Fed up of being treated like a piece of baggage, Bob my trusty backpack has decided to leave me in Phoenix on route to Charlotte, north Carolina. Bob I`m sorry i crammed you to bursting, dragged you through the dirt and then looked at those sexy, young models because you looked old and worn - please come back!
Within 2 minutes of arriving at Honolulu airport to fly to Mexico via Phoenix i discover my flight has been delayed 3 hours and my connection would be screwed. It's ironic that i could have chosen a later (by 20 minute) flight, but didn't due to the shorter transfer time and this one was doing OK. I got a boarding card for a later flight from Phoenix and only discovered when I'd arrived that it would send me to Charlotte. Could this be the name of Cancun's airport i wondered, i didn't think so, so i checked. Thank goodness i did, without telling me, they were expecting me to fly to Charlotte, stay overnight and then catch a flight (with no ticket) to Cancun. Thank you US Airways. My luck changed with the help desk lady, i wrangled a free flight to wherever was the next place they were flying to in Central America, which turned out to be Costa Rica, along with 2 drinks vouchers. As my 2 bottles of wine put me into a much needed sleep, little would i know Bob wasn't with me and that i was to get a nice wake-up call to the joys of travelling.
At around 11pm, the outside of San Jose's arrivals is a bustling free for all with taxis and touts. I need that wake-up, I'm dead on my feet as it's been nearly 40 hours since i slept properly, i speak very little Spanish, I don't have a place to stay in town and I'm not sure where town is. In typical style I'd read just enough to get by when arriving in Mexico. It's funny, but i wasn't worried at all, just angry and upset, and then angry some more that I'd let this bother me - after all it's really not a big deal, just annoying. After about 30 minutes of trying to recall all i knew about Costa Rica, getting distracted by people watching (there were lots of weirdos around), i finally got back to reality and organised somewhere to stay and a lift there. It would be another day before i could snap myself out of feeling sorry for myself - come back Bob, i miss you...