Blogger Dream Come True!!

Barbara: Some of you have been waiting for our huge bloggie news, some of you have even been trying to guess what it might be. But none of you guessed that our next unexpected miracle is that Deb and I have been offered a trip to Costa Rica!!!!

Yes, it’s true—and we can’t quite believe it.

Our classy gift announcement

The gist of it is that the Costa Rica Tourism Board is giving away $1,000,000 worth of Gifts of Happiness and they chose us to be recipients of one of these happy gifts! Apparently they combed the internet, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and news outlets, looking for kindred spirits who embraced their belief in the Pura Vida—or “everything good in life”—and, can I say it again?—they chose US!! It turns out we’re considered “influential bloggers”—thank you, Costa Rica Tourism Board: after raising two teens, it’s nice to discover someone out there thinks of me as “influential”. Not sure how “influential” all of you would consider me to be, but what I can wholeheartedly say is that I—we—absolutely believe in the concept of a Pura Vida! It is what’s kept me going through all kinds of personal ups and downs.

Beautiful gift announcement carved into sustainable wood

Some of you may remember from an early sidebar post (on our now-defunct Side of Slaw page) that Phil and I took our daughters to Costa Rica several years ago. That post was an embarrassed revelation of my inability to keep a secret (we may post it again here in the weeks to come), but the bottom line is, the trip was a dream holiday. The Costa Rican people are unbelievably kind and welcoming, the landscape is diverse and breathtaking, and the wildlife amazing. Who wouldn’t want to go there?!

And just to be clear, the Costa Rica Tourism Board is asking nothing of us except to blog about our experience. They aren’t setting up any parameters or rules, and anything we post here is of our own volition. But I can honestly say I am proud to have a chance to promote their country. And I really look forward to bringing you all a daily diary of our trip—much as we’ve done in the past with London, Newfoundland, Antigua, and Jamaica.

So, yes, we are going! Even though we’re still trying to believe this is even true. And we want to thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts. Without all of you here as part of our daily conversation, without your input, responses, dedicated reading, heartfelt thoughts, support, advice, generosity of spirit, this would never have happened. Without you, we would be nothing here at The Middle Ages. Each and every one of you keeps us going, and all of you have now helped send us to Costa Rica! Thank you thank you thank you.

And that’s not all, there is a super-easy way for all of you to enter to win too. If you go to their Facebook page, all you have to do is “like” it (again, we have not been asked to say any of this!), and you could win the exact holiday we’re going on. They’re giving away hundreds of trips, so the odds are pretty good. If you click on Terms and Conditions at the bottom of the page, the file outlines the five choices of holiday that we’ve been offered. Guess which package we chose—and next week, we’ll reveal it! Maybe we’ll see you in the rainforest, loves!

Deb: AND what makes it even sweeter is that our husbands get to join us. Given the generosity of the gift, we did not dare ask if we could have two stowaways, however charming and handsome. Upon further consideration, we realized that if we were being referred to (however loosely) as influential bloggers, we might try out that influence to see if we could bring our lovely husbands.

Turns out, we didn’t have to lower ourselves to beg. They were thrilled knowing that Colin would tweet about the trip too. Add to that Phil’s skills as a photographer for our adventures—and the team was ready! In fact, Phil took the photos for the blog today. Turns out, he cares about good light and flattering backgrounds and the like! So ... he’s our man!!!

As happy as we look here, our smiles don't come close to expressing our giddy excitement!

The four of us sat down to read and discuss the various packages we were offered. We carefully read each package, googling hotels and weighing each tour vs. free time and wealth of experience. Well, actually, to say Colin read his tour package would be a gross exaggeration. His reading went something like this: “Nice beaches, nice hotels, good food, rainforest, animals and wine.” But in the end—as hard as it was—we collectively chose one of the packages, details next week!

Cannot wait to share the trip with each other and with you guys. Let the fun begin. “Thank you, Costa Rica Tourism” just doesn’t seem enough! So we will fill out our grateful praise when we get there.

Last one there is the three-toed Sloth!