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Looking for a family-friendly summer vacation destination?

Family travel is changing as the demographics of families change around the world. No longer are there only 2-parent 2-child families. Traveling families today could be single moms or dads with one or more children, multi-generational families, families with two dads or two moms, and more. According to recent travel industry research, 80% of families want to try new destinations and 75% want to make sure that destination is easy to reach. And with today’s modern family’s schedule-packed lives, they are looking to spend time together enjoying new experiences and activities that satisfy every member of the group.

Costa Rica fits the bill perfectly. As Parents Magazine writer Judy Goldberg put it, “This Central American hot spot is fun for families – and won’t bust your budget.”

Costa Rica offers an incredible, interactive real-life classroom for you and your kids. Positioned between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, in the Central American isthmus, this tiny yet incredibly diverse country is a paradise to enjoy an exceptional tropical vacation. Here you have so much to experience and learn – vast biodiversity, rainforest, cloud forest, tropical dry and wet forest, volcanoes, beaches, rivers, mangrove estuaries, and wetlands. The list is long and varied. Tourism is the number one industry, so it’s safe and easy to get around, especially with English being widely spoken in tourism areas; yet at the same time, the country retains its Central American charm.

“Best of all: For about half the price of a top-shelf Disney vacation, you can explore a whole new world with your kids,” says Goldberg of Parents Magazine.

Parents are busy; everyone knows that. With kids, work and the household to take care of, there is often little time left over to plan the family vacation. That’s where a top travel agency like Travel Excellence in Costa Rica comes in handy.

Travel Excellence offers outstanding Costa Rica vacation packages to 200+ different destinations in Costa Rica. You don’t have to figure it out on your own; they’ve done the work for you. The travel agency has more than 15 years in the business and offers 24/7 travel assistance while you are in Costa Rica. Travel services include hotel & tour reservations, private guides, transportation in Costa Rica with guides and drivers, car rentals and domestic flights.

Sample Travel Excellence family vacation packages include:

• Discover Costa Rica vacation package, 7 days / 6 nights, to San Jose, Arenal Volcano and Manuel Antonio Beach.
• Classic Costa Rica vacation package, 14 days / 13 nights, to San Jose, Poas Volcano, Tortuguero on the Caribbean Coast, Arenal Volcano, Monteverde cloud forest, and Tamarindo in the Northern Pacific.
• Costa Rica: A bit of everything vacation package, 9 days / 8 nights, to San Jose, Tortuguero, Arenal Volcano and Manuel Antonio Beach.

Here is even more help for busy parents: Ten tips for planning a family vacation from the Family Travel Network:

1. Talk together as a family about where you’re going and what to expect.
2. Let every member of the family choose one thing that they’d like to do on your family vacation, and make it special.
3. Be prepared with what documents, visas, insurance, medicines, etc. you need.
4. Keep up the excitement with travel books, internet research, etc. on where you are going.
5. Expect the unexpected when traveling.
6. Pack a great attitude.
7. Leave at the right time – earlier with children, and take into account nap times.
8. Set a comfortable pace.
9. Allow for private time.
10. Leave the expectations at home.

By Shannon Farley