Tuesday 12/7/04 -
San Jose and Home
We wake up at the Tryp hotel and trotted down for our free buffet breakfast. It was quite tasty, with the traditional items of rice-and-beans, and the corn square in green leaf, plus waffles and cereals. The coffee guy was prompt and friendly. A nice way to end our stay.
The buffet restaurant
The pool outside
Our flight out was at 2:50pm and they told you to get to the airport 3 hours in advance, so at 11:50am. The shuttle said that it took 15 minutes to get there, but the shuttles were only at 9, 10, and then 1 and so on. So we signed up for the 10am shuttle. We went up to our room and watched Scoobie Doo on the movie channel for 20 minutes, with English subtitles, before we packed and headed down. Again, check-out was super quick and efficient, so at 9:35 we were hanging out in the lobby. Two airline pilots came down to wait with us, so this must be a reasonably comfortable hotel!
Lobby Christmas tree
The shuttle showed up at 9:50 and we were the only two in it, so off it went. As it turns out, the shuttle stopped at another hotel to pick up a third passenger - a woman who had taken a cruise to Panama and then come here. Our shuttle ride took over 1/2 hour total, so keep that in mind for your own trip if you go. Always double their estimates :)
Western invasion
The Tryp
Traffic in San Jose
The Tryp again
Mountains all around the city
Upper class home with nice fences
Our van companion had gone out to see the 'locals' and talked a lot about how they danced for the group and such, but called their music "backwards" so it seemed she still had some issues despite her attempting to "understand" the local culture.
Eventually we got to the airport. We rolled right into the main ticket counter area and were told to pay the departure tax first. Because we were here early there were NO LINES ANYWHERE but I've heard of KILLER lines if you don't prepare. So go early! Really! We were done with our departure tax ($29 each, US cash) quickly, then checked through USAir quickly too. A quick walk to security and we were in, with lots of time to spare.
We stopped at the duty free shop and got 6 bottles of Costa Rican wine, which we hadn't seen anywhere on our trip! So that was great. We then walked past the food courts and down to our gate. We had about 3 hours to spare before actual leaving time, and things were nice and quiet and relaxed. I took photos from the gate area.
We played Scrabble on Jenn's PDA, we read and relaxed. About 1:45 things began to get busy, and grumpy tourists were starting to run around getting lost and confused. The tickets clearly said boarding began at 2:00 for the 2:50 flight but apparently some tourists were last minutting it. At around 2:00 the airline personnel began loading us onto shuttle busses to go over to the actual plane. So we each went through a ticket check, got on the bus and when it was full it drove about 10 minutes to the plane. Then we all went up a long stair from the ground to the plane's door and found our seats. It was a pretty full flight, so this took a while for everyone to get on.
Finally we took off on time, saying goodbye to Costa Rica. Then we settled in for the flight. We got a ham sandwich, and I ordered a Bailey's to use up my Colones. They had a lot of trouble taking them and I had to overpay (no coins allowed) so they gave me a second one for free. All was fine until we approached Philadelphia. Apparently fog had backed up the airport and we literally circled for an hour. Everyone was worried about connecting flights, and things were chaotic on the ground. There were lines for rechecking luggage that weren't well organized. The security line you had to go through again was long - so the guards made a second line and sent the brand new arrivals into that second line. But the second line just ended up at the exact same single gate! So that made us people in the first line annoyed, that now we had to wait twice as long as newcomers zipped right past us. Finally we got through the gate and over to our plane spot. But now it turned out that our plane hadn't even gotten to Boston yet and we sat at the gate for another hour or more, until around 11pm, before it finally arrived. A family next to us with two young kids was very cranky and the kids were either screaming or the parents were arguing. They were feeding their kids sugar-candy which made the kids either insane or cranky. They didn't have any water either! I had to give them some of mine to hydrate the tykes.
Onto the plane we finally got, and they had us sit on the runway because lightining was striking near the airport. Finally we took off into the storm and it was one of THE bumpiest rides I've ever been on, with the plane sliding sideways sharply, doing sudden large drops, and the wings wobbling. It was rather nerve-wracking. But eventually it smoothed out a bit and the kids started being cranky again, two rows behind us. So I made them some origami animals and quieted them down.
FINALLY we got onto the ground and checked through at Logan pretty quickly, and got out to the car. Bob was waiting there for us with hot pizza, drinks, and a warm hug. Jenn gave up on going back to her house, as it was after 1am, and we all just went back to my house to get some well deserved rest!!
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