We Paid $0 for this $12,000 Private Island (in Nicaragua?!)

This private island in Nicaragua costs $3,000 per night. And this beautiful cabana is going to be our home for the next four nights. Which means we should have paid $12,000 for this trip, but instead we booked it using miles and points, which cost us zero. We're not going to get into all the miles and points details in this video, but we did make a whole video over on Daily Drop's channel explaining exactly how you can replicate this trip. But even if you don't have any miles and points, you still have the opportunity to stay here because we are giving away a five night stay to and they're plus one plus $2,000 to cover your flight. It's completely free. To enter this giveaway, all you have to do is sign up for our travel newsletter, which is linked in the description below.

When you think of beautiful Caribbean beaches, Nicaragua is probably not the first country that comes to mind. But that's exactly where this island is located. Kalala is just off the eastern coast of mainland Nicaragua and it requires a bit of an adventure to get there. Our journey started yesterday where we woke up. Way to catch our first flight from Nashville to Miami.

Thank you.

After a quick visit to the lounge, we boarded our second flight, which brought us here to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua.

Thank you. We have just been stamped into our 104th country together.

Good morning. It is day two of being up way too early. Today we begin the second leg of our trip, which involves a small train ride. Train.

We're just editing a train video which involves a small plane ride from Managua to the Caribbean side of the country. And then from there we get on a boat that ultimately takes us to the island. I'm so quiet and we're also so late.

So even though getting to Kalala island is quite the adventure, so far they've done their best to make the journey as seamless as possible. Our new friend Nestor picked us up from the airport yesterday. Then he picked us up from our hotel this morning and escorted us through the airport. It felt a bit unnecessary, but kind of cool. There was VIP check in at the airport just for Kalala island guests. And then we got to be the first ones to board the plane. And a guy literally carried Nate's backpack for him and put it on the.

One hour later, we have made it to Bluefield. From here we get on a boat.

We made it to the ocean.

Welcome to Kalal Island. Thank you.

Thank you. Oh, it's so cold.

Thank you so much.

Oh my gosh. This is the best thing Ever. The best thing ever. What in the world? I'm about to pee my pants as well.

You didn't even know the camera was on when you did that, did you?

Oh, my gosh. This place has already exceeded all of my expectations, and they were pretty high to begin with. I'm so happy. This might sound a little icky, but I just need to throw it out there because we have this YouTube channel and because I'm so excited. I'm a little nervous that this entire video is going to come off as one big ad, but it's really not. None of these people know who we are. They don't know we're making a video and we're not getting any special treatment. It's already just that good. Just know everything you see in this video is genuine. Just like that fly. Now that that's out of the way, I just also need to express how excited I am to finally be in the sunshine. In case you haven't been following along. This whole year, I've either been doing something insane.

You almost died.

Or in below freezing temperatures. I can't feel my face. Majority of the time. It was a combination of both. Ow.

Okay, let me give you a tour of our beautiful home for the next four nights. Starting in our living room area. We have this couch and table, and then the whole front of the house is made of windows with this unobstructed view of the sea. The bed, I would give like a 6 out of 10 on softness. But they did give us this message in a bottle that they said just washed up on shore for us. Kara and Nate, welcome to Kalala. We wish you a wonderful stay. So made us a picture. So apparently there are no mosquitoes, which is amazing. But the reason they have nets is because of the geckos. So sometimes they get in and they lose their footing and they fall. So instead of waking up to a gecko on your face, they've added these little nets. We each have an outlet on both sides of the bed, which is so appreciated. And this is the best part of this place. The bathroom is amazing. They make their own bug spray with essential oil. Essential oils and stuff. Should just go ahead and do this since I'm already getting bit. And they give you stuff in case you do get bit. There are no mosquitoes, but they do have. I always forget the name.

And they have sunscreen. I wish I would have known because we carried on this trip, which is rare. And half of my bag is sunscreen. Oh, that was loud. Our room also comes equipped with an island speaker.

