. We cautiously approached the yelling drivers. We told one of the drivers closest to us that “we have a transfer arranged with our hotel”. He immediately said, along with a dozen other drivers around him, that he was the transfer that our hotel had arranged.

We didn’t know what to do. It was obvious that no one was telling us the truth. We couldn’t believe that people would be so desperate for our business. Was this all a scam? We took to canvassing the crowd looking for our arranged drive. Eventually a man in the middle of the crowd asked us in broken English what our names were. We told him. He then wrote the names on a piece of paper and showed them to us. He claimed he was our driver. All he did was correctly spell our names. Shockingly this was somehow good enough for us. We agreed to go with him. He walked away from the crowd and we sheepishly followed him.

Our driver walked into a parking garage. It seemed to be dimly lit. He led us to a mini-van like vehicle and motioned for us to get it. He spoke very little, if any, English. We spoke no Spanish – not even “yes” or “no”. Becky and I climbed into the middle seat and exchanged looks of terror. Were we with the right person? What if this was a trap?! He got in, smiled at us, and shifted into gear. There was no going back.

We pulled out of the garage and onto a highway. We thought we saw the city of San Jose opening up before us (it turned out to be behind us a fair ways). We nervously watched out the window as this new strange world passed us by. We clenched each others’ legs as we took hairpin turns with oncoming traffic in our lane. We swore we were going to die in this van on these crazy roads.

Eventually the heavily populated area was behind us and we were traveling on increasingly smaller roads leading into the country. We were supposed to be headed for a very popular spa and resort in the Arenal area of the country. We had no idea if we were headed in the right direction or not.

After an hour or so the driver looked at us in his rear-view mirror and said something that was obviously a question. Unfortunately the nature of the question was lost on us. We just shook our heads. He slowed the van down and pointed at a hut on the side of the road that had some plastic lawn chairs by it. He repeated his question. We assumed he was asking us if we wanted to stop. We said NO as clearly as we could. He smiled indicating that he understood and then proceeded to pull the van beside the hut and park. He hopped out and opened our door. We cautiously stepped out.

We had no idea where we were. Was this his friend’s house? Was this where they would leave us when they stole our money and luggage? We stood beside the van looking like two scared lost children. The driver calmly walked over to a lady by a table with a few things on it and said something that made her laugh. She then got him a coffee from another table behind her and he stood there drinking it and joking with her. We gradually began to understand that this was a roadside store. We saw a small ice cream freezer by the table and selected something from it. The lady, who was very friendly, said something incomprehensible to us and held out her hand. Having no idea what the currency exchange was we handed over a fistful of American dollars. She took them, put them in her small change tray and handed back to us an assortment of colorful bills and coins. We smiled and said thank you. We had no idea if we were just ripped off or not.

We sat in the plastic lawn chairs and whispered to each other about the strangeness of this new land. We marvelled at the new currency that we now held in our hands. It was so different. The ice cream was a brand we had never heard of before. The van was a model we had never seen. The vegetation was more lush than we’d ever imagined. We were awestruck by the differentness of it all. The driver finished his coffee and made a motion that we assumed was our queue to get back in the van.

After another hour or so on the road we pulled into our resort. Yes! It was correct one. The driver never asked to be paid so we assumed he was the correct one. As we got our bags from the driver and walked through the entrance’s automatic sliding doors a cool wave from the air conditioned lobby came over us. We re-entered the North America we knew. The staff spoke fluent English. The literature and signage was in English. The hotel resort could have been in Costa Rica or in Florida. We were shown our beautiful room and we crashed on the bed talking a million miles a minute about this different place that we were so lucky to see.

When we returned home our friends and family asked to see our pictures, hear our stories, and generally live vicariously through us. They said things like “that is the trip of a lifetime”, “You won’t be able to have that kind of experience again”. We decided then and there that our lifetime would be a series of trips. We decided to make travel a very high priority in our life.

Since that first trip in May of 2004 we’ve spent many more days, months upon months, in other countries. That simple desire to see a jungle turned into an insatiable desire to see, but more importantly, to be in the world. This desire has taken us to 15 different nations, four continents, too many cities to remember, and through many stressful travel situations. We have bathed elephants in Thailand and shared long drives with rural doctors to remote towns in Venezuela. We have had tremendous highs while traveling and equally terrifying lows. It has brought a sense of adventure and of “living” to our life.

