Belize is the closest place we have traveled in a long time. Ecuador, Peru, Argentina and Chile are all far enough away that taking a full day, or even overnight, to travel there made complete sense. So, when we decided on the first international destination for our toddlers, Belize, which is SO much closer, seemed like a great choice.
Then, we looked into flights and the travel headache set in. Sure, if you are coming from the east coast of the U.S., you can make a quick morning trip, arriving into Belize before noon the same day - exactly what we had imagined. Unfortunately, coming from Montana is a completely different story! All of the flights heading from the U.S. to Belize are early morning flights. Perfect if you already live close to an international hub. Not so perfect if you have a day’s travel to get to that international hub!
Our journey began by leaving our house at 3:45am to catch an early morning flight from Missoula to Salt Lake City. The kids were actually angels for this flight - enough so that the pilot and crew invited them to come into the cockpit!
When you're 3 years old and chatty, the captain invites you into the cockpit! (Erin Correia)
We had a quick hour and a half in Salt Lake to grab food, let the kids stretch their legs and then hopped on our next flight to Atlanta.
Nothing beats donuts during a layover! (Erin Correia)
Atlanta would be our jumping off point for Belize, but not for another 19 hours, so we got a hotel with a free shuttle and a pool to relax for the night. Sadly, the pool was empty, and there were busy streets surrounding the hotel, so no place to let the kids run amok. We decided to spoil them with something they never get at home: TV!
What happens when the airport hotel drains their pool... (Erin Correia)
They spent the evening eating fast food in front of a TV before passing out for the night. The next morning, it was back to the airport for a short(ish) flight to Belize, and then another tiny little hopper flight to Ambergris Caye. All in, it took about 34 hours to get to a relatively close destination...and the journey home was just as ugly!
Jess was so helpful in talking me through some of the trip options I'd told her I was interested in, and then also bringing up similar alternatives with more flexible dates. Now that everything is booked I realize all the extra things she figured out for us as well, besides booking the transfers from and to each location, she realized that we wouldn't make it to my desired flight time on three departure date and was able to easily add another day so that even our departure day is stress free!
Wendy
2 months ago
Good candid advice and suggestions; prompt replies.
Ken Johnson
2 months ago
Thoughtful and highly responsive service.
Robert Shwab
4 months ago
The trip planner understood what we wanted to do and see, and found what we hope to be a great match for our interests and style of travel.
Karen
6 months ago
Basically everything. The transfers from lodge to lodge were all timely and smooth (even though we arrived 3 hours late!) with great drivers. The lodges and food were all top notch. The guides were excellent and very knowledgeable about local history and wildlife. Chaa lodge stands out as exceptional. I ended up with an infection leaving Chaa, but they arranged for driver to stop at doctor, and he even got us to a pharmacy for prescription and a great drive to coast.
