Booking Belize 24 hours in advance - Belize 2009

Today I arrived in San Pedro, Belize after what ended up being about a 7-hour series of flights from LAX. It's quite surreal being here considering I booked my ticket extremely last minute...just yesterday morning! My friend Angela and I had been talking about going for a few weeks now and she wisely booked her ticket right away. I, however, hesitated and missed the boat on good flight prices. Week after week, prices kept creeping upwards and I was beginning to lose hope. Fortunately though I checked tickets one last time yesterday and found an American Airlines flight that was pretty reasonable. I booked, went home and packed (my grandma's vintage luggage) and VOILA! A little over 24 hours later I am unpacking at Pedro's Inn in San Pedro, Belize.

Since I hadn't done much research beforehand (like I said, completely last minute), I wasn't set on how to get from Belize City International Airport (located on the mainland) to San Pedro (Ambergris Caye) where our hotel was. I knew there were two options: a ferry which could take up to an hour or a small plane that took less than 20 minutes. I was leaning towards the ferry due to my fear of small planes, but quickly realized that would mean finding a cab to take me to the dock and making sure my luggage made it, etc. It all seemed a bit overwhelming and complicated so I decided to conquer my fear and take the island-hopper.

The beauty of island life is that no matter what you want to accomplish, it seems to work itself out with very little added stress. I had no reservation but was able to book the next TropicAir flight to San Pedro which left in approximately 15 minutes. Phew! No long layover! Not to mention the fact that I got to sit shotgun which gave me an incredible view of the brilliant turquoise waters below.


About twenty minutes later, I arrived in San Pedro airport - consisting of one landing strip and one main office where tickets are purchased. As I stepped off of the plane onto the runway, I was instantly hit with a blast of heat and humidity. I love the island life!