Belize: February 11-February 18 2009

This is part 0 of a 4 part blog about Julie and Bradford’s trip to Belize. Posts 1 and 3 will be written by Julie, while posts 2 and 4 will be written by Bradford.

Back in October 2008 I got an email from AirfareWatchdog.com (great service, I highly recommend it) alerting me to amazing prices to Belize from Salt Lake City and a handful of other airports. I quickly looked up where Belize was, saw that it was in a tropical locale and decided to ask Julie what she thought. I emailed my family and friends and called Julie. Julie can’t pass up an adventure, so we decided to go. It was such a short sale that my unimpulsive family and friends missed out; just my Julie and me. Total cost for two round trip tickets from Salt Lake City: $420.

After buying the tickets we let the trip slip into the back of our minds, the place where we put Christmas and birthdays only to be thought upon with mild excitement and anticipation until we are startled to realize they’re almost upon us.

In the months preceding the trip Julie did a lot of research on where to stay and what to do in Belize. We made the decision early (out of necessity) to make this a very low budget trip – no renting cars, taking planes or expensive tours, but using the local bus system, eating local food, and staying in quaint (ie make-Julie-grossed-out-because-it’s-so-run-down) places, and so on. Even with this in mind, I was surprised at how relatively expensive everything was. The Belize dollar is fixed at 2 Belize for 1 USD and a meal at a roadside shack would cost between 6-8 Belize (3-4USD) in Belize City. Because of Julie’s excellent research abilities we had an OK idea of where we were going to stay: Dangriga for some jungle action, Punta Gorda for some relaxation, and San Pedro on Ambergis Caye for the beach and snorkeling.

Sooner than later we realized that we had only a week to get ready and to plan. We started buying the small things we needed and collecting things to take. I started doing research on the bus system and how our daily itinerary was going to be. I found the perfect tool for doing this: tripit.com. Our itinerary can be found here to see it in action.

The night before we were to leave (very early in the morning) I packed up my backpack, set aside the Teva Wraptors that Julie and I bought months before (these were perfect), and caught an hour or so of sleep. It was about to begin!