Got there and still had about 30 minutes to kill before the other two gals showed up. So I talked with Shannon and played catch with Benjamin. Then our shuttle came and took us to the airport, and it turns out that they didn't close the bridge...oh well! So we got to the airport real early and got through all the lines fairly quickly. Once again the little ones got us to the front of one of the lines. Unfortunately that doesn't happen in the States. lol After we got to the gates I went and found Cinnabon and had a second breakfast...very tasty. Our flight didn't leave until 12:35, so I passed time with some of the other MLSA girls that were waiting for later flights as well.
When we were talking a guy came up to us and asked if we would fill out a survey and we said sure. He was from the Costa Rica tourism department of the gov't and he started asking questions. It was a very interesting interview, all 3 of us had been to different places and done different things. And on top of that he had interesting English. He spoke it fairly well and learned it from watching American TV, but he said some crazy stuff. For example he told us "Is okay if I sit my butt down right here?" instead of "Can I sit here?" lol I'm sure I sound just as strange in Spanish, but a lot of his phrases were not what you'd say in polite company. lol
After being surveyed I went and got some lunch at the Burger King in the airport. It was 3 dollars cheaper if I got a cheeseburger than if I got a hamburger...so I got a cheeseburger. Shortly after that I boarded the plane and we took off. So long Costa Rica!
We landed in Houston and realized that instead of 3 hours for immigration and customs we only had 2 hours. Messed up by the time zones. In the words of Jennifer, "Time travel makes me crazy." We got through immigration in about 30 minutes even with the HUGE line. And my 5-year-old boyfriend carried (well dragged) my heavy bookbag most of the way through the line which was awesome. lol After that we went and got our luggage and took it too customs, and thankfully our bags didn't have to be searched so that was really quick. (My two seashells and piece of coral were not discovered!) Then we took the tram to terminal B and found gate 84 like our ticket said, but then we learned that ours was gate 73...so we had to almost run all the back over there. We showed up a bit after 7pm (boarding started supposedly at 6:45). We got there and thankfully the plane had just landed so we had a 10-15 minute delay.
So we saw a food stand and decided it was a good time to eat some dinner, but the lady was closed/closing. So one of the girls travelling with us went up to the lady and asked what she was going to do with that leftover pizza and hot dog. And she sold them to us! And then she gave us 4 leftover pretzels...Mmm! Shortly thereafter we boarded the plane and settled in for another flight. I learned the secret of how to lift of the aisle arm rests and was able to sit much more comfortablely that way.
We landed and I walked out of the gate areas and hugged my parents before headed to baggage claim. My bag was one of the first ones off and when I picked it up I learned that it was oozing...my shampoo had leaked. Said goodbye to the travelling companions, and headed to the car. Then my parents realized that they had lost their parking ticket. So the search for that began and then my mom found it in her purse...lol My daddy drove back to Greenville and I finally got in bed about 2am.
The shampoo mess was cleaned up the next day, laundry all completed, and most everything has found a place. It's nice to finally be at home! And here lies the end of my Costa Rican tale! Congrats to all who made it all the way through! :-P
:-) Rek
