Traveling

Cristina and I had high hopes of being all packed up and ready to go early enough to get a normal night’s sleep. But alas, this trip was to be no different than usual. We got to bed around 4:30 am, with my alarm set for 6:15. The kids were fairly bright-eyed and eager to get going, but Cristina and I were in a yucky, headachy, bleary-eyed fog as we forced a big egg breakfast down our throats and prepared to get to the airport.

Nancy Yaki and her daughter Bo arrived around 7:30. I loaded all the luggage (9 bags to check, 10 to carry-on, plus a stroller, a car seat, and some bagged lunches) into Nancy’s truck. Then, I drove Cristina and the kids to the airport in the van while Nancy stayed at the house. Returning to the house, I put the van in the garage, and then drove with Nancy to the airport in her truck with the luggage.

You’re supposed to check-in for international flights 2 hours early. We were about 30 minutes late, but it ultimately didn’t matter because our plane had mechanical problems. We were delayed an hour and a half. As a result, they gave us food vouchers for lunch. By the time they gave them to us, though, we were going to be boarding in 15 minutes. So we grabbed some food from Wendy’s, which was right beside our gate. We carried it on to the plane and finished eating it there.

Funny, when you’re in an airport, you tend to feel like you’re already gone, already started on your trip. Being in Sky Harbor airport for several hours before finally taking off made me feel like we had already left. So when we did take off, it was almost disorienting to see our neighborhood (we live near the airport) quickly shrinking below us.

The flight was standard-issue. Cristina was able to sleep for an hour or so with Isabella. I think I got about 15 minutes of a doze. Sofia read some and Alex watched some of the in-flight movie, “Glory Road.” Because of the delay, they gave everyone complimentary headphones, instead of the usual charge.

Because of the delay, we were at risk of missing our connection in Atlanta. We set down with about 15 minutes to spare, but it took nearly that long to get off the plane. Luckily, we met a couple, Doug and Anna, from Tucson who were also connecting to Costa Rica. They offered to help us with our carry-ons so that we could get to the gate more quickly. We all barely made it. Sweaty and hearts racing, we took off from Atlanta without even stopping to think about the fact that we were briefly in Atlanta.

Delta showed “The Pink Panther.” Alex mildly enjoyed the more slapstick moments. I must admit that even I laughed at the part where Steve Martin and Jean Reno start dancing to prove that they are Beyoncé’s backup dancers. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, but that scene cracked me up.

We touched down in San Jose with rain-streaked windows. It was about 8:30 pm, Costa Rica time, 7:30 Arizona time. Right before we landed, Sofia said, “let’s clap when we land!” She remembered that this is the custom for Costa Ricans. So as soon as the wheels made contact, we started clapping. There was a decent smattering of applause throughout the plane, no doubt partially instigated by us. We were satisfied.

To our surprise, Monica Fallas, who works at the airport, greeted us right outside the plane. Monica is an old family friend who, if you’ve read my other Costa Rica journals, you’re sure to be familiar with. She helped us all the way through baggage claim. It was chaotic when we finally got out to the street. The airport guys wouldn’t let us take the carts past a certain point. They wanted us to use them and their carts, which of course we would need to pay them for. Call me cheap, but I couldn’t bring myself to pay anyone to carry my luggage 20 feet after I’ve dragged it through my house, loaded it on and off a truck, and carted it through 2 airports. Since Ramon and friends were right there waiting for us, I hauled it all 2 pieces at a time while Cristina waited with it.

There to greet us were Ramon and Maritza, Maritza’s son Ricardo, and the Sheridans: Bill, Jennifer, and Callista. The Sheridans are recent transplants from Phoenix. Sofia and Callista, who were in third grade together, were excited to see each other again. They compared their heights, noticing that they were almost the same.

We loaded up into Ricardo’s car and the Sheridans’ car. As I put luggage into Bill’s car, I wiped some drops of water off the car and asked, “What’s this stuff?” Bill laughed. I told him he must have driven past some sprinklers on the way to the airport. We drove to Pavas, a city suburb west of San Jose, which is much closer to the airport than Grecia, which had been a good 30-minute drive. It took us about 15 minutes to get to Ramon and Maritza’s house.

We got all the luggage inside, took quick showers, and went to bed. By the time we were all asleep, it was after midnight.

To see more photos from this day, click here.