I took my children on their first international adventure for a week of fun in the sun in Belize! We experienced Belize from a local's stand point. We walked around the busy streets and enjoyed the local restaurants and ice cream stands. We relaxed on the beach of Xanadu Resort with lizard, iguanas and more. Most of all, we enjoyed the time we spent together as a family.
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 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!
