Saturday, June 27, 2002

We left San Jose bright and early. Genevieve got on the plane chanting “Costa Rica, Costa Rica” in her cute little voice. No problems on this flight at all. We arrived at Dallas, and had to walk to the other terminal. Our flight didn’t leave for a couple of hours, so we went to have some lunch, way at the end of the terminal. Hike back to our gate, only to be told that our flight was now leaving from another gate, near where we had lunch. Hike back over there, only to be told, whoops, really we’re back at our first gate. And back we go. We request a gate-check ticket for our stroller only to be told they won’t give us one until right before we board. Huh? Everyone else does. Oh well. We waited some more (the air conditioner on the plane wasn’t working or something like that) and then we boarded. By now Genevieve is very cranky, and her parents are heading that way too. Once we get up to the front they are surprised we don’t have a gate-check ticket. Stop the line to go get one, which takes about five minutes. Really, this is why you give them out ahead of time…..  The very unhelpful gate agent says under her breath “They shouldn’t allow strollers anyhow” and she’s lucky I didn’t come over there and yell at her “Well they DO and you work for the airline so DEAL WITH IT”. After that, the flight was fine except about an hour late.

Upon arriving in San Jose, Costa Rica, the customs line moved quickly, we got our luggage and found the car rental counter. Unfortunately, the car is not actually in the airport but rather a short shuttle ride away. It’s now about 10:00 and Punkin is a bit sleepy, but holding it together really well. Filled out the paperwork, and picked up our car, a Diahatsu something or other that really is the smallest SUV ever made. The Rav4 looks like a Suburban compared to this thing. We somehow squish our luggage and the stroller inside, and embark on our quest to find Xandari Plantation, except, whoops! In all my visits to their website, I somehow neglected to print out the directions. The car rental guy lets us use his phone and they fax the map and a half-hour later we’re ready to go. We only got lost about five times, then Mark, the human GPS, got us on the right track and we arrived at the hotel at 11:15. They had left us the keys and a nice man helped us to our room and once we opened the door all was well. What a nice place!  rib for Genevieve was waiting, the room was perfect, so we all rolled into bed.

<<Previous | Next>>