It's just a piece of bamboo that you stick your phone in, and apparently that works.

And they'll even make you one as a souvenir if you want one. We each have our own sink. The water comes from a well that's on the island. And I don't think it's great to drink. You probably can. But instead they give us filtered water in these bottles that they'll refill every day. And then they have all the amenities that you would expect. And they put, like little flowers and leaves everywhere. Just all these little details that just make it feel really special. Welcome to the greatest outdoor shower of all time. So they've added these palm branches for the vibe, but also for extra privacy. And of course, they have all the soaps here too. Here we have your standard toilet and a closet. If you know me, you know I love robes. So I'm very excited that they have these. We have a basket to take to the beach and a fan, because we don't actually have AC in here. We have three ceiling fans. And when the door is open and the breeze is coming in, it's still pretty warm during the day. But I think at night will be good. I know I said the bathroom was the best part, but I also think the outside is the best part. So we pretty much have our own private beach out here with tons of seating options. Up here on our deck, we have this table where we can sit with our coffee in the mornings. Or maybe not, because I pretty much have the same view from bed and there's a great chance I will never sit at this table. We are literally 10 steps from the ocean where we have beanbag chairs. Oh, these are great and proper lounge chairs. But the absolute best part is over here.

The dreamiest hammock underneath this casita. So whenever we need a break from the sun and it's time for a nap, you can find me right here. I'll take a Pini pilot, please. My vacation mode is been switched on, baby.

Okay, so we did not plan this trip because of this, but it is really fun that the dates lined up. We actually just realized this morning that today is actually our 16 year dating anniversary.

So we've pretty much been together forever. I don't think most people actually celebrate their dating anniversary, but ours just happens to fall on May 5 or Cinco de Mayo. So it's just really easy to remember.

That, like, we usually go get Mexican food. That's about it.

But the first thing that we considered to be an official date was going to Prom together back in 2007. So I was a senior, Cara was a sophomore. Pretty sure that's the only reason she started dating me. I wasn't cool enough to date girls my age in high school. Two years is a big difference. And I had a car. There's no way that 18 year old and 16 year old Kara and Nate would have believed you that one. We would have just been together 16 years later. I think that's absolutely crazy to think that like the person you met in high school is actually the person that you're going to end up with for the rest of your life. But also that we would be here and the life that we're living. And it's so crazy saying that you were 16 and now it's crazy saying 16 years later. Wow, we literally been together half of your life.

I voted that we make this our dating anniversary trip every day.

Oh, perfect. Of course.

I haven't had this feeling in a really long time. Our last few trips I've been going, okay, how many nights until get me.

Off this motorcycle, get me out of this frozen cave.

What?

Kara just pointed out that if we would have gotten pregnant the night of prong that we would have a kid who was almost driving.

Good morning. Normally I'm the one that has to get up and make the coffee in the relationship. But not here, not today. Today here on the island, they give you a bean menu to order from, so you get to choose your different coffee beans. And then we have a WhatsApp text with the team. We just text them and tell them what time we want it sitting outside on the table. And then it magically appears. I do still have to pour it from the French press to the cup. It's hard work.

You may notice that we are the only ones at breakfast this morning. There are never more than 10 guests on the island. But everyone else that was staying here left on a boat early this morning and the other guests don't get here until lunch. Which means that we have this place completely to ourselves for the next few hours. Not only that, but there are 20 staff that work here. So right now the current staff to guest ratio is 10 to 1.

Real quick, want to say a big thank you to surfshark for sponsoring this video. Just over the last couple days, we have connected to multiple public WI FI networks which can be a gold mine for hackers. From the lounge to the plane to the hotel, and even here, WI fi is our only source of connection to the outside world. We're putting ourselves at risk. But that's where Surf Shark comes in and the reason we've been using a VPN for over three years now. If you don't know what a VPN is, it stands for Virtual Private Network and it encrypts all the data sent between our computer and the Internet so that no one can steal our sensitive information. But a VPN can be used for more than just online security. It can also be used to unlock content that isn't available in your network. So let's say you're traveling to another country and your favorite show isn't available on Netflix anymore. It's super easy to change the virtual location of your computer and get access to a completely new content library. If you don't already have a vpn, we highly recommend Surf Shark. It's the only VPN to offer one account for unlimited devices. Plus, if you use our code karaandnate, you can get three extra months for free. And there's a 30 day free trial, so there is no risk to try it out. To get started, just click the link in the description below.

