The Los Angeles Times' 14th-annual Travel Show and inaugural industry conference, January 27-29, convened more than 24,300 celebrity speakers, travel professionals, industry leaders, members of the media and consumers at the L.A. Convention Center, smashing the previous attendance record by more than 21 percent and officially making it the must-attend Southern California travel event of the year.

The Manuel Antonio National Park is a small biological peninsula found within an area devoted to different productive activities, such as agriculture, cattle and high tourism development. It is one of the country’s most scenic and beautiful national parks. The mean annual temperature is 27°C, with a minimum temperature of 20°C.

Our park habitat consist of primary and secondary forest, the most characteristic species of flora in the primary forest are guácimo colorado (luehea seemannii), pilón (hieromyna alchomeoides), cedro maría (calophyllum longifolium), guapinol blanco (hymeneae courbaril), surá (terminalia oblonga), guapinol negro or stinkingtoe (cynometra hemitomophyla), lechoso (cow tree/brosimum utile), cenízaro (pithecelobium saman)and ceiba (silk cotton tree).

Of its most important fauna we find the raccoon, coatamundi, agouti, two-toed sloth, the white-faced and squirrel monkey. You can also enjoy the beauty of beaches like Espadilla Sur, Puerto Escondido and Manuel Antonio.

Manuel Antonio offer the uniquely breathtaking fusion of scenic mountain beauty and an active lifestyle. From championship surf tournaments, hiking, rafting/kayaking, canopying, bird watching or sport fishing, Quepos and Manuel Antonio offers something for everyone.

The country’s major airport is located in the capital city of San Jose. Flights during low season can be under $500 – which can save you a few hundred or more off of winter rates. Traveling to Costa Rica requires a valid passport, but no visa.

Once you arrive you will be lined up for immigration processing. At the back of this room is a subtle display for pre-purchasing your departure tax. This $26 fee must be paid in U.S. dollars and is required before check-in for the return flight. Take advantage of this pre-purchase opportunity, which will take you 30 seconds and save you from a long line the day you fly out.

Late April in the Northland isn’t exactly a tropical vacation, but it may be the best time to take one. This is Costa Rica’s low travel time due the rainy season renamed by savvy marketers as the green season starting the last week or so of April and running through November. Though brief afternoon showers may send one scrambling for intermittent shelter, the great deals and beach elbowroom make it worthwhile.

Lush Manuel Antonio (home to the national park of the same name) rises up to every seaside fantasy one has while forcing a shopping cart through Duluth slush. Rows of surfboards are planted along the white sand beach next to lounge chairs shaded by thatched umbrellas

Costa Rica adventure travel guide for worldwide holidays featuring tips, advice and useful information on adventure activities on tours provided direct from local tour operators. This guide helps you find out what to see and do and plan your travel itinerary.

Experts in archaeology, art and other fields visited several sites in the Southern Zone last week, where many of the spheres, of varying sizes, have been discovered. San Jose Costa Rica

In the forward to the book, Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler writes that the book expands on his own list of places to go and things to do. It's a bucket list for travelers -- a very long bucket list. From the "Ultimate Itineraries" to the "Coldest & Hottest Places in the World," the table of contents has something for everybody. The book is 356 pages in paperback, full color, and the price is $22.99.

It may be difficult to think of Spring Break destinations when it looks more like the Winter Olympics outside, but students bound by university calendars, term papers and laboratories will take much-needed holidays when and where they can.

So where will the university crowd go in 2010? For the majority of breakers, the answer this year is much the same as last year.