The Adventure Starts Early...

So we made it to the airport yesterday without as much "margin" as I had hoped for but thankfully Joe's mom and step dad were there to keep the kids happy and supervised (you know so no one asked them to "hold" their bag which may have had a bomb in it or something). Also Aunt Joyce and Uncle Gary were there to pick up friends from their flight and they came bearing flight distractions so that was very helpful too.

We ate dinner on the other side of security so I wasn't stressed about how long the security line might be getting while we ate. Bridget and I ate at Qdoba ($12) while Joe and the boys ate at Ivar's (fish and chips and bottled water) for $35!! From now on I will be supervising all airport meals!

Getting on the flight to Denver went very smoothly despite a woman having words with the flight attendant and then "flipping her the bird" (overheard the flight attendant telling another attendant) but nothing seemed to come of that situation so everything was smooth. The kids had free TV so they got to watch Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and Boomerang while I watched House Hunters International. I sat next to Gus and Bridget and they were sooooo good. I also wore my compression socks for the flight and I had no swelling issues with my ankles and feet so I will definitely wear them again.

We arrived in Denver and were required to submit proof that we were not staying in CR longer than 90 days (our return tickets are for 9 months out). Our travel books said it wasn't a big deal but apparently things have been tightened in the last couple of years. So they gave us some options. We could buy a JetBlue ticket that is 100% refundable and then cancel it for about $2500 but we didn't have a card to put that on and doing it would have been very complicated and cost us money to get our money back out of the US (it's complicated and not really worthy of an explanation). So basically we didn't get on the flight to Costa Rica and found a shuttle to a hotel where we stayed the night last night. Heads hit the pillows @ 1:30AM Denver time.

We emailed the hostel owner who got back to us and told us that if we emailed copies of all 5 passports that she could pay someone $10 to go to San Jose (10 min from the hostel) and buy 5 Ticabus tickets to Managua for us and then scan then and we could print them off and take them to the airport. This hostel doesn't have a way to accept credit cards or paypal so she is paying with her own money trusting that we will show up (I guess we seem genuinely desperate). So right now we are waiting for our tickets to be purchased and scanned so that we can prove we aren't planning to stay there forever. Our tickets to Nica will be for Monday so we will have two nights in Costa Rica and then we will take the bus to Managua and then we will get on a local bus to San Juan del Sur for our Spanish classes. Wow, this isn't easy but I will feel better once we get out of the US. I am so amazed at the kindness of this woman who is going to pay money out of her pocket for people she has never met. She even proposed the plan over email before we even talked to her.

The hotel has been very accommodating as well. They gave us a late check out at 2:00 and then when Joe asked they told us we could just stay in the room until we need to leave for the airport and they told us they have a free shuttle that will take us to Walmart so that we can buy snacks to eat on the plane. Gus eats so much and is starving all the time. Normally I would make him suck it up and deal but we are trying to make this as pleasant as possible for everyone. So we will endure Walmart Supercenter for the sake of family harmony (or at least less discord).

So that is where we are today. Sorry my post isn't particularly clever or edited but I am just trying to get the info down. Hopefully the next post will be in Costa Rica!!!

Coveting your prayers.....