Why is my mom freaking out?
 

I told my mom that we're going to Costa Rica for our family vacation and she went ballistic...how could I endanger my kids, why is my husband allowing it, we're going to get killed, it's too dangerous....I hate to say this, but either she knows something I don't know or it's time to put her in a home and consider psychotropic drugs.

Please tell me she's just confused.

I'll guess she has never traveled in Latin America herself before?

You'll hear the same about visiting Mexico from certain folks.

Put her in a home......you could try the drugs but only after you've enjoyed your vacation.

She's heard too many stories and is generalizing! There have been some very significant problems (and real dangers) through the years for travel in many of the Central American countries and areas of South America. Reports of kidnapping, murder, machined gun equipped police in airports. Costa Rica hasn't had those problems (at least to that extent), but many people just write off everything south of Texas--or Mexico. Who knows?

I have friends who won't consider taking their families there for vacation. Instead they stay spend their time in the Caribbean or Hawaii where they can feel like they are in the midst of a, hmmm, how else to say it? An American presence. The same thing that I kind of like to get away from! :)

It's a great little country with beautiful people, caring and kind. You know, you'd need to exercise caution if you were taking your kids to Orlando and Disneyworld. I think you're going to have to consider an option that is perhaps less extreme than the two you set forth! LOL! :)

Ask her a few questions. What has she heard? Get your facts and set the lady straight! :)

She's confused! The people in my office told me that I had to watch out because they like to kidnap Americans "down there" - what?! We've been twice and have had no issues whatsoever - would not hesitate to go back.

My own sister was terrified for my niece (in her 40's) and her daughter when they met me down there this summer. She was so worried that they would get lost in the "jungle". Mind you I have been a regular traveler to CR since the early 90's and have told them all kinds of great stories about my travels and shown them tons of pictures. Just the fact that I am still alive should have told them something but my family has always thought I live slightly on the edge at times so it is hard to convince them about some things. CR has changed a huge amount in the last 7-8 years so maybe she is still thinking about my earlier days there.

After hearing my niece's stories of her trip and seeing the pictures she took, I think my sister has finally figured out that CR is a pretty neat place. I am hoping to finally get her down next time. She always thought nothing could beat Hawaii....we shall see.

CR is a gem of a place compared to some other places down there so I can understand peoples confusion. It just takes some people longer to get it.

Tell mom that this old lady loves traveling down there with husband, family, friends, and alone. I am still wonderfully surprised at how beautiful the forests and flowers can be not to mention the beautiful birds and butterflies. I still find places that blow me away. And most of all I still love those Tico smiles.

Your Mom is freaking out because she loves you so much and would never want anything to happen to you.
Don't you hate when you are excited about a trip and you tell someone and they just can't understand why you would choose a place?
Why don't you have your Mom read some of these posts about how wonderful Costarica is, or have her start her own post.
When we went to Panama last year and my friend told her sister, her sister replied "nothing but bugs and drugs". Of course her sister had never gone to Panama and she was quite surprised to see her photos..
I hope she calms down so that you can enjoy yourself on your trip. Have fun.

I have to bite my tongue (or not) sometimes when I talk about my travel plans with some people. I've found most people's reactions (and I don't mean this in a mean way) is just simply ignorance - they probably can't tell you a single thing about the place, only that it's "dangerous". Many people have no separation between Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Columbia et al they just lump them all into one big area to be avoided.

I can relate though, my own mother (whom I didn't grow up with) responded to a picture I had sent her of Morgan's Rock in Nicragua, where I will be next week. Her response was "it's so isolated......you're going there why? It looks very unsafe, why not go somewhere normal?" Grrr! Luckily my dad & stepmom love to travel and have always been supportive in what ever I have planned. What I would do is probably just ignore what your mom is saying and continue planning your trip. If she insists then I would just ask her for facts to back up what she's saying and that "I heard ...." isn't sufficient.

Maybe you could show her some of the pics over on tripadvisor.com. I showed my mom our pictures, and she said, "Oh, and here I thought you were roughing it!" She thought it looked beautiful and amazing. I think she had visions of me in an entirely different place.

If you do show your mother some pictures of Costa Rica...make sure you do not show her any with.....

<font color="red">shilmac</font> or
<font color="blue">t</font>ully or <font color="orange">vol</font>canogirl in them or your mother will say..........
&quot;See, see , what kind of girls go there.&quot;.

...oops I'm getting out of here, how do you erase this, before these ladies see it and murder me.!:)

Percy

Very flattered that you lumped this old &quot;girl&quot; in there with Tully and VG! Not sure I could keep up with either of them, but I could give it a go! :)

Percy - LOL! I am flattered by the company. Yay for the Costa Rica chicks!
&gt;:D&lt;

Good Night Everyone !!! I-)

Percy

Tell her that Costa Rica has the longest history of democracy in Latin America, that there are no indigenous terrorist groups, that there are no known organizations targeting or kidnapping Americans, and that while there is crime, it is no different than the crime we experience here in the US.

If that doesn't work, tell her St. Regis doesn't build $300 million resorts in dangerous places.

Of course, if you really want to freak her out, tell her you are going to Africa. One person told me I was going to get AIDS. Excuse me??? Do I look like somebody who is going to turn into a slut just because I'm on vacation?

Tell her there are churches everywhere. Moms like that kind of stuff!

Also, they have a 96% literacy rate and good healthcare. :) And the longest standing democracy in the area. They don't even have an army.

There's a reason they say &quot;pura vida&quot;!

