Costa Rica 14 day family holiday

Planet

Making a difference to planet and people underpin our itineraries and travel philosophy, across destinations. Costa Rica is an excellent example of this. As a hot spot for eco conscious travellers who are keen to immerse in local culture in a meaningful and informed way, we have gone above and beyond to ensure that we maximise the positive impact of international travel in the locations that we offer.

Our local partner in Costa Rica are committed to sustainability and have achieved the highest sustainability accreditation possible in Costa Rica of 5 leaves as part of the Certification for Sustainable Tourism Program. This accreditation is based on the degree to which they comply with a sustainable model of natural, cultural and social resource management. They have a sustainability manual outlining their aims to reduce their negative impact on the local environment through their own practices as well as those of companies they use the services of.

One of our central USPs is that we work with locally owned, boutique style special stays as opposed to international chain hotels. This works twofold, by providing the traveller with a once in a lifetime experience full of authentic, local flair and also supporting the local community through investment in locally owned ventures and the employment of local staff. Many of these hotels and independent guesthouses also have policies to reduce their environmental impact. The eco-lodge we use in La Fortuna is committed to protecting natural resources. This covers wildlife protection through recycling, environmental education for the local community, energy saving light bulbs and using biodegradable products.

Carbon reduction policies extend beyond accommodation. As part of your tour package, you will also enjoy a range of excursions and activities that have been checked and vetted by our team. These involve a range of human powered transport, for instance ample opportunities to hike adn row-boat your way through Costa Rica. All our trips can be made vegan and or vegetarian friendly on request and our helpful assistance travel with zoe can give specific food recommendations to accommodate more environmentally friendly choices.

Even before take off, we offer tools to our customers to encourage sustainability, carbon reduction and caring for the environment both at home and away. These include 'zero waste while travelling: our top tips', as well as our 'make it meaningful policy' . On top of this, we also provide each of our customers with a 'How to be a Responsible Traveller' document before they travel. This includes advice and tips on how to buy locally, protect wildlife, and how to make a genuine difference to the country they’re visiting.

Our responsible travel journey starts at home, from our Brighton based paperless office, where we reduce, reuse, and recycle wherever possible. Each and every day a healthy lunch is provided to our staff and any leftovers and food waste are composted. We’re committed to sustainable travel and are proud to have received the thumbs up from Travelife by achieving their Better Places Partner criteria. As a UK team, we recycle 80% of our waste in a closed- loop system, work in a b-corp office space, and are working towards b-corp status ourselves. We also partner with Earthly, a company that chooses nature based solutions to invest in the future of the natural world. This aims to protect, better manage and restore ecosystems while addressing global challenges. All of Earthly’s projects remove carbon, restore biodiversity and improve livelihoods. A £5 donation is added to each parties itinerary as standard.

As a team, we believe that protecting the environment goes hand in hand with building stronger communities, which is why we have both lead and joined in with beach cleaning initiatives with surfers against sewage, and local community gardening initiatives.

People

Our trips aim to put positively impacting local communities at front and centre of our itineraries, as local interactions are what make our trips so fantastic.

We work with small, boutique style special stays full of authentic flare work twofold by offering you a unique experience and also supporting local business ventures and local employment, thus supporting the local economy. For instance multiple ecolodges, and you can ask our team about homestays. During your trip, there is a wealth of local shops, cafe’s, bars and restaurants to visit and enjoy, for instance during your beach stays at the end of the trip. This helps bolster the local economy further.

One of the key aspects of our itineraries is that we work with local partners who are based in country in order to provide the most authentic insight into everyday life in the destination, and divert from the usual tourist trail (which is important when considering the mitigation of environmental degradation in tourist hotspots) but also supports the country's economy even before our customer has touched down as the local partner helps to develop their itinerary

Our local partners ensure that all employees are well treated and that they exceed all minimum requirements for salary, work hours and rest days. This ensures that everyone directly involved in your trip receives all of these benefits and is paid and treated fairly.

Throughout our trips we use guides and drivers local to each area so you can take advantage of their local knowledge. This benefits not only our customers but also for the guides and drivers by helping put money directly into the pockets of the local people. We encourage our customers to stop along the way at local restaurants, shops and stalls to buy food, drinks and souvenirs, whether using a driver or self-driving and we also encourage them to tip well.

In Tortuguero we use three guides throughout the trip who are local to the area. One is from a small village where you will learn about day to day lives of the villagers and turtle conservation in the area.

As well as this we also use only small-scale and locally owned accommodation every step of the way, which not only provides you with a truly authentic experience but makes sure that the revenue goes to the ones who need it the most.

We believe in putting people first, not just in the destinations we offer but also here in the UK. We believe that happy staff lead to a happy working environment, so with this in mind we offer a wide variety of staff rewards at our office in sunny Brighton. This includes ethically sourced daily lunches, a ride to work scheme and one paid charity day per employee.