Updated June 5th, 2025. It was 12:30 a.m. on a Thursday night, during a pandemic, with optimism on the horizon for the travel industry. I made my decision to take the leap and start booking flights for my solo journey around the world. This meant watching flights to Nicaragua daily using Google Flights, Skyscanner and a few other discount travel sites.
I had been Monitoring Flights to Nicaragua
It was 16 weeks before my epic journey when I realized that flights were starting to increase in price. I logged in to check on the flights I had been watching, and they were still within my budget range. At this point, I was still not worried, as all my flights were still within the range I had been watching. My thought process was “Do I continue to hang tight to see what happens, or do I jump on a flight in the $400 range?” Finding flight deals is a game, and they can change drastically over 24 hours, so I was ready. After about 30 minutes, I decided it’s better to be safe than sorry, so I’m just going to book! I’m doing this!
“Do I continue to hang tight to see what happens or do I jump on a flight in the $400 range”
Taking the Plunge and Booking That First Flight to Nicaragua
So I started the process to book my first flight. Everything was going smoothly until it came to confirming the chosen flight, and the cost was $962. Remember what I was saying about prices jumping drastically in an instant? After trying a few more sites, I couldn’t find anything not between $660 and $1000. After trying over 20 sites, I found one that hadn’t changed its prices, and I bought it for $415. (special shout-out to Hop2.com for being slow to change their prices!) My persistence paid off, and this is a perfect example of how much of a game purchasing flights can be. And to think this was the first of many flights I would be booking over the next 12 months. Was it going to be like this all year? I certainly hope not.
The Best Timing For Booking Flights To Central America
When booking flights, especially during a pandemic, monitor flight prices daily and be prepared to act quickly. From my experience, that 12-16 week window before departure is nearly impossible to predict. I had done a lot of reading, preparing for my trip, including booking flights, and data science suggested that the best time to book flights to Nicaragua from Toronto is 12-16 weeks before your desired departure. You don’t want to be that person on the plane where the person sitting beside you paid half of what you did for the same flight. This was a Happy ending for me in taking the leap to book that first flight as part of a journey around the world. You can follow my journey here.
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