Utah, as it turns out, makes for a surprisingly pricey weekend trip.
With Mr. M’s & my sixth wedding anniversary approaching, I’d been looking into a few days in Park City. But between lift tickets and ski rentals and srrrriously costly seasonal hotel rooms, playing in the snow doesn’t come cheap.
(Unless, of course, you live anywhere in the U.S. not called “California” and have been staring at piles of ice & snow for months… and are currently hating me for being willing to pay for the experience. Fair enough. My only defense is that we timed our westward migration pretty darn well.)
A couple days into my feeble attempts at devising a ski trip that made economic sense and didn’t involve us snow-camping, I began to realize that there’s really no way to plan a ski trip that makes economic sense and doesn’t involve snow-camping.
Park City is for ballers.
Which may have you wondering what exactly is so “un-Belize-able” about an overpriced trip to Utah. Also fair. Because I was, too.
My travel philosophy is that if you’re gonna spend $$ on an adventure, you should aim for the biggest bang for your buck. And I’d forgotten a few of my key travel tenets. Traveling off-season is the name of the game in our household. I also try to avoid planning a trip around a particular destination… it’s a lot more fruitful to keep an open mind and see what flight deals I can find.
Enter Belize, which- somehow unbelizeably (see? I ramble, but we get there… we always get there, friends…)- is costing less than the original trip from California to Utah.
Here’s what I’m planning for our brief- but presumably unbelizeable- trip to Central America:
** Since three nights doesn’t leave a lot of time for moving around, we’ll be based in jungley San Ignacio and will save the country’s renowned marine life for another visit.
Activity-wise, I’m sticking with a Mayan ruins theme, as that’s something neither Mr. M nor I has ever seen.
**Hopefully, we’ll have time to visit the Mayan ruins of Cayacol, deep within the Belizean jungle.
** I’d also like to visit Xunantunich (“Stone Woman” in Maya), which is named for a lady ghost who supposedly frequents the site.
**I might be one of the only girls in the world who thinks butterflies are gross (a giant insect with colorful wings… is still a giant insect), but Belize is known for its amazing diversity of butterfly species. I’m hoping Green Hills Butterfly Farm will change my mind.
**Tikal in neighboring Guatemala is one of the most well-known Mayan ruins in the world… and far too nearby for me to pass up!
**I can’t NOT stop by the Iguana Conservation Project to see the work they’re doing promoting conservation of endangered green iguanas.
**And if you know me at all, you know I’m perpetually on a mission to EAT. I’m especially anxious to try fry jacks (a deep-fried pastry eaten for breakfast) and cashew nut wine (wine? out of cashews? I’m sufficiently intrigued).
Regale me with your insider travel tips! Have you been to Belize or Guatemala? I’d LOVE to hear your must see/do/eat recommendations!
p.s. The moral of my very long story? There are a surprising number of brand new countries to visit on the (relative) cheap! With cheaper accommodations & activities, and, often times, zero need for a car rental, international travel can be a lot less expensive than a trip to Hawaii… or Park City, Utah.
Never say never to an affordable weekend trip to Central America.
More unbelizeable things have happened.
Can't wait to see how the trip goes. With another 8 inches of snow in Chicago, I'm starting to think further outside the getaway box.
Another 8 inches? Where the heck is Spring this year?! Yeah, I'd say you need a warm weather getaway, if only just to thaw out for a bit!
I'm not sure why you'd want to play in snow...but hey, to each their own....hahaha...I hope your trip goes well. The pictures look fantastic and the ruins would totally be in my list of things to see for sure. I love stuff like that. I'm with you on butterflies...pretty or not they are still icky...but I'm not sure I could do the iguana thing...too much like snakes...another dislike for me...but I get why its interesting for you :) have a great trip! Can't wait to read all about it!!
I know, with the winter everyone's been having, I should not even *mention* a desire to visit the snow! I'm hiding my face in shame. ;) So I'm not the only girl who doesn't like butterflies! They're just really big insects in a showy disguise, right? And the whole emerging out of a chrysalis cocoon thing doesn't help. Mr. M totally agrees with you about snakes! He does NOT share my love of reptiles and is just now getting to where iguanas don't gross him out. We have a deal that he's in charge of dealing with any rogue insects that get into our house (or tent, when we travel)... and I'm in charge of wrangling lizards & snakes. It's a good partnership. :)
hehehe....that sounds like the perfect partnership! Brian laughs at me when I get him to take care of the spider business. There is a butterfly place on Vancouver Island and I had a real hard time walking around in there. One flew into my face and I almost died...I had to take a time out! hahaha...we will all get along just fine if they stay in their place and I stay in mine...that goes for reptiles as well ;)
Oh no! A butterfly flew at your face? Didn't they hear your 'you stay in your place, I'll stay in mine' warning? My fear is that one will get caught in my hair (which turns velcro-like in humidity)... I take no responsibility for what happens after that...
Looks like a wonderful trip! It is surprising how much vacation you can really get when looking outside the box. We always try and travel off season and have been rewarded well for it.
Thanks, Erika! Traveling off season is the way to go, isn't it? It's also nice avoiding crowds of other tourists visiting at the same time. Totally worth putting on an extra jacket or dealing with a little rain!
Oh wow! I would've never thought a trip to somewhere amazing would end up being more affordable than a trip to see....snow. Ha! This looks like an amazing trip, and I seriously cannot wait to see the photos! I love the idea of ruins, no matter the culture, but I've never witnessed them in person. So, I'll just live vicariously through your blog ;)
I know, I was super surprised by how affordable it turned out to be! This spells trouble for our future weekend trips, though... now I'm forever gonna be looking into international destinations, 'just in case.' I love ruins, too- there's always so much to learn from them. And I can't help but think what our culture's ruins would look like. In any case, you'll be my excuse to take a ton of ruin pictures without feeling guilty about it! ;)
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[…] M was not as content exchanging our Utah ski trip for hiking the Mayan ruins as I’d been led to belize. (Believe! Believe, I […]