Cutting our month budget from $6,000/month to $1,750 was totally easy - we have officially made it a month in paradise! To be completely honest with you, it wasn't very hard to live in paradise. I know - poor us. If you missed our story of why/how we moved here check outthis articleto read all about it!

In our first month we managed to buy a car, eat delicious local foods, visit the local beaches, explore the beautiful waterfalls, record memories otherwise not possible, start a healthy diet, start a workout routine, absorb the vast beauty and glory ofla pura vida, and even help the vet at the sanctuary cut out an eyeball of a sloth who had been hit by a car (don't worry, he is healing quite well)! We had a projected budget of $1,750/month while we are here. This includes all utilities, rent, transportation, food, activities, among anything else we need to live. October was our first full month in Costa Rica, so we had to buy a few things extra to get settled in. That being said, we still managed to stick around our budget, and only spent $1,767 for everything! What a contrast compared to our $6,000/month budget we had in the United States.to download a complete breakdown of all expenses for October, 2016.

Our NUMBER ONE most-asked question always has to do with the costs of living in Costa Rica, and it's a totally difficult question to answer, because everyone has different expectations of what they want while living here. I would say our budget of $1,750/month is on the lower-end of the spectrum for two adults and a baby, but we had a complete blast this past month, and didn't have to "skimp" on anything!

What is Expensive in Costa Rica (and totally not worth buying)?

This past month has shown us that in order to live within our budget, we needed to find what is necessary, and "worth" the money. I have found that in Costa Rica, stuff is either REALLY cheap, or REALLY expensive.

You should definitely avoid (unless completely necessary) anything with an American brand on it. There are high import taxes, which reflects high prices. Abox of cerealcan go for about $8 at the local grocery store. A small Herbal Essencesshampoobottle will run you around $7.Frozen foodswill be astronomical in comparison to what you can buy in the states. Thered meathere is a bit over-priced, and not very good. Even an 8-ounce can ofdiced tomatoeswill run about $4. Want to makespaghetti? Don't buy the sauce from a jar, because it will run you at least $7 for a sub par jar of sauce. There are canned sauces that are totally reasonable! Tomatoes are a bit pricey, but totally necessary.Cheeseis very expensive too, so be conservative!

What is Inexpensive in Costa Rica (and totally worth buying)?

My best advice - live like the locals do! Buy food that is produced in the country; your health and your wallet will thank you a lot for it!

Anything that can be grown in Costa Rica is totally dirt cheap, and so much more delicious than what you can buy in the states.Bananaswill only put you back about $0.05 each. The most deliciouspineappleyou have taste will run about $1.20. Pre-seasoned  bonelesschickenonly costs about $2/pound.Rice, beans, and chickenare our go-to meal. We make an awesome plate with all the food we could month that costs about $1.17 per plate. Wow! All thefruitsare very well-priced (EXCEPT GRAPES! DEFINITELY DON'T BUY GRAPES!). Thecoffeeis some of the best you will have in the whole world, and priced very well.

Here are a few pictures of what we have been able to do in this totally eventful October (with only $1,750 to spend)!

This is PART 2 of 2.Click hereto read Part 1.

It's official - we finally purchased our first car in Costa Rica; look out for us as we cruise through the jungle in our 1988 Suzuki Samarai. Buying a car here in Costa Rica is quite the trip - especially if you haven't ever done it before. We tried to buy a car before we lived here, but I seriously do not recommend that for a couple reasons...

-It's nearly impossible to send money to Costa Rica. My cousin, Kelli, already lived in Uvita before we moved here. The plan was to send her $3,000 to buy a car, and she would be able to drive it until we got here. I went down to Westen Union to send it, which I did and it was confirmed. Kelli went to the Western Union in Uvita to claim her prize, only to find out that there was a hold on the money until further documents were acquired. They needed a receipt (for the car we haven't bought yet), and they needed a bank statement from me showing that I withdrew the money. Not only that, there was a limit of $2,000 per person per month. I tried to get these documents to Western Union only to find out that they have to be submitted in person... In San Jose. Wait..... What?! Needless to say, I had WU send my money back and retrieved it before we left.

-Cars here are old, and have problems! Tires, brakes, shocks, engines, leaky roofs, funny noises. All cars have problems here - which is completely understandable seeing the roads that these cars drive on. It's very important to check out the car in person.

When moving to Costa Rica, we had a couple cars lined up to look at. Checked out the first one (the one I thought we would buy), but it was an absolute turd. Needed all sorts of work, and needed to pass the ever-so-strict state inspection this money. No thanks! I posted on the local Uvita Facebook page what I was looking for: an older "Samarai-style" vehicle for around $3,500 (which doesn't buy you much here in CR).

We had a few people contact us with some cars, and I decided to look at a 1988 Suzuki Samarai being sold by a Tico here (who spoke zero English). Talk about a language barrier! I somehow stumbled through our conversations about the vehicle, and was able to ask the questions I needed to ask. It's 4x4, has seat belts, new tires, inspection is good. Let's make a deal! I gave him an offer of $2,800 for it, and he said he could take $2,900. We have a deal.