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Wow. New home sweet home. So this morning, since all the other guests left, they offered to let us move cabanas. Four of the cabanas sit on the south side of the island and they're all kind of right beside each other. And there's one that sits all alone on the north side of the island. So you pretty much have half of the island all to yourself. It's also the newest cabana that they built. It's basically the exact same as the one that we were in, except Cara says the bed's a little bit more comfortable. The biggest change is over here in the bathroom. It has been given a massive upgrade. Not only is the shower huge, but this is the only cabana on the island that has a tub. And just a reminder, this has nothing to do with the YouTube channel. They don't know who we are. They are just constantly going the extra mile to make sure whoever comes here has the best experience possible.

Okay, so this island is maybe four acres. It's tiny. So I'm just going to give you a lay of the land real quick before we start playing with everything. Our cabana is on the north side, so we're just going to make a circle around the whole thing. Going this way.

Other way.

Starting this way. Same lounge chairs and bean bags that we had at our other cabana. Except look how big our beach is.

Crazy.

This is the private walkway that leads to Arbana. Nobody is technically supposed to come down this way. It's probably at least 100ft long. So it literally feels like we have half of the island all to ourselves. All right, we're entering the main area now, where everybody has access to. This is the helipad. Apparently, some people pay a bajillion dollars and get helicoptered in and skip all of the planes and boats that we took. But I think I prefer the way we took. Maybe I'm just jealous. There are two restaurants on the island. This is restaurant number one, and it's where we're having our breakfast and our dinners every day. Last night, they pulled all the tables out onto the beach and we had a big buffet of local foods. They call it new Caribbean food. So it's the Caribbean side of Nicaragua. And everything was fabulous, especially the coconut soup. This is the kitchen where all the magic is made. And this is one of two bars on the island. And I was very excited to learn that there is a pizza oven on the island, which I'm probably going to order for lunch today.

So this walkway that we're on now goes behind the cabanas to make sure everything stays really private because the whole front of them is glass. You don't want people walking across when you're, like, getting out of the shower.

Or right next to the restaurant, we have the pool bar. They even have aloe in case we do get burn. I'm not sure how this pool area could get any better. In case we're feeling lonely over on our private beach, we can come sit in the lounge chairs here. The infinity pool and this lovely view, a drink, hang out with the other guests. And in front of the pool is the public beach that has the same seating arrangements that we have at our savannah. And.

Another amazing. Oh, we did learn that you have to be aware of the palm trees when the wind is like this. We learned on our desert island survival experience that branches and coconuts do fall.

Oh, my goodness. We almost died.

Oh, my gosh. Moving on.

This is the dock that we came in on yesterday, and we can use these paddle boards and kayaks whenever we want.

And last but not least, on our tiny island tour, we have the spa, which I'll hopefully put to use at some point on this trip.

I have a feeling if this place costs $3,000 a night, the spa treatments probably aren't cheap.

But we have a plan.

Wow. I want this so badly. Imagine getting a massage right here. Just listen.

So according to the SPA book, a 60 minute massage costs $140, which honestly is Slightly more reasonable than I expected, but I think we have a plan to get this for free. So there's been a competition going on on this island all year long, and there is a leaderboard behind the bar, and it's who can kayak around the island fastest. Apparently, the new record was just set last week, but if you can get into that number one spot, you get a free spa treatment. So my number one goal for the next three days is to win Cara a free massage.

Wow. So much from a beach bod.

We're supposed to be training.

