Traveling to Costa Rica
Thursday morning, March 9th, 2017, we get up at 4 a.m. We hadn't had much sleep the night before because of our adventures in Atlanta the night before. So we took a shuttle to the airport from our hotel and were signing in with the Kiosk by 5:15 a.m. Right on track! We had previously chosen Spirit Airlines to travel to Costa Rica because they were the cheapest by at least a couple hundred dollars. The downside was, you had to pay $50 a piece for carry-on luggage!! How is that even possible? I have flown on different airlines throughout my whole life and never had to pay extra to bring carry-on luggage on the flight. But we paid the fee and moved on. We thought for sure 2.5 hours would barely be enough with all the people running around in the airport that morning. But we got through security, found our gate right away and took a underground shuttle to our terminal. We had enough time to get breakfast, that made me happy! We got to our gate with still an hour to spare. Yay! Now was the time to think about how much fun we were going to actually have when we got there. My husband had been planning this trip for weeks. All the way down to making a complete itinerary of what adventures we would be doing each day we were there. We were only going to be in Costa Rica for 5 day, but 2 of those days were traveling, which sucked by the way. But the other 3 days was full of craziness. I had thought of everything, ordered stuff online, more stuff then I needed and here we were. All ready to finally go.
Thank goodness our tickets said Zone 1 when they started boarding people. That meant, we were pretty much the first people on the plane. We grabbed our seats and got comfy. Of course, we didn't pick our own seats, so we were stuck with someone in the seat next to us we didn't know. While everyone was grabbing their seats and the flight attendants were letting us know to turn off our electronic devices, I looked over at my husband, who looked slightly annoyed. He had only been on one other flight in his life, to Boston, Massachusetts, and that was a few years ago. He wasn't too fond of plane rides. To be honest, I wasn't much either. When I was a kid my parents brought me and my sister on a plane probably twice a year. We went to various places and I was terrified of the plane rides, but my dad would always talk me through it. As I've gotten older I haven't given much thought about the flight, and didn't really worry to much about it until just then when I looked over at my husband. My husband is funny, he would jump out of a plane, skydiving, but a regular plane ride makes him uncomfortable. Oh well, we both got over it, with hardly any turbulence at all, we were in Fort Lauderdale within the next 1.5 hours. We only had one more flight and we'd be there! As soon as we landed in Fort Lauderdale and got to our gate, we were boarding our next plane. As soon as we took off, I thought I got a pretty cool shot from the air, with the plane wing and the little islands we saw along the way.
That plane ride was about 2.5 hours and was pretty smooth the whole way there which was great. That was until the landing. It was terrible. The pilot kept turning, it was like we did three full circles and every time we would circle, the wind would catch and it would jerk the whole plane. It was a little nerve racking. But we were there! I could see San Jose from the plane window! About 15 minutes later we were walking off the plane. We made it! I was so excited and it was so warm compared to the 40 degrees we left back at home. I couldn't wait until we started this adventure. That was until we saw the immigration and custom lines. This line was so long! And it felt like it was never ending. We stood there forever. Costa Rica's time difference was only by 1 hour behind our time. Not to bad. But we hadn't eaten since 6 a.m. and it was now 2 p.m. in Costa Rica. We were starving. And thirsty, I felt like I was dying of thirst. The plane offered snacks and drinks but once again, you had to pay, and the water bottles were like $4. I wasn't paying that! We were trying to stay frugal on this trip, and stick to the already planned in activities my husband had made for us. Finally, after we got through that line we were finally free.
It was time to find our rental car company we had pre-purchased through travelocity. We had to take a short bus trip over to the rental car place from the airport. It was only about 2 minutes from there. We got there, and they explained to us that we owed them $500 for the rental car.....wait, did they just say $500? YES they did! I only owed $50 for the rental car, per my travelocity form I had in my hand. I had already previously paid $55 for the mandatory insurance that travelocity offered. But, they said that didn't cover their mandatory insurance. They also told us they were going to charge us a $2,000 deposit since we didn't have a credit card, and that charge could hold on there for up to 2 months! That was a little scary, I didn't like that, so off I went next door to see what they could offer me. At this point it was like 4 p.m. and we still hadn't eaten or drank anything since 6 a.m. We were practically delirious. I went next door, they told me it would be the same price but the deposit would only charge $950 on our debit card, and that they would release it when we returned the car. That was good right? I was still a little mad about the unexpected $450 extra I was having to pay for the rental car, but it was late. I was tired and hungry and we didn't care at that point. We paid it, hopped in our rental car, and was off to La Fortuna, which unfortunately was a 2.5 hour drive from San Jose.
