Saturday, February 3, 2024 - And away we go to Costa Rica
We are finally ready to go to Costa Rico. Getting ready seems to have taken along time, the planning, getting enhanced driver’s license, renewing our trusted travelers status, dealing with technology issues (new phone, new hotspot, pairing all of our gear, getting all the right cords for older tech, and newer tech, changing passwords because of a data breach, ugh), packing all the bags not the way we want them but the way TSA wants them, trying to eat up all the perishables before we leave, closing up Donner for the winter, taking care of household issues that never fail to pop up just before we leave….and the list goes on.
Our flight tonight from Sacramento is at 11:57 pm on American Airlines. We upgraded to business class hoping to have more room for our long legs, big feet, and a little more comfort. We arrive at the airport about 7:00pm , plenty of time to check in, eat dinner, relax, and board the plane.
Airport departures on Saturday night are not very busy, nevertheless we wear our face masks. We have heard too many stories from friends who have gotten Covid after an encounter with the airport and air travel. We don’t want to start our time here unwell. Just in case, are leaving a couple of days before our tour with EF Go Ahead Travel, so that we can relax, recuperate, and get better in the event we get sick. So many things to think about.
We easily drop off our 1 bag, and breeze through security with our personal item and carry on. We love being a trusted travelers. We haven’t traveled since 2019, and forgot how nice it is not to have to take off your shoes, pull out all your bottles (even though we packed for it), batteries, laptops, take off your jewelery, belt, etc. So we clear, yes!
Now dinner, hmm….the only restaurant open is the Iron Horse Grill. Happy there is at least one place where we can eat….and drink. We would have stayed longer, but the wooden seats in the restaurant are obviously intended to be uncomfortable enough to dislodge you and turn the table over. We move out to the waiting area for our flight. It starts to rain, just as we board the plane.
Sooo, first class and business class are all lumped together on this flight. We have limited leg room but only two across with a console in between. We got a small glass of juice or water, a bag of pretzels and two small cookies. I’m really worried now about the next leg of the flight on coach, given the puny amenities of business/first class. Oh well, we are going to sleep most of the way anyway.
We arrive in Miami, about 8:00 am, and head to a restaurant across from the second gate change for our breakfast. We didn’t even get a morning cup of coffee…apparently you had to wake up really early for that and ask.
We chow down in the event our flight to Costa Rica is as sparse or worse than our business class flight. Russ and I decided during the planning process, that we would book coach on the day flight, but did book the exit seat that typically has more room, and 1 window, 1 aisle seat…..this works more than 50% of the time so that the seat in the middle is usually not chosen…and that was the case this time too. But before we boarded the plane, our gate and departure times changed two more times so we yo-yoed between gates….at least we got our “steps” in. Our flight kept getting delayed which was too bad because some bad weather was moving in.
Had we left earlier it wouldn’t have been a problem. But crikey, just as we were boarding, sirens went off and there was an emergency tornado warning. All personnel had to take cover indoors, and the runways closed. That didn’t stop us from boarding though, and we sat in the plane for over an hour until the tornado warning was cleared. We didn’t see signs of a tornado, but the sky was dark, wind was fierce, and the rain poured down….perfect flying conditions.
Russ and I put air tags in our bags, and at least when the luggage was finally loaded on board, we were happy to see that our one checked bag was on the same plane with us..one less worry. Oh my gosh we were so happy with our seats. No one in the middle, an amazing amount of leg room. We were sitting in row 16 and this new plane only had restrooms in the back of the plane. Guess they don’t want anyone going forward towards the cockpit and main door.
I don’t know how this works during good weather, but it was very inconvenient when most of the flight was turbulent and we were confined to our seats, for a short period of time when the seat belt signs were off, the beverage cart which started from the back and moved forward, blocked the passage for those who need to use the bathroom. Geez! Too bad they didn’t think about that when designing this plane. When the beverage cart passed us we got up to “go”, but there was a line in front of us, oh…..and the beverage cart was coming back, and the seat belt sign came back on and we were instructed to take our seats…maybe we should have considered diapers. Sigh!
When we finally arrived, at least we were some of the first passengers off and rushed to the restrooms. Our 1 checked bag was on the carousel (always a relief) to see it!
We collected our bag and went through an easy-out customs. There was a line of taxi drivers with name signs….we hunted for our name but, couldn’t see it after traipsing back and forth three times. When we finally contacted our driver, he told us he was eating in the cafeteria and would be out soon. We were well over two hours late. He had been waiting a long time.
At last we arrived about 3:30 at our hotel in San Jose. We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and repacking our bags in a more convenient manner to our travel needs, ate a late dinner in the hotel restaurant, and crashed into bed. Day 1 finally over!
All is well with the Worrall Travel Rs in San Jose Costa Rica.
Day 2 Tour