We decided not to buy return tickets when we booked our flight.  We heard conflicting information about whether this would be a problem, but enough people had gotten to Nica without a return ticket so we decided we’d go that route.  Tickets are took expensive to change after booking and we didn’t want to plan on a date we had to come back.

This turned out fine for all of us except Titus.  The lady at the United Check-In desk explained that Nicaragua would fine United if they allowed a Lap Infant to travel only one way unless they had residency or a visa.  After much negotiation we purchased a ticket via Kharron’s cell phone right there at the desk.  The ticket had to be through United since it needed to be manually tied to our existing reservation.  If we had done this prior via one of the flight booking websites (Kayak, Orbitz, Priceline) the reservations would have already been tied together and we could have used a cheaper airline.  We booked my $1,500 one-way ticket only to Houston since that’s where United’s hub is and thought that would be the least expensive option.

*Since this experience we learned that we should have purchased a refundable flight and cancelled the next day.  Unfortunately we were exhausted after our repacking adventure, it was late, and we were managing 2 kids and didn’t think quickly enough to save ourselves this painful lesson.

*I’ve now heard that the best way to get out of this is to book a Tica Bus ticket to Costa Rica within 90 days of entering Nicaragua and print a copy to show the agent. Not sure if this would have worked in our situation, but not a bad idea and a small investment to make.