In Costa Rica, you must use a lawyer to transfer the title of the vehicle at the time of sale. We set up an appointment withKristel at Uvita

Law Firm. She is very well-recommended in Uvita, and is the same person my mom used for the legal paperwork when buying her house in Ojochal. The cost of the lawyer fee was $200 for this car. This includes state taxes, and the paperwork required. Both conference rooms were occupied, so we had to do all of our paperwork on the couch - which was quite entertaining.

After we signed our paperwork, she explained she would get the title in and call us when it has arrived. You keep the same license plates in Costa Rica - they will just be transferred to your name.Keep in mind: The last number of the license plate determines what month you need to have your car taken to San Jose to pass Riteve. Ours has a 1, so that means we will need to renew Riteve in January. Every year in December, you need to go to a Banco de Costa Rica, and pay your taxes on your car. Ours is under $200 per year, so it's no big deal.

We now have transportation! We took an amazing trip to theUvita Waterfall, and a trip to Dominical beach (which is about 18km away). Our car runs great for being 30 years old, and gives us the true "Jungle feel". Funny story - we were driving for the first time down the main highway through Costa Rica, and I was trying to make sure everything worked. As I was explaining to Trinaty what the 4x4 shift column was for I pulled straight up on it (oops). The whole entire column came out as we were going about 50 mph. We could see the road straight through the car. It was quite an experience...

Let us know if you have any questions regarding buying a car! We would be more than happy to help you out with it.

It's time for us to start exploring this beautiful country around us, and that's going to be the most exciting part! I took a relaxing walk to the local Uvita Waterfall, which is very close to town for how beautiful it is.

Directions (especially if your Spanish is less-than-equivelant to that of a kindergartener) are incredibly hard to follow around these parts of Costa Rica. This is mainly because the streets don't really have names, you're just supposed to know your way around town. Our landlord where we stay here in Uvita, is from the US, so his directions are about as good as it gets. It was about like this...

Ah, the Uvita waterfall is beautiful, and it's so close. Just take a left out of our driveway, which will lead you to a dead end. Once you get there take a right. You'll go down a steep slope, and hit another dead end. Take a left. Keep going until you pass the cemetery, then eventually you'll see a fork in the road that looks like it leads to a waterfall; hang a left. Climb up the hill and you'll run into the entrance. You can't miss it.

Ok great! Now I have some solid directions to use to get me here. No distances, but at least I have landmarks, and I think I can find the fork that "looks" like it leads to a waterfall. Luckily, it was actually quite a bit easier to get to than I thought.Keep in mind: You WILL be charged 1,000 Colones ($2.00) to enter the waterfall "SIN EXCEPCIONES", or "WITHOUT EXCEPTIONS". Even if you walked all the way there, and just forgot your wallet at home... Yes, I did that today... So bring 1,000 Colones per person that's going!

If you're walking, it will take 19 minutes (yes, I timed it) to get to the waterfall from the BM in town. It's not a difficult walk, but would be a tough walk for smaller kids. Highly NOT recommended to bring strollers, or any heavy baggage with you, there are a couple steep hills when getting there. The stairs down to the waterfall are a bit hazardous for elderly, or very young children. Driving would be about eight minutes to get there.

Directions!(see pictures below to follow along with directions)

-There are two BCRs (Banco de Costa Rica) in Uvita - a North BCR and a South BCR. You'll need to find the North BCR which is right by the North BM (also two of those in Uvita).

-The North BCR is across the street from Gollo. If you go during business hours, the will more-than-likely be blasting loud music from Gollo. Go down that street (away from the coast). You'll just keep going down this street.

-On your right, you'll see Repuestos Uvita. If you see this, you know you're going the right way. Keep going, and you will come across the cemetery on the right as well. Once you get here, you're getting close to the fork in the road.

-You'll see a fork in the road with signs in the middle; some may be covered by the trees (again, see picture). At this fork, you will take a left.

-The road will get a little more steep at this point, and you're about half way to the waterfall. Keep going, and you'll see on the left side a bright blue building; this is one of the city's "water towers", as we call it in the US.

-Shortly after this, you will see a worn out large cube of concrete on the right side. Hard to tell, but it says "Parking for Waterfall". If you drove, you'll pull your car off of the road here (not really parking), and walk the rest of the way. Parking is free, but there aren't many spots available.

-Keep walking up the road, and there will be a big sign that says "Entrance". It also doubles as a Restaurant, so you can eat here if you would like. You MUST pay 1,000 Colones ($2.00) per person to enter.Don't forget like I did!

-You made it - now enjoy the beautiful Uvita Waterfall.

-When going down the stairs, there will be a fork in the stairs. going to the left leads you to the main waterfall, but it a bit harder of a trek. Going to the right leads you to a very nice sitting area, and a pool that's more-than-deep enough to jump into from the rocks!

*By the way - depending on when you go there may be (ok there probably will be) a few dogs in front of the houses. If you're walking, don't worry. Most of them are very nice, even if they bark. However, there was one dog that nipped at my legs a few times, so be a little cautious. It's quite a beautiful walk up there.

Enjoy!

This is Part Two of two. If you would like to first read part one,click here.

I had previously written about how to get a phone in Costa Rica without actually have done. Everything went pretty smoothly, but there are a few things to note when you're getting your phone once you land in.

