My wife and I have two sets of Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z hiking poles. They are carbon fiber and fold into 3 pieces. There is a flexible cord holding the pieces together.
We’ve had them for quite a long time. They are light, more flexible than telescoping poles (i.e., not as rigid and flex a bit more) and strong, in my experience. They’ve held up well and we have taken them on many hiking trips. I take mine on many of my photo trips.
We also have telescoping hiking poles. We bought the Black Diamond folding poles because they are smaller when folded than the telescoping poles and fit in our smaller luggage at the time. On photo trips I often put mine in one of the side pouches of my camera backpack to have when needed.
The Black Diamond poles come in different lengths. Barbara is 5’1” and her poles are 110 mm. The longest piece when folded is approximately 14”.
I have a longer pair. 135 or 130 mm. The longest piece is approximately 16 3/4“.
These days I usually take folding poles when travelling. The only downside is you can’t adjust the length. With telescoping poles I usually set them a bit shorter for uphill and a bit longer for downhill.
It looks like REI still sells Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z folding poles. Given how long we’ve had ours, I can’t be certain that the current models are the same as what we bought. But they may be worth a look.
Have a good trip to Costa Rica.
[Edited to remove reference to carry-on luggage (we probably checked our smaller rolling bags) and add detail to flexibility.]
