When I say I booked a last minute cruise, I mean I hopped on the cruise boat about three hours after I landed on the islands!

The Galapagos is one of those places you learn around in elementary school, but you never think you’ll actually end up there visiting. Well, that changed for me this past week. But with expectations set so high for such a place, you’re almost guaranteed to be let down right? Happy to tell y’all – that wasn’t the case!

Now, this isn’t going to be a post on how to do the Galapagos on a budget because well, I didn’t really do that (though I mean, I wasn’t throwing money in the air either). After I booked my ticket to the Galapagos (about two weeks before I left), I started looking at blogs on what to do while there. Turns out, no matter what, the islands are super expensive (okay, wasn’t THAT surprising to me). Just some numbers for you: $30 transfer each way between islands, $25 minimum hostel cost per night, $15 average cost of a lunch/dinner, $100-200 for a day trip for a snorkel/dive… I had 9 full days and I started to feel overwhelmed with the amount of planning and time wasted every day trying to do everything on my own.