The Kolbi (owned by the government-run ICE) kiosk is conveniently located right next to the baggage claim kiosks, which makes it very easy to get it all done at once. We didn't get to the baggage claim until 9:30 PM or so; after a full day of traveling, we definitely didn't want to have to figure out how to get our phones working. However, we were pleasantly surprised at the ease of getting Costa Rican phone numbers (nothing like AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, etc.).

Typically, the customer service reps will speak English very well. This is nice, because a language barrier when trying to set up a phone would be no fun! When you go up to the kiosk, just tell them you need a SIM card for however many phones you will need. They will ask you if your phone is already unlocked; hopefully you have already done this.See Part One for an explanation of this. iPhones have a different-sized SIM card than other phones, but they already have both sizes available at the Kiosk - they will know what to do.

Keep in mind: The Kolbi kiosk accepts credit cards for the minutes and data; however, you must pay cash for the SIM cards. The SIM cards cost 2 USD each. Not much of a cost, but wouldn't be fun if you had no cash on you yet.

The rep will then explain to you the different options available. Below is a chart for the data. Below that are the best options for traveling short-term vs. long-term (month or more). I'll explain the chart in English, because it looks a little complicated!

Short-term: If you're on vacation, the best thing to do is just buy a package of minutes, messages, and data. The minutes and text messages use the same credits; however, data runs off of available GB rather than credits. The chart above shows the available options you have. The Time column is a suggestion of how much data you will need for that amount of time.Keep in mind: The packages that have an amount of data in the Social Data column means that you are able to use WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, and they are capped by the data it shows. If you need to use Snapchat, Pinterest, and Twitter, you MUST use a "Plus" plan.

For example: If you're on vacation for a week in Costa Rica, and plan on using Facebook, and WhatsApp, but don't need Snapchat, Twitter, or Pinterest, then the best package for you would still be the En Todas Plus 10 package. This has enough data for 10 days, and gives you access to all Social Media. The reason you would choose this one, is because the next -lowest package only has enough data for 5 days. Better to have too much than too little. The prices aren't that much different, anyway. The En Todas Plus 5 package costs (roughly) $2.60. The En Todas Plus 10 package costs (roughly) $5.00. Yes, it's cheap here!

If you're only here for a week, then you don't really need to buy minutes or texting, because you can just use WhatsApp, and call/text people for free (using your data). However, if you would like to have minutes to make yourself feel better - feel free to do so! You can just buy $5 of minutes, and you will have PLENTY to last you for a couple weeks (unless you are doing a lot of international calling).

If you get the En Todas Plus 10 package, with $5 in minutes/texting and a SIM cardit will cost you a total of roughly $12. Not too bad for a full week of data and minutes! Do not buy more minutes and texting expecting to use them on a future trip - they EXPIRE after four months.

KEEP YOUR ORIGINAL SIM CARD!!!! (See below).

Long-term: If you're coming for a month or longer, than it would be better to just go with the "Mes" package. This is an all-inclusive package, that comes with 2GB of data. This is the best package to start with, because it includes all Social Medias that you'll be able to use - the "non" plus packages do not include all of the Social Medias. The "Mes" package costs about $18, but will be plenty to last you throughout the month. If after a month you decide this is too much data for you, you can always back it down. Again, better to have too much than too little.

You also must buy minutes/texting. For the most part (hopefully), you'll be using WhatsApp to text/call as most Costa Ricans do. If you're here for an extended period of time, you should still have minutes/texting. We bought $10 of minutes/texting each, and this should last us far more than a month.Keep in mind: Minutes and texting expire after FOUR months, so do not buy minutes expecting to use them for a future trip, for stock up for the whole year.

If you get the "Mes" package, $10 of minutes/data, and a SIM cardit will cost you a total of roughly $30. Should be quite a bit cheaper than your plan in the US!

Whether you are in Costa Rica for a week, or a year make sure you KEEP YOUR ORIGINAL SIM CARD!!! This is very important, because it will be a huge pain to get a replacement once you leave Costa Rica. The representative at the Kolbi kiosk will more-than-likely tape your old SIM card on the back of the green Kolbi card he gives you. On this green card he will also write down your Costa Rican number. (See pictures).

Once you have gotten your numbers and cards, and you go over the prices, the Kolbi rep. will insert the new SIM card for you. He will ask you to type in your password a couple of times. He will make sure the service works, and you will be good to go. Instead of "AT&T" (or whatever service you had) in the top left corner, it will now say "Kolbi ICE".

Keep in mind: There is a PIN on the back of the green Kolbi card. If you restart your phone, it will sometimes say the SIM card is locked, and you need a PIN to unlock it. The PIN on the back of the card is what you need to unlock the SIM card. This card is important for three reasons: It has your new phone number written on it, it has your original SIM card on the back, and it has your PIN on the back.

You're all set with a new Costa Rican number. It feels so cool and weird at the same time!

I'm sitting on the third story of the Hampton Inn and Suites looking out the window at San Jose, Costa Rica - and it feels so surreal. Yesterday was our big moving day to Costa Rica, and we are so glad for it to be over. Our journey began at 8:00 AM tying the finalize loose ends in our dinky town of San Angelo, Texas. We hopped on a 45-minute flight to Dallas, which was a cinch (even with a five-month-old).