They understood the assignment.

Are you asleep? Thought you're in here stretching.

Why don't you go test it out?

Are you ready for this? Loosen up those muscles. Should we eat the superfood?

No, it's not happening.

So this island is covered in noni trees, which produce a fruit that, when ripe, smells like blue cheese or like that. That's, like, the positive version of what it smells like. We actually tried these when we were on the island attempting to survive. In Panama, they called them starvation fruit because you would only eat them if you were about to starve to death. It's like licking the bottom of a trash bin. I'm not sure that we'll do an official timed lap today. I don't think the wind's doing us any favors, but we're gonna get a little practice, see where we stack up, and probably get to fight, because that's what always happens. Kayak together.

I've been trying to steer us while he's back there messing with the camera, and I'm up here sweating.

We got this. We're so good together. All right, paddle us that way.

Nate. No, you have to paddle.

I don't know why you don't enjoy kayak. So far, so good.

I think we need a lot of practice.

Did I start the timer?

Yeah, start the timer. I think the key is going to be getting a rhythm. So we need, like, a chance. Like, heap hope. Heap hope. Right.

There's our home.

Ow.

You got to say that before.

Winners are good leaders, Nate.

Right again. Right, Right. No, you didn't do it. Oh, I meant less.

I meant less.

We're getting the hang of it. Keep going. Carrie, you're doing so good.

I don't think I started it.

What?

Do you know what time we left? No clue.

Are you serious right now? I don't know. It might have taken 10 minutes.

So we don't know this for sure, but I think our first lap was around nine minutes, which means we have to shave off two Full minutes. Although we were filming and, like, we weren't trying 100%. But there's a big task that lies in front of us. To be number one on that board. I might end up buying care of that massage after all.

How you feeling?

They brought us out to go on a little fishing trip, and you always.

Hold it above the hook. So this is the setup. We have a weight on the bottom, the shrimp on a hook, and we're just going to let it down. Apparently, fishing with locals has become a new thing. This is. Is great. Muy fel.

Me.

Yeah.

You feeling nibbling? You're falling. Just pull. Yes, sir.

Have you ever done this before on.

The island when we tried to survive in Panama?

No.

Gosh, no.

Did you catch one then?

We ate, didn't we?

I didn't know Dusty caught it.

Oh, yeah, Dusty probably did catch it. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to reel it in. I have a good feeling. I just lost my shroud.

I lose this one, I'm going to blame it on the guy who put it on the hook. I think I already lost. I thought he brought a lot of shrimp, and now I'm understanding why. I thought we were going to be out here forever, but I think we have enough shrimp to be out here for five minutes.

We're going to move to a different spot.

Spot number two.

Feeling a bit embarrassed at the moment.

How many is that for lawn? 5.

Been counting.

Thanks a lot. He literally hooked it and then handed it to me and said, hold this. And then all of a sudden, there was just magically a fish on. So we come out to the edge of the reef in search of bigger fish that I may actually be able to catch. And one of two things is going to happen pretty soon. I'm going to catch a fish or I'm going to throw up.

Oh, no. Nice.

Awesome feeling.

You feel it, Nibel? No. Maybe you need to cross your line over this.

Good job.

I got it. Pull him up, pull him up, Pull him up. Yes. Come in the boat so I can go home and not be seasick anymore.

Hey.

Fish or no fish, I could just sit out here on the boat all day. And thankfully, I have the gift of not getting seasick.

We went in a team, so we catch them in a team. Oh, I like that. I don't know when everybody else is catching all these fish.

It.

Gonna miss these coffee deliveries. So this morning we left the door open for a nice breeze, which felt good. And then we came over here.

Whoops.

My coffee hasn't really kicked in yet. And I walked in here and I was like.

I'm so happy. So we've been nomadic for over seven years now and we've always tended to move pretty quickly. But this year we've been moving as as soon, especially fast. So I've actually for the first time been keeping track of how many beds we've slept in this year. And since the beginning of 2023, we've slept in 63 different beds. And if you do the math on that, it means we've slept in a new bed every two nights.

