Last week, I posted about my upcoming trip to Costa Rica and the health requirements. Travelers to the country are required to be vaccinated or possess travel insurance for the duration of the visit. In addition, travelers are required to complete a health questionnaire within 72 hours of arriving in the country.
A trip to the country is not recommended to the country by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Costa Rica is currently identified at Level 4: COVID-19 Very High. The CDC goes on to say avoid travel to Costa Rica unless you are fully vaccinated. I am fully vaccinated so…
The first thing I had to do was input my mode of travel information. The most important thing about this initial step is the date. The Health Pass cannot be completed outside of the 72 hour travel window. For the purposes of this blog, I fudged the dates a bit.
Step 1: Travelers are given two options: 1) be vaccinated or 2) have travel insurance. The vaccine can be from AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Moderna, or Pfizer. The insurance policy has to have a value of $50,000 USD and cover COVID-related expenses. Namely, up to $2,000 USD in hotel costs.
Step 2: Travelers are required to input their personal information (passport, name, sex, date, profession, etc.) during this step. All of the info is good to go except for profession. Why is that a thing? Maybe I am missing something.
Step 3: The travel information which was entered on the landing page is expound upon here. Costa Rica’s Health Ministry requires seat number and the names of travel companions. I have never heard of such a thing. Have you guys???
Step 4: This was the easiest step. There was a COVID screener, vaccine and/or insurance information. I selected that I was vaccinated so I had to input the name and dates of the vaccine with a picture of the card. Even though I found this to be a bit extreme, I uploaded my card. I am not trying to interfere with people doing their jobs. The travel insurance section was left blank, intentionally. Even though I have it, I did not include the policy number or any other specifics.
Final Word
I am looking forward to leaving the mainland for a little bit. My mind has been in some kind of place after the finalization of my divorce and the abrupt end to my time in the United States Air Force. This trip will be different because of curfews and some public space closures but my friends and I will make the best of it.
