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!
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.
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!
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!
Adventure Life has been an extraordinary travel resource for us over the years and today was no exception. Our River Cruise booking was handled by Jess (who has been our personal trip planner for several years) the same day as our inquiry. Suggestions were given for cabin choice and pre-trip options (that were not shown on the cruise line's website) like airport transfers and prepaid gratuities. Trip insurance recommendations followed and we were assigned a travel co-ordinator till the end of the tour. All we have to do is show up! Great service from friendly folks.
APtravelwell
1 day ago
My representative Kevin was very responsive generally and in crafting our itinerary to our specific priorities.
Rocco Labella
1 day ago
Although there was a lot of paper work, I received help and guidance when I needed it.
Donna Kirby
2 days ago
Our travel was flawless! The rider pickup (airport, hotel, ship) was seamless. Jane's recommendation for Emerald Cruise Sakara was everything I wanted but the experience was soooo much more. Adventure Life took care of each and every detail and this was the easiest of all my travels.
Anne Petty
3 days ago
Follow up was effective any questions were answered in a timely manner