Since Costa Rica recently announced the reopening of its borders to all of the U.S., we decided to put together this list of reasons why you should start booking your 2021 trip right now.
🌴 Best dates, best rates at Banana Azul
If you've stayed with us before you know that rooms tend fill up fast. Booking your trip now ensures you'll get the room you want during the dates that best fit your schedule, and with our new Save Now Travel Later option you can take advantage of our best possible rates, up to 20% off.
🧳 Tomorrow’s trip is today’s treat.
People usually discuss travel solely in terms of the joy you get during a trip, while ignoring the joy it brings you before a trip.
We are not just referring to the rush you get from clicking purchase on a cheap flight. We're also talking about letting yourself spend the next however many months looking forward to that trip.
After all, nobody books a trip to Costa Rica and then doesn’t think about it again until they board the plane. If you’re anything like us, the entire interim is spent dreaming of golden beaches and poolside cocktails and researching hidden gems we want to see while traveling.
We can always daydream about future travels, but where the true excitement comes is when it’s about an actually planned trip, not just a someday/maybe idea. And what makes a trip from a mere idea to something real? When you’ve booked the flight.
✈️ Studies show anticipation is one of the best parts of travel.
When researchers have examined which parts of vacation bring us the most joy, it turns out that the period before a trip maybe even more important than the trip itself. Study after study has shown how much happiness the anticipation of a trip can bring.
It’s not just that planning trips give us joy today; it also makes travel more possible. According to one study, people who plan trips well in advance took 50% more time off from work to travel than non-planners. One big reason why: bosses are far more likely to approve time off when it’s requested months in advance.
📅 Free changes on all new bookings.
Right now, airlines are offering free changes on all new bookings, even basic economy. As a result, if come February 2021 it’s still not possible or wise to take that trip you are planning, you can just push the trip back to the summer without having to pay any change fee. Remember, though: free changes aren’t the same as free cancellations, and you’re still responsible if there’s a fare difference with the new flight you choose.
Knowing you can book flights and still have flexibility is what gives you full confidence to plan future travel amidst so much uncertainty today. Think of it as booking in pencil, not in pen.
☀️ Cheap summer 2021 flights are already popping up.
Here’s just a sampling of round trip fares to Costa Rica that we have seen in the past few weeks:
- $174 - Miami (MIA)
- $277 - San Francisco (SFO)
- $286 - New York City (JFK)
- $349 - Atlanta (ATL)
- $375 - Houston (HOU/IAH)
We've been hearing over and over from travelers how eager they are to make up for lost time once they feel safe and comfortable traveling again. And many of them have already started making 2021 travel plans as a treat for both their future selves and their current selves.
Have you started planning your much needed 2021 getaway?
*Many thanks to Scott's Cheap Flights for the inspiration for this article.