Costa Rica: travel tips

Print Story - canada.com network: "Three years ago, Budget Travel magazine started a new feature, publishing 20 travel tips from readers in each issue. 'It quickly became a favourite of both the readers and the editors,' says Erik Torkells, editor of the magazine and BudgetTravelOnline.com. Now Budget Travel has put the 399 best tips into a fat little book with a cover that looks like a passport. Fully 13 of the tips involve Ziploc bags. One employs dental floss as a tape measure. Another even offers a use for those bags your newspaper comes in on rainy mornings.

'Some will strike you as brilliant,' says Torkells, 'others may come across as absurd.

'But one day, a seemingly silly tip will emerge from deep within consciousness, saving the day, and you'll be grateful to have read it.'

Here are 43 of the best of the best. Just four of them involve Ziploc bags. You'll have to pick up The Smart Traveler's Passport (Chronicle Books, about $15) to find out about the other nine uses.

DON'T MISS THE BOAT

Here's an important tip for cruising in winter: Fly into the airport a day or two before your ship is scheduled to depart. We booked a Costa Rica cruise but were stuck in New York, where all flights out of JFK airport were cancelled. Itineraries that include stops in places with airports can allow people to catch up."

Labels: central america, costa rica, travel