Nina-I think you are my sister. Is your real name Jeanie??

I have an Italian mom and get the same reaction when we travel with our daughter. When we went fishing in Alaska, she was freaked out we were going to drown or get killed. She said &quot;go ahead and kill yourselves, but not my little granddaughter!!&quot;

Just the nature of moms!!

MY

Hey, thanks everyone, I love my mom, she's usually not hysterical and is VERY well-traveled, she's been all over Europe, Asia, US, Mexico, Caribbean,Africa just never Central America, and she heard that people were being kidnapped and walking around with machine guns, but she MUST be thinking of another country.

Anyway, I'm going to call her and tell her she's mistaken..and that my mother-in-law is considering going next year, that should set her mind at ease, my MIL is afraid to leave a 3 mile radius of her home.

Come now Tully, Thousands of people travel safely to Nicargua and Colombia. We head to Colombia for two weeks in January and hope to get to Nicaragua in the next year or so.

You could show her US State Dept reports on Costa Rica. Also show her the countries with warnings.

You could have her call the US Embassy in Costa Rica with her concerns.

You can show her mainstream travel companies (perhaps some she has used to book her trips) that offer Costa Rica trips.

She could call AAA or some other travel agent and pose as the client asking whether she should go to Costa Rica or (make up some tropical but safe alternatives) like Puerto Rico or the Mayan Riveria and ask if safety differs among these alternatives.

She is confused because she is uninformed. The unknown can become scary very easily.

Enjoy the family trip. My favorite destination of the short trip I made there was Tortuguero.

Jean - would love to hear about your trip to Columbia when you return, they had a nice episode on it recently on the travel channel. I will post on Nicaragua when I return, only 6 more days of waiting til I go!

oops! and hiya Percy! Don't go messing with the Costa Rica cabal now!!

Hi tully

Good Luck on your Nicaragua Trip.

Hope you see some of the places I did.

It was over 100F whenI was there , but of course you are used to that type of weather.:)

Don't forget to post a report.

Yes, I am staying clear of the Costa Rica cabal!!

Percy

nina - here's our report of traveling in CR this summer with our 19 year old daughter and 17 and 13 year old sons:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35045117

Not sure I'd show the report to your mom, but we all had a fantastic time.

Hi Percy! Yes I am all packed &amp; ready to go, now just have to get thry the next 72 hours! Hopefully it won't rain the whole time I'm there - weather looks a little iffy. Had a great time the other night with shillmac &amp; her family the other night, they are down in Sanibel right now.

Have a wonderful trip, tully! Can't wait for your trip report. :)

Hi tully

Have a nice trip . Good Luck and Take care.

You need a rest for sure now after meeting with shillmac.!!:)

Percy

Hills,
I just had to respond, you made me laugh so hard. I, too, was told I would get AIDS by friends when I was planning my first trip to Africa. I hadn't thought to respond with a &quot;do you think I'm going to turn into a slut just because I'm going on vacation?&quot; I'll remember that next time.

Nina,
Your mother is just confused. Costa Rica is quite safe. I haven't been there yet, but I'm planning a trip next summer with several friends and children. We would not be taking children if it weren't safe.

My mother freaks out regularly about my travel. She's been doing it for almost thirty years since the first time I traveled abroad, when I went to live in England for a year. Of course that is neither Costa Rica nor Africa (both of which are very safe), but sometimes you just have to let mothers be mothers. No matter how many places I travel and how many times I return unharmed and with fantastic photos and stories, she still does not want to hear about my vacations. Before I leave I try to tell her about where I'm going and I can practically hear her cover her ears over the telephone. The biggest disappointment is when I return and want to share stories with her and she say's &quot;oh, that's nice&quot; and changes the subject. Sometimes mothers just do not want to know. They grew up in a different world and to some international travel is like technology -- they are just not going to embrace it with open arms no matter what you say.

If you can convince her it is safe, wonderful. If you can't convince her, go and have a great time anyway. Your kids can tell her what a great time you had when you return.

Dana

Twenty years ago, I took my parents to Costa Rica for a 2 week trip. Even then, with much less development than now, it was completely safe. At the time, they were in their 60s, and it was the best trip that they ever went on. They still talk about it. I had spent about a month in the south in the late 70s, at Playa Zancudo, when there were just some surfers and hammocks on the beach.
We're going back in December with our own kids, and I can't wait. Having been all over the world, I can't imagine a safer place, though I did almost kill us passing a bus on a mountain road. Why don't you take your mom along?

I love Costa Rica and find it VERY safe. I am a 52 yr old mom. My husband and I took our then 17 yr old daughter to a surf camp in Hermosa (near Jaco) and it was the best experience we have had and we are WELL travelled. Then last yr my daughter and her girlfriend (ages 21) went on their reading wk to another surf camp (which I would highly recommend) Jim Hogan's surf camp in Hermosa. It only outdid the trip before. They are really into Pura Vida (the pure life). Now her and I are heading there again in Jan (just a mother daughter trip) and going to branch out to Mal Pais and of course back to Hermosa so she can surf with Jim again. Tell your mom from 1 mother that it was the most wholesome vacation that we have been on. And you get a little addicted to the country. OBTW, my daughter ventured out on a surf trip this year to Bali in Indonesia and suffice to say that she went thru 10 tsunami warnings after 11 earthquakes happened and then the surf camp owner got caught with one of the surfers with pot and the kid from Rhode Island is in jail for 6 mos minimum. Not a very safe spot over there.