Crazy.

All of this to say we've gotten pretty good at settling into places very quickly. I pretty much immediately feel like home whenever we get to a new place. And we're very, very good at establishing routines. And since it's day four here on the island, our last full day here.

We thought it'd be fun to just take you through the day with us hour by hour and show you the routine that we've already made here. Our island paradise home. It's going to be amazing.

We don't always work work out. I feel like this is giving us way too much credit. But the food here is so good and we figured out that if we work out in the mornings, then we have more of an appetite and we get to eat more. That's the motivation. And.

Oh, we can't tire out our shoulders. Got a kayak race to win. We don't usually do a couple workouts like this. I promise. I normally run, but the island a little small. So going here for one of her Internet workouts class, this.

Quit kicking me.

Oh, your knees are so sunscreen. This is going to ruin my kayaking time. I'm not doing it.

10 seconds. A little bit more space if you want.

2 and 1.

Woo. Nice work. Break. Grab your bus and get after it.

You guys, we hope you put this.

Workout to the test.

If you do.

Oh, that was not a fart. That was just the bubbles coming out of my pants. I cannot think of any better feeling than being able to jump straight into the ocean after a workout. However, it's almost not even refreshing. It's so warm. This water is like a bathtub.

Nicaragua got the memo that this girl is sick of being cold.

Also, look at this view. There's breakfast, there's our cabana, happy wife.

Sunscreen in my eye. But other than that, I'm 10 out of 10.

The feet. People are gonna love that one.

Cold. No, no, no. Oh, come on. It's like a cold plunge Quick rinse before breakfast.

We always shower like that.

You know, we haven't done yet what the beverage list ends with. Or start your day in style with. Omamosa. I mean, it is our last day.

Cheers. Cheers. I'm sure this is going to help with our kayak race later.

This is the best day ever. So our first coffee of the day, as you saw, is delivered straight to our room in a French press because this place has their priorities straight. Before my second coffee with breakfast, we've been ordering iced coffee. And if you just take a look here at our Nicaraguan beans coffee menu, it's this one. And it's basically their coffee blend that has added chocolate. Major staple on the daily routine. I am so ready for this breakfast. We're just living the good life over here. I'm telling you, the food is out of the this world. Good.

So the very first day we got here, they told us that turtles come and lay their eggs on this island. And they said it usually happens in the middle of the night. But if you want to, we'll wake you up when the turtles come. Cuz they have a guard that goes around at night and every once in a while he spots a turtle. So we said, yeah, sounds great. We love to see a turtle. I had totally forgot that we had done that. So last night I just woke up to someone pounding on the door at midnight. Leonard? Leonard, are you sleeping? And I was so confused. Thankfully, Kara was like more there than I was. It's just like it's the turtle. So we came out to this part of the beach last night and let me show you. It's kind of hard to see the depression in the sand right here. But this is the first hole that she tried to dig. This was the second hole she was digging right here when we saw her last night. She ended up laying her eggs right behind this tree. So there's a turtle conservation crew that comes around and keeps track of all of this. This. So this morning they came, they checked to make sure that there were actually eggs in the hole. And then they mark this tree as a nest. And they'll come back and check it in 60 to 90 days because that's when they're supposed to hatch. And we were told that Kalala island has almost a 100% success rate for hatching baby turtles, which is pretty cool because in the rest of Nicaragua, turtle meat is actually considered a delicacy. So it's nice for them to have this little taven. Also speaking of wildlife encounters here on the island, Kalala is actually a sloth sanctuary. So they're doing a lot of palm oil farming over on the mainland, which is really destructive to the forest, so it kills the sloth natural habitats. And if the locals find them, they know that they can bring them here to koala island and they'll have a safe place to stay. So there are currently three sloths living here on the island. And yesterday we were lucky enough to see one. It was a mom with her baby. The baby was really hard to spot. It just kind of looked like a big ball of fur. But I did just see its little hand moving once. Super cute.

