1. I wanted to use my passport since I just got it renewed
2. We wanted to go somewhere out of the country, yet close enough that we could go over a weekend.
3. We wanted to fly first class... meaning we had to choose a flight that had enough empty seats for us to have that possibility (you can't get first class on standby with kids under 8 so this was really our only chance)
After a small amount of research, we decided on Tuesday to go to Costa Rica! On Thursday I called a couple families to watch the kids (we have THE most amazing friends to do that for us!!!) and on Friday by 5:00 am we were off on our adventure.
First of all, we were holding our breath to get on the flight to Atlanta. We kept watching the screen and it looked like we would make it, but maybe not, but maybe... quite the rollercoaster. Finally, they called our names as the last two people (yay!), but when we got to the door they said there was only one seat available. We were left--jaws open--holding our belongings as they literally closed the plane door in our faces. How we will miss you standby.
The next flight was the exact same situation, only we got the last two seats this time--wohoo! We made it up to Atlanta, but not in time to make the Costa Rica flight at 10:00 am. The next one out was at 7:30 pm! So we decided to rent a car and go to the temple in Atlanta (all my trips seem to revolve around going to the temple, but somehow it's easier than the 3 hour drive to Orlando and heck, we didn't have kids to worry about and it seemed to beat sitting in an airport for 8 hours).
This was our rental car, the silver one... and that little red one in the back was ours until those ladies came over and said it was theirs. I know how it works, you just go to an open car and take it so I have no idea what made them think it was theirs when we already had our stuff in it, but whatever. We only needed it for a few hours anyway, but for the record, it was sooo ours.
Next stop, Quiznos... (ham and cheese for me and roast beef for Jared--the usual)
...and then Seinmart. We didn't have much time, but since this wasn't planned we had to get some church clothes. We dashed around and 15 minutes later ended up with some interesting outfits. You can't see the shoes in the pictures but I was wearing old flipflops and Jared was wearing some scuffed up brown shoes with white socks. Walking in must have been comical because my skirt kept bunching up, since I had no slip and Jared's pants kept threatening to fall down, since he had no belt, but I suppose we were at least semi-acceptable. They let us in anyway.
After returning the car, we made it on the evening flight, but there was only one seat left in first class. One of us had to take it (since it was one of the goals) so Jared let me have it. As luck would have it, the person with the seat next to me never made it so Jared got bumped up too. Sweet! We were a little embarrassed to take pictures with the flash on so they didn't turn out great, but who knew the seats were so roomy and the meals were so good up there? We were definitely spoiled.
We stayed at this Bed and Breakfast which picked us up from the airport and hooked us up with some great adventures. I loved that because I'm usually no good at planning things. It was so great to just have them do everything at such short notice. Here we are with our empty wine glasses from the complementary wine in the room. Nice touch anyway.
The place we stayed was so cool because it had this garden courtyard right outside our room (you can see it in the background). It was incredible to me because everywhere we went was outside. You'd walk in and be under a roof but soon realize that you were still outside and no AC was necessary. The air was the absolute perfect temperature with no humidity like I'm used to. Seriously, all the restaurants and even our room were open to the air and it was beautiful! It would be so awesome to live in such a temperate climate all year so that you could actually build like that.
We woke up each day to their pets--a cage full of assorted birds and Don Kiko, the monkey. Also, it was completely light at 5:30 in the morning so that was pretty cool too.
Stay tuned... this was only the first day :) I have to say that a getaway without kids and the mound of equipment needed for them was a pleasant change. We only had 3 small carry-ons for the both of us (last time we traveled we sent 12 items through the security checkpoint). Nice!
1 comment:
Ugh, bummer about losing the flight benefits, but at least Jared will still be getting the generous $4.50 an hour they were paying him.
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