Once we got to Dallas we had to fit eight suitcases, plus a carseat and stroller (plus three adults) in my cousin's subcompact Subaru Crosstrek. I don't know how we managed, but we decided it had something to do with us being masters of Tetris when we were younger. I typed "Love Field, Dallas" in my maps app on the phone and we left DFW to get there as quickly as we could (we only had two hours to get to Love Field, check in, and make our flight). We are only 2.8 miles away when I realize that my phone was directing us to the Love Field neighborhood, not Love Field Airport... Damnit! A few U-turns later, some great meneuvering in the sporty subcompact, and we were off to find the airport. We hopped into the Southwest check-in line that (luckily), had no line. We checked in four bags, and carried the rest on board. Can you believe with Southwest we could bring all of our luggage (see picture aside) to Costa Rica at NO extra charge? Hell yeah!

We made our flight with minutes to spare! So we hopped on our second flight of the day to Houston. Jude was great this whole time. Hasn't cried yet! In Houston we have a three-hour layover, which gave us plenty of time to eat, have a few drinks.

Last last last-minute checklist:

It was at this point I called AT&T to cancel our cell service, called all the credit cards to let them know of a travel notice to Costa Rica. Most of them only let you go three or six months, so you'll have to remember to call every few months to extend the travel notice. Call anyone you need to wish them bye-bye!

It was at this point where we hit our first snag. Ten minutes before we boarded, we were summoned to the front desk. They questioned us multiple times as to why we only had a one-way ticket. There was a gentleman beside us, who also had a one-way ticket to Costa Rica. He told us the first time he moved to Costa Rica, he was sent back to the United States while going through customs. It'sveryimportant to have a (refundable) return flight that has a date within three months. Customs may not always ask to see proof of this, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

We had ten minutes to open up the Macbook, quickly find a flight for our "return" trip (December 2nd sounded nice to me), and book it. I found a return flight for all three of us for a mere $1,500. Better remember to cancel that one tomorrow! We booked our ticket, showed the ticket counter, and they notated it on our itinerary with only couple minutes to spare.

Our third leg of the flight, which also happened to be the longest leg of the flight, was our finally test. Jude has had a long day, but was doing great so far. It may be all the noises and new objects to keep him distracted - who knows. Lucky for us, [it seemed as if] there were almost as many children as adults on this flight.

Jude did great on the flight though, which everyone around us kindly thanked us for.

After landing you'll exit off the plane just as if you would do in America.Keep in mind- on international flights, once they close the door after everyone exits they are NOT allowed to let you back on, or bring anything out to you. So make SURE you have everything when you leave. I made this mistake the hard way - last time we visited Costa Rica I left my wallet (with $1,000 cash and all my credit cards) on the plane. Before I realized I did this, it was too late. The maintenance crew was kind enough to turn it in to the lost and found, but I guess they decided they deserved a tip, because there was no cash in the wallet when I got it back. Nice!

You'll go down a long hallway and run into the (usually) very very very very long customs line. Sometimes there will be entertainment for you, but either way - it's a long line. All the way to the left will be the short line for residents of Costa Rica. Here is one of the only benefits to traveling with children: If you have a baby, they grab you as you enter the line, and bring you to the very front. You get to skip the entire line. Woo! Almost felt a bit embarrassed; but at least we were spared a few hours, as it was already 8:30 PM or so.

Excuse the blurry, awkwardly-angled photo, but I had to sneak a photo of part of the customs line.

Keep in mind: No phones or cameras are allowed to be out. Costa Rican officials are not afraid, and WILL take them away from you if you take them out in this line. So be careful. Seriously.

Once you get to an official after the long wait, then you'll be asked to produce your custom forms and passports. Some speak English, and some don't. It's pretty straight-forward though: they'll ask how long you're staying, and probably ask what your final destination is. This is where you get that cool stamp on your passport! You'll be given a 90-day visa (for American passports), and you'll be on your way. After this, you'll go straight to baggage claim.

Baggage claim in Costa Rica is quite a bit easier than it is in the USA. Usually by the time you get to baggage claim your bags will already be there - even if you get to skip the line. Don't be alarmed - it's very customary for men to pull the bags off the baggage carousel and place them in a line next to the carousel. If your bags aren't on the carousel, check all the bags to the sides of the carousel. You can see this in the picture I took of the baggage claim area.

In the same area, you will see a Currency Exchange counter.Keep in mind: DO NOT USE THIS!!! Your exchange rate will be terrible. Horrible. Just wait until you can go to a bank, or even at your hotel. The hotels give a great exchange rate. Don't worry about not having money, because most places accept USD or at least credit cards. Hopefully you put a travel notice on  your card!

To the right of the Exchange Counter, you will see another desk that says Kolbi, or ICE. This is the desk you'll go to if you want to get your SIM card for your phone to work in Costa Rica. To read more about this process, read my other post about getting a phone in Costa Rica byclicking here.

Once you get your bags, you'll be pleasantly surprised to find that the baggage carts or "Smarte Carts" in USA are free! The exit for the San Jose airport has recently been remodeled, which makes it a whole lot easier for you as a traveler. As you exit you'll be astonished to see how many taxi drivers are there. If you've ever travelled to Mexico, it should be pretty similar. You'll be asked a hundred times if you need help, or if you need a taxi. Just say no to everyone. Hopefully you have a rental car, or a shuttle already set up.

