<7> The Journey; in the air

We arrived at the Alaska Air terminal around 8am, our flight was at 1:20 and the terminal didn't open until 10:30. We fortunately had this time to reorganize some things, re-drug the cats, feed Mr Baby and decompress before our big day. The terminal opened and our agent was a very kind lady that made the whole debacle a smooth transition. We got our oversized bin, our 3 suitcases and our extra carry-on checked and she waved her magic wand to make sure we didn't have to pick up our bags anywhere along the way and sent them to go all the way through to CR! We checked Makó in and had 2 hours before boarding so we headed to a restaurant to relax and eat.

Well, we missed our opportunity to get on the plane first because we were relaxing and when we arrived at our gate, we were the last ones to get on the plane.

I'll draw you a picture, because I didn't take one and should have; Mr Baby's stroller with the carseat attached, 2 carry on bags in the carseat and 2 cats on top of that. Chase carried two bags while I wore Mr Baby.

Now, you can't take a stroller onto the plane itself, so I carried a bag on my back and the carseat ahead, making sure not to bump Mr Baby, while Chase carried 3 bags and 2 cats.

Fortunately, the flight attendant was very nice and took the car seat for me and put it on our seat ...at the back of the plane.

"Sorry, excuse me, I apologize, thank you, I'm sorry" as we clombered our way passed the plane full of guests to our seats at the back.

We got everyone settled, the plane took off and landed just as suddenly, our flight was 42 minutes from Vancouver to Seattle. Once in Seattle, we collected Makó and headed to the parking garage for our free hotel shuttle. The driver was amazing, loaded everything for us, with a smile on his face and was very calm. The Radisson in Seattle was gorgeous. We went for a walk and then got food, showered and had a good sleep before getting up at 4:30am for our 7:20 flight to L.A.

Unfortunately and as luck would have it, our ticketing agent was new and flustered. He berated me for not coming 20 minutes earlier, when all we had to do was check Makó. In Vancouver, the agent did 4x the work in 40 minutes, it took this guy over an hour. It was around 6:30 when we finally got in line for security, we made it through in record time, ran to the other side of the airport (with our gerry-rigged stroller et al), made it onto the train that brought us to our gate and yet again, were the last people on our flight. Yet again, at the back of the plane. The flight attendants weren't so kind this time so we heaved everything down that narrow-ass aisle on our own.

We got to LAX, deboarded, just to find out we were getting back on the exact same plane. We had 30 minutes and hadn't yet filled out our health pass (mandatory for entry in CR) so Chase scrambled to complete them while I ran to fill our water bottles as we hadn't had any water (or food) all day. Yet again we were the last on the plane. Yet again, at the back and again, no help offered. I asked when food would come around and the response I got was "Did you pre-order?" F***, obviously I had no idea we had to, so we survived off of the dried mangoes and apples I'd packed as a light snack... We'd last eaten at 7pm the day before.

We arrived in Costa Rica around 6pm, made it through immigration and Customs, all of our luggage was waiting for us (thank you, universe), we retrieved Makó and the airport staff brought ALL of our luggage to our shuttle driver. It was amazing service and we tipped them adequately. Our driver was wonderful, spoke a little English and brought us to a small market for basic essentials and then again further down the road for food! Glorious food.

We arrived at our condo, ate our hearts happy, unpacked a

little bit and went to bed. The next morning I made breakfast tacos, we unpacked some more and went in the pool. We move at a slower, more relaxed pace here and I like it.

We walked to a local restaurant, had amazing ceviche and turned in for the night.

Yesterday we met up with a good friend who drove us around to get groceries, household items and other necessities, we got home, made dinner and then had another wonderful swim.

Today, we walked around the compound; there is a gorgeous gravel path, a dog park, 3 pools and fruit trees! We saw lots of beautiful foliage, ate fruit for breakfast (these mangoes are bigger than my hand!) and spent lots of time in the pool.

It's safe to say, we're happy.

I'm healing.

Pura Vida.