About 30 minutes outside of San Jose we stopped at a little Soda and ate. The waitress was so sweet but she didn't give us to much time to order, and the menu was all in spanish with no descriptions in english. I will try almost anything, I am far from a picky eater, but I still wanted to know what I was picking to eat. So, I ordered a chicken Caesar salad, lame right? Your in costa rica, where rice, beans and plantains are the ideal dish, and I ordered a salad. That was a little disappointing. My husband on the other hand, ordered the typical costa rican dish, rice, beans, plantains, and fish. I had a few bites and was extremely jealous.
After leaving, we were ready for our long 2 hour trip to Montana De Fuego(our resort). We had a lot of energy from eating for about 30 minutes, and then it hit us how tired we were from traveling all day. That last 1.5 hours, we both aren't sure how we made it. But we did! And the resort is beautiful. Very simple and very eco-friendly, compared to the other resorts we had seen along the way. Shortly after checking into our room, we realized the bathroom had a leak from the sink. After informing the resort staff, they immediately switched us to a new room. And we were off to bed.
Thank goodness our tickets said Zone 1 when they started boarding people. That meant, we were pretty much the first people on the plane. We grabbed our seats and got comfy. Of course, we didn't pick our own seats, so we were stuck with someone in the seat next to us we didn't know. While everyone was grabbing their seats and the flight attendants were letting us know to turn off our electronic devices, I looked over at my husband, who looked slightly annoyed. He had only been on one other flight in his life, to Boston, Massachusetts, and that was a few years ago. He wasn't too fond of plane rides. To be honest, I wasn't much either. When I was a kid my parents brought me and my sister on a plane probably twice a year. We went to various places and I was terrified of the plane rides, but my dad would always talk me through it. As I've gotten older I haven't given much thought about the flight, and didn't really worry to much about it until just then when I looked over at my husband. My husband is funny, he would jump out of a plane, skydiving, but a regular plane ride makes him uncomfortable. Oh well, we both got over it, with hardly any turbulence at all, we were in Fort Lauderdale within the next 1.5 hours. We only had one more flight and we'd be there! As soon as we landed in Fort Lauderdale and got to our gate, we were boarding our next plane. As soon as we took off, I thought I got a pretty cool shot from the air, with the plane wing and the little islands we saw along the way.
It was time to find our rental car company we had pre-purchased through travelocity. We had to take a short bus trip over to the rental car place from the airport. It was only about 2 minutes from there. We got there, and they explained to us that we owed them $500 for the rental car.....wait, did they just say $500? YES they did! I only owed $50 for the rental car, per my travelocity form I had in my hand. I had already previously paid $55 for the mandatory insurance that travelocity offered. But, they said that didn't cover their mandatory insurance. They also told us they were going to charge us a $2,000 deposit since we didn't have a credit card, and that charge could hold on there for up to 2 months! That was a little scary, I didn't like that, so off I went next door to see what they could offer me. At this point it was like 4 p.m. and we still hadn't eaten or drank anything since 6 a.m. We were practically delirious. I went next door, they told me it would be the same price but the deposit would only charge $950 on our debit card, and that they would release it when we returned the car. That was good right? I was still a little mad about the unexpected $450 extra I was having to pay for the rental car, but it was late. I was tired and hungry and we didn't care at that point. We paid it, hopped in our rental car, and was off to La Fortuna, which unfortunately was a 2.5 hour drive from San Jose.
About 30 minutes outside of San Jose we stopped at a little Soda and ate. The waitress was so sweet but she didn't give us to much time to order, and the menu was all in spanish with no descriptions in english. I will try almost anything, I am far from a picky eater, but I still wanted to know what I was picking to eat. So, I ordered a chicken Caesar salad, lame right? Your in costa rica, where rice, beans and plantains are the ideal dish, and I ordered a salad. That was a little disappointing. My husband on the other hand, ordered the typical costa rican dish, rice, beans, plantains, and fish. I had a few bites and was extremely jealous.
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