We stay at Hampton Inn & Suites, which I HIGHLY recommend. The hotel is a two-minute drive from the airport, but they still have complimentary shuttles that come by the airport every 15 minutes or so to bring you to the hotel. We weren't ready for pick up until around 9:00 PM, so we had to call the hotel to have them come pick us up. It's customary to tip the shuttle or cab drivers $1-$2 per bag.

What are we doing?! Only three days (actually two days, 20 hours, and eight minutes) until we board our one-way flight to Costa Rica! It's time to get those last-minute items checked off the list before we leave!

Documents:

Documents are one of the more vital categories of things to remember before you leave, because once you're out of the country you can't get official copies of any documents from the US. Be extremely careful with your important documents, and never put them in your checked-in bags on the flight.

Click on the checklist below to download a .pdf for you to use for each member in your family!

Carrying this around keeps us on our toes - that's for sure!

Clothes:

Remember when going to Costa Rica, you DO NOT need to bring warm clothing. Don't waste precious space in your bag with sweatshirts, jeans, jackets, etc. One pair of jeans and a long-sleeve will suffice if you are overly cautious. The weather is amazing here, and rarely gets to the point to where you will need to keep warm. Leave the nice jewelry, watches, and expensive clothing behind. That's not something you want to have to worry about in Costa Rica. Plus, it just makes you look like even more of a gringo than you already are!

I recommend bringing plastic bags along. Things get very wet in Costa Rica. It's nice to be able to put clothing or muddy shoes in plastic bags in case there is no time to dry out your items before having to move them.

Click on the checklist below to download a .pdf for you to use for each member in your family!

Miscellaneous:

Just keep in mind - for the most part, even if you forget something in Costa Rica, you'll still be able to buy it there. Anything that needs to be imported (ie. American brands), is going to be about twice as much as you would pay here in the United States. You really don't need that much to live happily in Costa Rica. We are moving our family of three to Costa Rica, and are only bringing four suitcases, two backpacks, a pack-and-play, a diaper bag, and a camera bag. Woo! Remember, it is very tough to get stuff mailed to Costa Rica - it can take weeks to just get a letter mailed to you (if it gets there). If you forget anything important, you probably have some family coming to visit you eventually, and hopefully they will be kind enough to bring what you forgot. If moving, bring what you would normally need to live for a week or two. This will give you enough time to go to the store, and buy necessary living supplies.

On a side note: Jude is finally (trying) to sit up by himself!

Our little family is now eight (EIGHT) days away from uprooting our life and moving to Uvita, Costa Rica - we are so excited! We now (I think) have our itinerary set in stone for our travels on the fifth of October. We have made this trip twice before; both of which we have made costly mistakes. Hopefully this time goes quite a bit smoother. We depart out of our little West Texas town of San Angelo, and somehow end up in Uvita, Costa Rica (see map). By the way, if you want to justto see a table of our itinerary, and costs - feel free!

Booking the flights:

San Angelo has a small, two-gate regional airport that only flies directly to Dallas (DFW) on American Airlines. The nearest major airports to us are Austin (three-hour drive), San Antonio (three-hour drive), and Dallas (four-hour drive). The first time I flew to Costa Rica, I drove all the way to Houston (seven-hour drive) just to get a flight that was $100 cheaper... Yeah, that wasn't my brightest moment. I booked our flight as fast as we could, because Southwest was having a super-sale on flights. We snagged up two tickets (Jude is sitting in our laps) for $148 each ticket! All the way to Costa Rica for only $148. Keep in mind, all of these prices are for one-way tickets. We depart Love Field airport in Dallas, and land in Houston. Then from Houston we fly to San Jose, Costa Rica. After booking these flights, I realized that my parents were going to be out of town this day, and I was relying on my dad to drive us to the airport in Dallas. Crud. Ok, so I then made the decision to buy a ticket from San Angelo to Dallas, which was actually a lot cheaper than I thought it would be. We paid $240 for both of our tickets to Dallas. There was also a sucker-ad for $100 off of the flight if I applied for an American Airlines credit card, which I did. With the credit card we also get two free checked bags - sweet! We fly from here straight to DFW airport, then hop on our plane to Houston, with only a two-hour layover in Dallas! I'm going to guess fewer than one percent of those reading this caught that... We depart for Houston from Love Field airport, but land from San Angelo in DFW. With only two hours in between. This is going to be a trip to say the least. We have to land in DFW, get our baggage from baggage claim, drive to the other airport in Dallas, check in (again), and find our gate in just over two hours. Rookie move!

Luggage Fees:

When packing for our big move, the amount of luggage we could bring was very crucial. We wanted to bring enough so we aren't struggling when we get there, but we didn't want to bring too much to where it's not worth the luggage fees. We have a five-month-old baby, so with most airlines, we get the stroller (and carseat), and a diaper bag checked at the gate for free, so that helps. We ended up deciding on bringing four suitcases (one for Trinaty, one for me, one for Jude, and one misc.), Jude's pack-and-play, the stroller, the carseat, a diaper bag, and two backpacks... Our whole life now consists of nine checked-in or carried-on items. For American airlines we have the Elite credit card, so two bags are paid for. We will end up paying for three bags which comes out to $85 (assuming they are under 50 pounds). For southwest, we also have their credit card. Southwest pays two bags per person (even without the credit card), so we only have to pay for one additional bag, which is actually quite a big cost  - $75. We are bringing all nine items (plus Jude) for a grand total of $165. Not bad! We also have to pay a tax on our lap baby (only for international flights) of 10% of the adult ticket price, which came out to be about $16.