Wow.

Wow.

That was a commitment.

All right, cooling off for the big race. Right.

We are about to attempt our first officially timed kayak race, and I really want a massage this afternoon.

Let's do this. Okay. This is serious. Mike has a stopwatch. He's got a whistle.

I'm nervous.

All right, so we go to the buoy there. We're gonna go around the island this way. Okay. Here we go. I think the kids call this nose mode.

Here we go.

Look at that.

I feel like we're doing really good.

Oh, we're in. Grass.

Fishing. Words out.

You got to just keep saying it if you want me to keep doing it. You have. Just keep saying it. Right. Left. Right. I've never wanted to win anything more in my life.

Oh, my gosh.

My shoulders.

Go in the grass.

Dodge the grass.

All right, here we go.

Right.

We got some grass.

Go hard.

What is it?

Give us the good news.

Oh, that's not good news.

Eight minutes.

Oh, I'm done.

You can't give up that easy.

We did get stuck three times.

We did. I'm pretty disappointed in myself. We should have checked the sandbars before we started.

Does this mean I don't get a massage?

Down.

The fourth from the bottom.

So there are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 people in front of us.

Thank you.

Losing isn't so bad.

That is not the attitude that I want my partner to have. I'm pretty sure, based on the decision decisions that we're making right now, we are not winning the kayak race.

No way.

Wow.

It looks so good.

What have we been doing?

Seriously? So every other day, we've gotten out, dried off, and then gone next door to the restaurant for lunch. But today, I was just so happy floating around in the pool. We were like, why don't we just elune here?

Private island. You can do whatever you want.

There are no rules.

There's no rules. Put your shirt back on. There's one rule.

Today just could not be any better.

I can think of one way could be better.

If I get a free massage tonight. We still have time.

You're not competitive enough.

We still have time. We're going to do it.

Okay. It is 4pm and we have one last chance to win this free massage. We're not even going to bring the camera this time so we can fully focus and somehow shave a minute off of our time. We'll do our best.

We got slower.

We paid for this. This is gonna be just as good.

I think if I would have been working out a little more consistently this year, I probably could have saved myself a lot of money. But I figured since we booked this with points and we haven't paid anything yet, we could splurge on one massage. I mean, I wanted to win a free massage for Cara, but it's honestly doubly painful. Not only did we have to pay, my pride's also a bit hurt. I really thought we were going to pull that out.

Unfortunately, that about does it for our time here on the island. We have to be on a boat at 5am tomorrow, so we've got to pack up. Then at seven we go to cocktail hour with the other guests and then dinner with the other guests. And honestly, even after seven years of filming ourselves almost every day, it's still awkward to bring our camera to stuff like that. So we're going to end it here. But before you go, I wanted to remind you that you have a chance to win a five night free stay here, plus $2,000 to cover your flights. All you have to do to enter to win is sign up for our free travel newsletter Daily Drop. Using the link in the description below. We'll also leave a QR code here on the screen. And last but not least, don't forget, if you want to learn how you can replicate this trip, head over to the video that we just posted on Daily Drop where we walk you through everything that you need to know, step by step. Thank you so much for watching this video and letting us call. Coming to a private island for four days work, we try to never ever take this for granted. And we are so grateful that each and every one of you that watch this video give us the opportunity to do that.

So salty. That's crazy. I feel like it must be like all over my skin. Oh my gosh. It is. It's in my ears. Is it in your ears? Last night we had some really good salsa with dinner and so I ordered the tomato salsa that was on the menu for breakfast. It's ketchup. Wait, what are these?

An iguana.

Okay, that's what I thought. I don't think I've ever seen a bigger iguana in my life.

I'm actually kind of skipping. Just kidding.

Yeah. Do they bite?

Yeah, I think they could.

Oh, thank you.

What's going on here? It's like a lime fish. It is a lime fish.

I had it so much my night.

Well, we tried.