Costa Rica with Strangers: A Journey to Self-Discovery and Potential Expat Life of a Black Woman

[@mon6745]

Why is Mr Hallease popping up like jaws 😭😭😭😭 love this! You did such a good job curating this. Hope your surgery goes well 💛

[@hallease]

He's always goofin' for the camera when he has nothing to add but wants his presence to be known

[@easiersaidwithmeg]

I thought English and costa Rica for a year and then I stayed in Guatemala for six weeks and also did it there too! Now i'm moving there in feb!

[@VanilleDebray]

Soooooo cooool! beautiful video as always

[@BrandyAHyatt]

I love going to CR during off season. I like the stillness of it, you can meet more locals and the rain smells good.

[@MeMyself984]

You are looking fabulous mama! 😍 That hotel looked a lot like the resort my friends and I stayed in near La Fortuna (inland-no beach). It was super “outside” too lol. We stayed in bungalows. It was very nice and really naturey (At times too Natuery 😅)

[@hallease]

Yeah they were open air cabins and everything. The spiders (harmless but massive) were right outside our windows. VERY naturey.

[@MeMyself984]

@ lol! Exactly! It was the giant bugs for me (especially the ones I never saw before 😳😂) I loved the experience but no more jungles for me; maybe I’ll just pass through on my way to the beach next time. Lol

[@hallease]

Yeah, I enjoyed the jungle experience for what it was and I'm not opposed to it actually but I definitely would do it again with a bit more luxury thrown in LOL

[@Babyshoes777]

My husband and I are planning our departure too. Either portugals D7 visa by putting our house up for rent as passive income (we own our home here in LA, thank you Jesus), or japans ministry visa (we both have ministered/been pastors in the past). Our kids are already on online school and ready to go, all we’re wait for is who will approve us first. (Portugal will approve first but we can’t leave that country until the residency cards show, and that can take up to two years, so we’re going to weigh our options when it’s time to pull the trigger) Good on yall for having an exit plan from this country too. It’s about to get wild, and so many of us are deeply unprepared for what’s coming. Mexico will allow in the country for 180days, then you have to exit (get passport stamped) to return again (get passport stamped), that might be the best route for most, because you can just leave and go to any other country and then you immediately get a fresh 6months. (You cannot legally work in (for Mexicans) with this visa) just have a work from home job. Like medical billing or something.

[@hallease]

Oh, we don't even have concepts of a plan 😂 but I'm very interested to see Portugal as well because once again, I've heard good things. I'd actually love to move to Spain (since I know Spanish pretty well at this point), but I don't think they're as welcoming as they used to be. I could definitely do Mexico since all of my work is online anyway but Mr. Hallease would need something. We're still working on paying off all of his student loans so we can be debt free before we really talk strategy for leaving.

[@gowithdflo]

Congrats Hallease on successfully hosting your first group travel trip. As someone native to the Caribbean, I'm interested in understanding what you mean by you're too bougie to consider Costa Rica long term? what challenges do you forsee in being there for a long time?

[@hallease]

While the quality of life healthwise is dope there, the infrastructure of what I'm used to (as a bougie American) would be a hard adjustment. So, the difficulty of getting certain goods and products for example. Unfortunately, that's something the US does really well (to a fault, to be fair) but still.

[@gowithdflo]

@@hallease Thanks for the clarification. I can understand the concern about access to certain products (admittedly here in T&T we will have access to US products, in some instances though, it may be costly to acquire). If you are ever considering a country within the Caribbean for a future group trip, consider Trinidad and Tobago.

[@mayaimani7679]

If you are doing recon remember to spend time outside the resorts. A place is different when people are not serving you. I went to Costa Rica a few years ago and I didn’t like it.

[@hallease]

Yeah we bopped around San Jose a bit after everyone left and also did a few things outside of the resorts as well. I liked visiting Costa Rica to see what it is but yeah I don't think it's a long term solution for me.

[@easiersaidwithmeg]

@@halleasetry panama city/ guatemala/ anything!

[@seanhenriques808]

I took my family to Costa Rica for our 10 year anniversary/family moon and we got back yesterday. We all loved it and you captured a lot of the reasons why so well. I really like your line though that while it is nice being bougie means it might not be the best place to relocate to. I’m not gonna lie. I’m the same way lol.

[@hallease]

Listen if I can be consciously luxurious wherever I'm at then imma lean towards that. Costa Rica is gorgeous but there are a few draw backs with infrastructure.

[@Eve.Daniels]

Girl you ever wanna check out Sweden let me know! 😅 The transition was like pulling teeth but I've been here 4 years now and can't imagine going back.

[@KC-YouTubeName]

8:36😂😂😂

[@hallease]

He's always goofin'

[@TheOnlyTaps]

Awesome watch 🫡

[@adamabeaudry8189]

Did you film with the pocket 3 ? If yes, which lut do you use ? I have the same skin tone as you and I'm having too much trouble balancing my skin tone with D log M ... Please help me

[@hallease]

Yes, I filmed most of this on my Osmo Pocket 3. I use a combination of color correction/LUTS/grading built into premiere. I'll probably do a vlog about it soon because folks are asking about it alot.

[@adamabeaudry8189]

@ People are asking because your footage looks incredible and I think most of pocket 3 users can’t reach this level of quality and at some point it can be frustrating .. But yes I’m looking forward to this video ! Keep up the great work :)

[@hallease]

Noted! Full disclosure, I use Adobe Premiere for all of my editing but it seems like folks really forget about the mimo app for the pocket (which has built in luts to make the footage look dope!)

[@UAP_Close_Encounters]

Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful😇😊

[@alanizelliot]

I love thiss for you guys 💕

[@UAP_Close_Encounters]

just tried voice enhance- pretty cool!

[@savoryexposure]

This is great. Was this filmed with the Osmo Pocket 3?

[@hallease]

Yes! I good 85% of it was filmed on the Osmo Pocket 3

[@arihawkins7414]

You might like Portugal then!

[@hallease]

I really want to go but I've invested so much in learning Spanish that I'm not sure I want to do it all over again to learn Portuguese...

[@ialwaysshine.]

Dope! I never really considered Costa Rica cuz I'm not fluent in Spanish. Is it a must to speak Spanish, or do the locals know a bit of English?

[@hallease]

The locals understand quite a bit, in the touristy spots, but if you're living there, I think you'll need to know Spanish fluently (if not close to it).

[@corinthhunter2416]

I loved Costa Rica...but the snakes were SO big 😂. Scared the whizz out of me!

[@hallease]

It was the spiders for me!

[@Passion84GodAlways]

👑❤️🖤💚👑

[@ipsilonia]

wait why you didn’t really like it there for a long-term home?

[@hallease]

While the quality of the community is great, compared to the US, the infrastructure to get goods and some services isn't quite there (that's why I said, I know I'm bougie in the vlog).

[@tacrewgirl]

@@halleaseI was shocked when you said you were bougie. I wish you had described what you wrote about in the end of the video because like the OP, I too was confused when you ended abruptly and said Costa Rica wasn't for you. Where are you exploring next.

[@JustFluffyQuiltingYarnCrafts]

Thank you for sharing this glimpse into this wonderful trip.❤ Hoping that the surgery and recovery goes well. 🫂