San Jose Airport Briefing:

For those who have never been to Costa Rica, it's a bit daunting the first time. It's so surreal, almost like being in a movie. You'll get off the plane, just as you would in the US, then you'll walk up to the customs line. Depending on when you arrive, the line can be anywhere from a half-hour wait, to two hours or even longer. So make sure you prepare for this wait time! We got incredibly lucky, because we got to skip the whole line because we have a baby! Yay Jude! There will be a currency exchange in baggage claim - DO NOT USE THIS. It's horrible exchange rate, and totally not worth it. At the time we went, the exchange rate was 533 Costa Rican Colones per USD. The first time, I used the airport currency exchange, and only got a 430 Colones per dollar exchange rate. Horrible! The best place to exchange currency is at a bank, or hotel. The hotels give great exchange rates! You'll then get your bags (if this applies) from the baggage carousels (which was WAY faster than the baggage claim in the US). There are free baggage carts lingering about the terminal that you can use. Some people will ask to help you. They will do this for free, but are expecting a tip for the service. As you walk out of the airport... be prepared! You'll run into a mob of (what seems like) a thousand taxi drivers. My advice to you- make arrangements for your transportation before you land. It's very common to get "gringo prices" with the taxi drivers. If we fly in late, and need to stay the night in San Jose we always stay at The Hampton Inn. It's incredibly clean, has very nice staff, and is only two minutes from the airport. Hampton Inn (as well as some other hotels) have a free shuttle that comes in front of the airport every ten minutes or so. This makes life easy, trust me! You just hop on the shuttle, and they drop you off at the hotel. That's it. In the same parking lot as Hampton Inn, there is a great little restaurant, and for the more-courageous, there is a casino.

Getting to the final destination:

It's not often that you will travel to Costa Rica, and stay in San Jose the whole time, so you'll definitely need to set up transportation to get out of San Jose (unless you rent a car from the airport [good luck driving in San Jose!]). We will usually take a hopper flight (see the

picture of our plane) from San Jose to Quepos, which us about a 30-minute flight on the most terrifying plane you'll every go on. Or maybe that's just me... Go to theSansa websiteto see the nearest city to your final destination. The prices are actually pretty reasonable - you can fly for about $72 per person including your luggage. This time around, we have opted to take a shuttle to our finally destination, because we will not be renting a car, and the shuttle will drop us off in front of our rental house. Public transportation is incredibly reasonable in Costa Rica. You can get across the whole country on $20 if you wanted to. This time we are going to useInterbus shuttles,because they will pick us up from the hotel, and drop os off at our house in Uvita. We paid $164 for the whole trip (about a four hour drive) for all three of us on a private shuttle. Super great service already - we have even texted back and forth with our shuttle driver using WhatsApp! There are plenty of shuttle services that are less expensive than what we are doing, but you will just have others on the shuttle with you, and make a few more stops.

Wish us luck on our trip there! Below is a table that shows our trip schedule alone with the costs. You'll see that traveling to Costa Rica is NOT all that expensive. All three of us can get all the way to Uvita for only $893 (one way).

This is Part One out of two. If you want to go to part two,click here.

We had a few options when it came to our phones going to Costa Rica, but we chose to spoil ourselves. We all know that using our US phones out of the US is not a very financially-wise decision. Those roaming charges add up quickly!

If you're just going on a vacation to Costa Rica all you have to do is turn off your data, and cellular service. We have iPhones, so we just put our phones in airplane mode. It's very crucial to also go to your settings and turn off your Cellular Data. We made this mistake the first time... Oooooooooops!

The first time we went, we used a free app called Viber, and it worked great! From your wifi you can text, or even call anyone you want in any country. Just make sure the person who you are trying to contact also has the app downloaded and has an account created. Viber was great for contacting your family, but we came to realize that almost everyone in Costa Rica uses WhatsApp to communicate. WhatsApp is very similar, but much more widely used throughout the country. If you're going to try to contact anyone in Costa Rica, you can almost bet that they have a WhatsApp account. It's free, and has far fewer ads than Viber. It's pretty astonishing to be able to call someone in another country completely free!

Some will know by now that my cousin, Kelli, already lives in Uvita; she gets to make all of the mistakes and tell us what NOT to do. We are quite fortunate to have her as the guinea pig. When she moved, she didn't really consider what needed to be done about a phone. She brought her phone that she has service with AT&T. When you have a service provider it's usually locked with that carrier. You need to do the proper steps to unlock your phone so any carrier can be used. She didn't do that, and had to buy a phone in Costa Rica. The "smart" phones there aren't quite as fancy as our iPhones that we have. Needless to say, she is having a hard time adjusting to her new Costa Rican phone.

