A Belize Solution…

We originally booked the cozy beach house in Belize from February 1 to March 31, 2013.  Based on our cruise from Miami arriving in Belize City on January 29th we felt confident we could easily find a hotel for a few days until the first of February which proved not to be so easy.

At the end of our Belize trip, our cruise departs from Belize City on April 9, 2013 presenting us with another eight nights for which to find housing, as mentioned in previous posts.  

We’d hoped the owner of the cozy beach house could accommodate all eleven nights, prorating the rent accordingly.  At the time, she suggested we wait and see if the beach house would be available.

We’d been waiting to hear from her when I made the request this past weekend.  Fortunately, she was able to accommodate us for the earlier dates for which we are thrilled and appreciative but, the later dates in April were booked.

These eight days put my fingers to work online searching for a hotel.  The options were few.  Apparently, we had waited too long to solve this dilemma. Of all the available hotels in Belize, most were booked or were running about $300 per night plus the requirement of dining out for all meals, adding substantially to the overall cost.  

Although we only needed a hotel for eight nights, this cost would be comparable to the cost of the two months rent for the cozy beach house!  This would not only throw our budget out of whack but result in frustration that we hadn’t planned this leg of our travels more carefully.  Live and learn.

With this reality, I became all the more determined to find an affordable alternative that would fulfill our objectives of the following: a full service kitchen, a location near the ocean, conveniently located to avoid the necessity of full time auto rental, plus…be attractive, clean and if possible, charming.   

Unable to find a hotel befitting our objectives and available for these dates, I wandered back to one of the sources of our worldwide home rentals: HomeAway.com, to execute a search for a short term rental. Success!  

This is the property we locked up for the eight nights, for half the cost of a hotel room and with a well equipped kitchen, allowing us to eat in, located on the island of San Pedro in Ambergris Caye, a highly desirable location.  The owner was fabulous to work with as are most of the owners of vacation rentals.

A year ago, if all we were planning was this eight day trip to Ambergris Caye, San Pedro, Belize to stay in this lovely casita we would have been delighted. Who knew that this would be but one small part of the so far 949 days booked to experience the world.

Transportation will be our next challenge. Placencia is a three hour drive from the port in Belize City. The above property is located on the island of San Pedro in Ambergris Caye, requiring a water taxi ride from Placencia. We could fly in little airplanes to get around, hauling those bags.  No thank you!

Next, we’ll get to work figuring our modes of transportation for this part of our adventure.  But then again, that’s part of the fun; overcoming challenges, finding solutions and of course, planning well in advance, when possible. Doing so, saves time, effort and money, all of which is done in preparation for those unknown events, that are certain to occur along the way.

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