I'll be traveling to San Jose, Costa Rica pretty soon. This will be my second time. Here's one tip I can offer Americans traveling there. Before the tip, let's see how beautiful the beach is there.
On with the tip: Fly direct if possible. If not, do not connect at Honduras (maybe this might apply to other non-usa airports as well). The first time I flew to Costa Rica from Houston, TX I was cheap and thought that the one to two hour layover at Honduras was not too bad. Boy was I wrong. When I landed in Honduras for the connecting flight, there were no clear instructions on where I needed to go for the next leg of the flight.
To make a long story short, I asked around, was escorted by one security officer after another. Back out the security check point. Searched. In through the security checkpoint again. Got lost again as the security escorts had left. Asked around again. They didn't know which gate my flight would be at so I had to wait an hour to find out.
After feeling like a lost kid, I finally got onto the connecting flight and on my way to my destination.
Of course I'll take my own advice; on this coming trip back there I am flying direct! Looking forward to more great times next to the ocean.