When we visited about a year ago, my mom decided it was time for her to get a Costa Rican phone for when she comes down to visit (about five times a year). We decided to walk down to the nearby ICE store to get our phone! ICE is the government-run carrier that most people in Costa Rica use. After waiting in a flimsy, white plastic chair in a waiting room similar to the DMV here in the United States (yes you have to take a number), we finally got up to our representative to help us with a new phone. Should have brought a translator... We stumbled through, and finally got our point across that we needed to buy a phone, but didn't need very many minutes, because she doesn't live here. To our pleasant surprise the phone and minutes in Costa Rica are DIRT CHEAP. If I remember correctly we got the phone and (what we thought would be) a year's worth of minutes for around $54. Awesome! Keep in mind: minutes in Costa Rica EXPIRE. Do not buy more than you need if you are just on a vacation. We came back the next time around and found that all the minutes we bought had expired! Just buy the amount of minutes that you need!

Kelli taught us a valuable lesson- unlock our phones BEFORE we move to Costa Rica. Unlocking your phone is actually very simple. We have AT&T, and both of our phones are on the Next (lease) plan. You are not allowed to unlock your phones unless you have your phones paid off. Trin had just gotten a new phone, so our grand total was $1,500. Yikes! This was an expense that I completely forgot to account for when budgeting for our move. We needed our iPhones though- we are Apple addicts!

Our next step is to go to the ICE store when we get to Costa Rica, buy SIM cards, minutes, and data. We already have WhatsApp downloaded, so this will be our main mode of communication. Below are the links to where you unlock your phones for different carriers. Keep in mind, it takes 24 hours to process your lease payment, then you have to submit a request to be unlocked. The confirmation screen says it will take up to two business days to complete the process, but I did ours Saturday evening and it was completed within five minutes. Also- you do not need to cancel your service to unlock your phone. Meaning, you are still able to use your carrier's service with an unlocked phone. I highly recommend bringing your phone from the US, unlocking it, buying a SIM card, and using your phone in Costa Rica. If you're just vacationing I would just use wifi from your phone to communicate with whomever you need to communicate with. Keep in mind - no wifi, no communication.

AT&T Unlock-Sprint Unlock-Verizon Unlock-T-Mobile Unlock

So we decided to move to Costa Rica, but where are we going to live? How are we going to line up a house to rent so it's ready when we get there? I can't say there is an art to it, or that it requires much knowledge at all - but I can say we just got completely lucky with ours. We have been to Ojochal and Uvita a couple times in the past, and knew that's where we are going to live, because we have family there.

There are many things we enjoy about Uvita,  but one of the biggest wants we had was to NOT live in a tourist area; this is what attracted us to Uvita so much. My mother has a house in Ojochal, which is about 16 km from Uvita. Ojochal is known around the world for the fine cuisine. It's pretty interesting to have to drive 15 minutes down a 4x4-required dirt road and pull over to find a white table cloth, fine-dining restaurant like Exotica. That's Costa Rica for you...

We decided to live in Uvita because there were more people, restaurants, stores, etc. It was also a lot easier to find a place to rent. Keep in mind that we had to find a place to rent in Costa Rica while we are still in the US, so we are mainly relying on pictures or videos. We had a small checklist of what we wanted in a rental house:

-Had to have A/C (even though we won't often use it)

-Had to be in Uvita

-Had to have two bedrooms

-We preferred it to be furnished

-Our budget allowed us $750/month for rent

Time to find a place to rent! We did what most others would do - check Craigslist, Google "rental houses in Uvita", but we quickly found out that not many places for rent were posted online (typical Costa Rica). My cousin, Kelli, had already been living in Costa Rica at this time, and was also looking for a place to live. She stumbled uponB and J Cabins,and absolutely fell in love with them. Quiet, quaint, and set in a group of just five cabins. They come with a community pool, washers/dryers, A/C, fully furnished, and only costs her $450/month including all of the utilities. In Costa Rica, it's pretty standard to a home to come fully furnished, and to include all the utilities in the rent payment. She has been in B and J Cabins for a little more than a month, and absolutely loves it. A couple weeks back she put us in contact with the owner, a super nice lady that live in the US. We e-mailed back and forth for a couple weeks, and she had told me a 2 bedroom cabin was going to be available to rent beginning in September! Great, it's everything we want: furnished, A/C, good location, and absolutely beautiful (according to Kelli).

Just to remind everyone, below is a few pictures of the house that we own in Texas that we are renting out. We are going from 2,000 sq. ft. to about 800 sq. ft. What an adventure!

Buying a car in Costa Rica has been quite a bit more challenging than buying one in the United States - for many reasons. I suppose buying a car in Costa Rica while living in the United States makes it all that more of a challenge. In America, being in the car business, I have bought and sold over a hundred cars myself. It's easy; get the title, have the seller sign the title, sell the car, give the new buyer the title - done. Ah, this is not the case in Costa Rica as I have learned.

As anyone who has been to, or done any research on Costa Rican vehicles knows, cars are expensive as hell. This is due to the 70%+ import tax fee on every single car that is imported. A 1994 Suzuki Sidekick with 200,000 miles on it would be worth about $1,000 - $1,500 in America if you're lucky. The same exact car in Costa Rica you would be lucky to buy for less than $4,000. Wow! We were stunned. We are definitely going to need a car while we are living in Costa Rica, so we have set a budget of about $3,000 for a vehicle. We aren't picky, but we will need 4x4, and it has to be safe for our baby, Jude!

