Well, despite not having alcohol to liven things up (I've quit drinking), my flights to Costa Rica weren´t without some moments of note. Thankfully, my flight departed from Sydney without any interference from the ash cloud of the Chile volcano. To get to my final destination, San José, Costa Rica, my travel route included a few stops. First stop was Honolulu. This was because for the first leg, I was flying with Hawaiian Airlines. I wanted to laugh at the cabin crew for all wearing Hawaiin shirts but then I had to remind myself that they were actually Hawaiian people - that´s what they wear.
Upon arrival in Honolulu, I was hoping to get lei´d but instead Immigration took me away for questioning. I had to sit in a waiting room whilst I listened to the immigration officals, behind the counter, take it in turns at looking at my passport and laughing at my name (Spaceman Africa).
They wanted to check what my plans were and whether I had the necessary documention to go with it. After my last visit to the States where I was deported, I needed to apply for permission to transit through the country. I had the correct visa and answered all their questions satisfactorily and they finally allowed me to continue my journey.
I got a wee bit lost trying to find check-in for the next leg which was with United Airlines to Los Angeles. I kept thinking of the line from the Seinfeld episode where Eliane says to Jerry, ¨I love U...nited Airlines.¨ Afer running that scene through my head many times, I arrived at the departure gate to find a dead set Newman look-alike - huge overwieght guy with short black hair and glasses. On the plane, the cabin crew had to give him a seat belt extension so he could buckle up, he was that big.
I arrived at LAX and I made my way to Terminal 2 for my last leg to San José. I got to the termianl and a flood of memories came rushing back. It was this very same terminal where I was escorted to my flight when I was deported. It was great back then, the officers took me to the front of each long queue thus avoiding the long and frustrating waiting time in each line. This time round I was somewhat lucky again as it was about midnight and so there were not many people about and so queues were quite short. Bonus.
My flight wasn´t due to leave until 3am but come time to board, the flight was delayed three hours due to heavy fog in LA. So I spent three hours lying on some seats just metres from where four years earlier I was sitting drinking a lemonade that the immigartion officers bought me before escorting me to my seat on the plane.
Three hours later the call came that the flight had been cancelled. The plane, coming from San José, had to be redirected to another airport because of the LA fog and apparently at the other airport the plane hit the passage way that joins the plane to the terminal and damaged the plane and so it was grounded after that.
I wasn´t too stressed or angry. By this stage I´d been travelling and /or in trnasit for 24 hours already. The airline kindly put us passengers up in a hotel - the Raddison, no less, very swish. It was quite a welcome rest, even if leaving the airport was possibly in breach of my visa requirements. Another flight was operating at 4 the next afternoon and so after a relaxing and comfortable night's sleep in the hotel, it was back to the airport again. This time I didn´t escape the long queues at passport control and the xray machine. Ah, well, I had plenty of time up my sleeve, anyway.
I arrived in San Jose, 15 hours later than planned. The plan was for the manager of the hotel I had booked to come and meet me at the airport. I had left a message on his answer phone about the change in flight details but he obviously didn´t get it because he wasn´t there to meet me. Being nearly 1am at this stage, I was alone in a new place and bombarded by touts at the airport for taxis and hotels. The situation was not something I was really in the mood for and was, actually, what I wanted to avoid by organising to be picked up.
I spent that first night behind bars. I went with an unofficial taxi to a nearby hotel in Alajuela. I was a wee bit worried that it might be dangerous hopping into a complete stranger´s car but It all worked out well. The hotel was no radisson, let me tell you. It was a small dive and had bars on all the windows and doors. I checked in to my room for the night and met one of the locals - a huge, like really, really big mosquito - the size of the mount of Venus on my hand.
I met with my contact, Minor, the next morning and I moved to his hotel in Heredia. He´s taken me under his wing for these first few days and then on Sunday, Im heading south to San Isidro de General to start two weeks of Spanish school. First impressions of Costa Rica are, wet (it´s rainy season), the people are friendly and the money is crazy. 1 Aussie dollar is about 531 Colones. I don´t know about you, but I´m a bit rusty when it comes to my 531 times table.
Laugh, Space ☺️
