Welcome to Colombia! I’ve traveled to a few Spanish speaking countries and I speak very little to no Spanish, despite that fact, we have always had a great time being explorers! We took this trip after I finished taking one of the CPA exams while my best friend, I believe, took the LSATs. We were indeed exhausted but nothing can energize you more than a vacation! This was yet another annual birthday trip, but this trip was a bit more special because this was also our first business class experience! Round trip in business class was $900 so we decided the price was right and booked the upgrade immediately.

We opted to stay near the locals in the walled city, instead of staying in the more touristy area that was a bit more expensive. We stayed in the best hotel in the area with the best room option available. Our room was huge and came with a terrace that overlooked the top of all the nearing  buildings. What sold us on this location outside of the price was the picturesque view from the rooftop of the hotel …. It was even more spectacular at night from the pool! 

What Happened? Trip Highlights

What went well?

First Class has an entire experience attached! To start the experience, when you arrive at the airport there is a TSA line specific to those with first class tickets. Without ever doing this myself I swear I had no clue how amazing this experience would be!  I walked into the lounge and immediately noticed the bar and the food, EVERYTHING in there was prepaid and with anything bottomless my goal is always to try to reach the bottom!  I even tried a bloody mary which was surprisingly spicy but delicious! My flight was at 7am but once at the airport, my vacation had begun and I could indulge in whatever I wanted!  

Another thing that went well was, ‘Yacht Day’!  My best friend and I really enjoy a good yacht day so of course on this trip we rented a private vessel, yup you read that right just her and I on a yacht for 8 hours and we loved it! The crew didn’t speak English and as previously stated we barely spoke Spanish so it was them working and us yachting while listening to our music.  Truly, nothing could have brought me more joy! 

What could’ve gone better?

The immigration form to leave the US and enter Colombia was erroring out for my best friend on the morning of our flight for about an hour.  She ended up missing her initial flight from Chicago to Miami where our flights met to head to Colombia. Super grateful there was a flight immediately following the one she missed, she did end up making the flight but by the hair on her chinny chin chin!   She didn’t get the opportunity to enjoy the lounge like I did but she made up for that on the flight. Normally I fall asleep on flights when I buckle my seatbelt but for this one, I refused to miss out on any perks, we both remained awake and ordered EVERYTHING that we wanted! 

What we didn’t plan for but turned out great?

Colombia is a cash friendly country, everyday we made trips over to the ATM to make cash withdrawals. The currency exchange rate was much cheaper while using the community ATM versus taking money out at the airport. I’d recommend having a budget and withdrawing that on the first day. We didn’t want to have so much money on us at a time so we took our daily amounts out every morning and lived worry free.

Coming back from Colombia, my best friend and I were in the TSA line in the US and all of a sudden the gate agent asked me to step aside and follow another agent. I was led into a separate area than I’ve ever been before, the agent requested that I place my carry-ons into the machine to scan! I guess you can say I was a “known fruit smuggler” since it was obviously flagged in the system from my last trip. My friend was yelling where are you taking her, it was a pretty chaotic situation but we met back up on the other side and I was able to explain to her what happened! 

Did this scare me out of traveling? HELLO have you been reading, nothing will sway me from taking a vacation friend! What’s your E.T.A. Because we’re boarding our flight to Aruba next?!