Today was travel day, and I’m exhausted. I had so much work to do for both school and work that I couldn’t even start packing until midnight. Thank goodness Paul (my husband) was able to do a lot of trip shopping for me. He got me all kinds of supplies such as a flashlight, cold medicines, a money belt, sunscreen, insect repellent, and first aid stuff, and he got the camera batteries all charged up and dug up our binoculars from who knows where. I got to bed about 3 a.m., so I’m running on a hour and a half of sleep.
Of course I was late to the airport, and it was like a mob scene at 5 a.m. with hundreds of people heading to Cancun for spring break. Delta wasn’t checking in people individually – you had to do it all yourself. I was printing up my baggage tag when a Delta employee put my bag on the carousel without it. He had to take my tag and go find my suitcase in the loading area for the plane. I was so nervous that he would put the tag on someone else’s bag, or that I wouldn’t get my luggage at all in Costa Rica, but thankfully I did.
Then I left my water bottle on the plane at the San Jose airport and had to explain to airline staff who didn’t speak English what I was missing. I showed them my ticket with me seat number, and eventually they came back with my water bottle. Losing that before the trip even began was not something I wanted to have happen. But the delay got me behind the rest of the group in going through customs in San Jose. Eventually I was able to find them, and the rest of the trip to Earth University was uneventful. I was glad roommates were assigned so we didn’t have to negotiate with people we barely know over who would room with whom.