Over these past five years of travel we have learned a lot about the practice of travelling. We have come a long way from those two wide-eyed and terrified tourists who stepped into Costa Rica in 2004. We have learned simple tips and tricks to save money. We have learned how to deal with stressful situations. We have learned how to efficiently plan, prepare for, and book a trip. More importantly than what we have learned to do is what we have learned not to do.

The travel industry is like most other industries. It’s extremely confusing, full of schemes and scammers, and is hell-bent on getting your money. In many ways the travel industry is much like the wedding industry. You are first sold a dream. This is sold through movies, magazines, tv-shows, and many other mass-media tools. Once you buy the dream (it’s free) they have you. They will then proceed on selling you all of the things that you perceive you will need to make your wedding perfect. The horse and carriage, the stringed quartet, the dress that costs a small fortune, the cakes, the photos, the whole Cinderella package. But at the end of the day when you tumble into the bed in your honeymoon suite at the best hotel in the city you are just as married as the couple who had a humble ceremony at the courthouse and then had a BBQ at their family cottage.

If you treat travel like most treat a wedding then yes, you will have a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Why? Because you won’t be able to afford to go on another trip. If you buy into the industry hook-line-and-sinker you will be sunk. You will spend far too much money and receive far too little value. Thankfully there are other options and there are travel equivalents to having a simple ceremony at the courthouse.

As we’ve gained more and more travel experience (and there are many who have much more than we do), we’ve been approached by more and more people to help them plan their trips. We’ve sat in wide eyed wonder as very intelligent friends and family type in “cheap flights” into Google expecting to find the best deals. The simple skills we have built up in planning our trips has become something that is in demand. People want to travel but they don’t know how and they are often too scared to take that first big step into the unknown.

So Becky and I have started a new venture. We’ve decided to throw our hats into the travel industry ring. We have started LearnToTravel. What is LearnToTravel? It’s a reaction to what is currently offered in the travel industry. We are going to come alongside those who want to see new countries and have new experiences but don’t want to do so from a fortress of a resort or the safety of a tour bus. We are going to help others overcome the fear of travel and do our best to show them the amazing rewards it can offer. Most importantly we are going to do our best to help people become independent travellers. Travellers who don’t need a tour company, a travel agent, or a pre-packaged trip. We are going to try and teach how to not need the travel industry.

What we’re offering:
We have developed a series of eight 3 hour courses to teach you how to plan, prepare, and book an international trip. We’ll show you everything we know about finding deals, dealing with airlines (and their stubborn points programs), staying in four star hotels for the price of a hostel, and doing just-enough research but not too much on the destination of your choice.

We don’t stop there. We are actually going to go on a trip with you. Booking, planning, and research are one thing but that first time in a new place can enhance or completely kill a person’s desire to travel. We want to come alongside you and do our best to help you overcome your fears of the unknown. As you get comfortable with your new-found freedom we’ll start stepping back. At the end of our journey together you’ll be completely in charge and on your own. Don’t worry we’ll be nearby in case you get into difficulty.

Our first course and trip combo is open for enrolment. We are starting courses in January and will travel to Costa Rica for 14 days as a small group (no less than 7 no more than 12) in late March and early April. We’ve been back to Costa Rica since our honeymoon and have spent over a month there exploring all that it has to offer.

The course fee is $2,995. This includes all accommodation, food, transport, and activities in Costa Rica. What it doesn’t include is your flight to Costa Rica. Not to worry, we’ll help you find the best possible deal. We expect to be able to get you a flight there and back for $800-$1,200.

While the course may seem pricey we’re confident in its value. The tips and tricks we’ll show you should save you back the course fee in a trip or two. In fact even if you never travel internationally again we’ll still be able to show you how to save tremendous amounts of money travelling inside Canada and the US.

If you have questions or would just like to meet us we are having an open house/information meeting on November 11 at the Queen Street Commons (224 Queen Street). There are many more details about our course and the trip at our website.