After a short amount of research, I have discovered the best place to find a car is on the Costa Rican Craigslist. Again, we are still living in the US at this point, and trying to coordinate buying a car in Costa Rica. Luckily, my awesome cousin lives in Uvita already, so she can drive the car, do the paperwork, and pay for it. Sounds easy enough.

Step One: We found a car! So we thought... On Craigslist I found a 1995 Chevy Tracker that fit all of our needs - 4x4, safe enough for a baby, RTV and marchamo are up to date, 200k miles (typical)... It's everything we need! To my surprise it's quite easy to contact most people in Costa Rica from the US. The majority of Costa Ricans use WhatsApp, so we were able to directly communicate with the seller. Our next step was to get the $3,000 that we agreed on to my cousin in Costa Rica. Nothing is easy to do here... We had to use Western Union to send the money to my cousin in Costa Rica, but there was a catch! A person in Costa Rica can only pick up $2,000 per month of a foreign currency transaction... Great! Luckily, she already had the money to pay for it, and suggested I just pay her back.

Step Two: After we found the car we wanted, we next have to transfer the title. This is all done at the DMV in America. I learned this is not the case in Costa Rica. You have to hire an attorney to do the paperwork at the time of the sale. This is actually good, because you set an appointment and don't have to wait in the long lines of angry people waiting for your number to be called out at the DMV. However, it does cost a bit more to hire an attorney to do this. We are going to be paying her $230 to do the title transfer, registration, etc.

Step Three: Our appointment with our lawyer at The Dome in Uvita was on Monday at 1:00. Unfortunately, as seems to be the case with many deals in Costa Rica... The lady backed out of the car deal at the last minute saying she decided not to move back to America. Great! Back to Step One.

The goal of this project is to give everyone a real life example of how it's possible for any average Joe to embark on such a dream-inspired journey. We were by no means wealthy, we don't have a stable source of income set up, we don't have a huge mansion in America; we were just NORMAL people. Just like anyone else. Why? Because you truly don't need all of that to make a move like this.

Trinaty (age 20) is a stay-at-home mom making $0/month (however, what she does with Jude [age four months] is priceless). I (age 22) have worked at Cadillac in San Angelo, Texas for the last year, and Honda for a little over two years before that. The last three years I have earned an average income of $102,670. In December of 2014 we bought our first house in San Angelo for $155,000. This was a trip! We were beyond excited to begin the typical American dream. We were home owners at age 20 - how special... In the last three years we have managed to save up around $16,000 (after paying off all of our debts aside from the house).

$16,000 is what we have available to us to move our little family of three from the United States to Costa Rica. I think we can all agree... This is NOT a lot of money. As I said before, you don't need a lot of money, and it's going to be totally worth it. No need to worry about our well being.

So here we are in September of 2016. What do we do with the cars? The house? All of our stuff? We already bought out one-way tickets to Costa Rica. We have to figure all of this out. It's crunch time!

The cars:

Trinaty (Trin) drives a 2010 Cadillac SRX Luxury edition with 74,0000 miles. I have a 2003 Jeep Wrangler with 133,000 miles. We have had more than 15 cars in the last three years (keep in mind, I was in the car business), but these are our current vehicles. I financed both of our vehicles when we bought them. We owe $15,050 on the Cadillac (with a $347 payment) and $8,650 on the Jeep (with a $275 payment). Time to sell both, and hopefully get at least what we owe on them!

Update: Results! Well I sold both of them. I wanted to get what I owed on them.... but I didn't. I ended up selling m Jeep for $8,300 to a really nice guy who drove from Dallas (four hours away) to come pick it up. So I'm negative $350 so far... Not bad, I suppose. A few days later I sold the Cadillac to a good family friend of ours for $14,500. Now I'm negative $900. Not the best start to the journey.

The house:

We bought our house in December of 2014 for $155,000, and our mortgage payments (including insurance, taxes, etc.) is $1,460. We have a typical three bedroom, two bathroom single family brick home with an American flag proudly waiving for all to see. I still owe $144,000 on the house (yay FHA mortgages.... NOT!). I have two choices: Rent, or sell. My house appraises for about $174,000 (yay!), so I do have some equity. What's more - the renting market here is not so great right now, and I would have to rent the house for $1,700 to cover all of my expenses while I'm gone. Average rent for a house comparable to mine in my neighborhood is around $1,400... Crud.

It's a no-brainer! Rent it out! I decided to try and find a really good renter who will rent my house fully furnished and be able to afford what I need to break even. I pitched a sign in my front yard and wrote $1,850/month on that sign (yikes!) - fully furnished! I can always dream, right? However, I was pleasantly surprised after I received THREE calls the very first day. I spoke with one lady who seemed very serious. She wants to see the house... in five hours. I don't get off of work for another four hours. Time for Trin to work some magic on the house to make it presentable (okay, we keep our house pretty clean, so it's not that tough). I got home with an hour to spare, do some final touches on the house, light a few candles, and anxiously await her arrival. We hope she likes it. Turns out she is a super nice lady with three extremely well-behaved children, and she loved the house! We agree on a monthly rental of $1,650/month with a $1,650 deposit. Done. Rented the house out on the first day, and I think we can manage to break even at $1,650/month. We signed our lease paperwork on September 3rd, and got the deposit. Who knew renting the house would be so easy? We have until September 27th to move out! Our flight is on October 5th, so we get the pleasure of staying at my parents' house for a full week.