It was a 5:15 AM wake up and climb to the top floor, where Eileen had already taken her place to enjoy the sunrise. This morning we saw the first cruise ship of our stay, which prompted us to search the nearest destination ports, being Puntarenas (Pacific) and Limon (Caribbean). We enjoyed ice coffee, gently flavoured with Cafe Rica Liqueur. All is good as we rally to squeeze the best out of our last few hours here and brace ourselves for a pretty long travel day home.
For exercise, I got my walk along the beach in, while the girls did the surf and pool routine. By 7:00 AM we were cooking up the last of the supplies in our fridge and once again, managed a healthy breakfast scoff. By 8:30, all was packed and the girls were out the door to take a last look in a couple of the local gift / knick-knack shops. Turns out that maybe a new “made in Costa Rica” bathing suit may have been the real purpose! I caught up on some writing and downloaded the Air Canada App for the flight home. We scheduled an 11:00 AM pick-up for the transfer back to the airport in San Jose. We left lots of time, as we know traffic can be difficult.
Before departing we did a serious scrub of the premises and a recheck for anything left behind. All was tip-top and we treated the space like it was our own. Our driver from last Saturday, Nabor Moyà, arrived 10 minutes early (so appreciated – as “On-time” and “Down South” are rarely heard uttered together) and we were turned around and off to Juan Santamaria in jig time. The highway cuts through some elevation so we caught some pretty impressive views on our return trip. We arrived several hours early so used it for some time online and check ins at home.
SJO is a modern facility, clean and cool with things well marked. One of the nicest I have seen down south. Solid wireless connection for the entire wait time. Biggest line was at the Air Canada counter, which we somehow side stepped in a priority line. Then breezed through customs and security. After arriving at the gate I sat and relaxed… Even watched our AC Rouge arrive. Duty free brought bounty (the Coffee Cream we had been looking for) and we snacked before boarding and departing (on time).
Under a gorgeous sky we said goodbye to Costa Rica. Week went by pretty darn quickly! Used FlightRadar24 to track our route from San Jose to Montreal. Really fun tool for everything about “planes in the sky”. It’s a long 5 1/2 hr flight… But bearable! Now for the ugliest part of our adventure. The return flights had not set up well at all, with a midnight arrival in Montreal, and an 8:00 AM departure for Moncton leaving a gaping layover. The first portion saw us clearing customs, then at 3:30 AM, re-entering security and making our way four hours early for flight time. Ugh…
Thankfully, everyone managed to get eyes closed at this point (such as it was). The rest rolled out rather as planned! Montreal to Moncton was a little late (30 minutes), leaving us on the highway towards NS by 11:30 and home in the yard at 2:00 PM. The whole trip back was roughly a 24 hr span of travel time when you throw in a 3 hr time change difference. Small price I guess, in the grander scheme of things. The girls are awesome travellers and really held things together when I got tired and cranky 😡! We had a safe and successful travel experience… Everything felt new to us! When I catch my breath I’ll take a swing at a reflections page…