20th Anniversary Dream Trip Contest

Great Travel Moment

I had been fortunate enough to indulge in a ten-day escape to Costa Rica with my two closest girlfriends. This was day nine, my thirty-first birthday, which was bittersweet because when you visit Costa Rica, leaving the'pura vida' is almost unfathomable. We had done a lot of jungle hiking, but this kayaking trip through the mangrove swamps was somehow different. It was, perhaps, the first time in my life that I felt completely enveloped by nature. It was eerie and pervasive and humbling. This photo represents how my first trip to CR will always haunt me... in the kind of way that really connecting with a destination on a visceral, spiritual and emotional level SHOULD haunt us.