It rained in the night. A lot. We went to bed in a cabin surrounded by gardens and woke up surrounded by a moat. As I get older I find it harder to deal with the change in time zones so I am awake (and hungry) by 5 am. Luckily, there is some leftover pizza bread in the fridge and I sit and watch the visitors on the tree outside our room as the sun rises – so far today there have been squirrels and dozens of different birds, including woodpeckers, hummingbirds and 4 toucans. We decide to stick with our original plan to go to Volcán Arenal National Park, despite the fact that the volcano is barely visible behind the clouds. The 10 mile drive to the National Park is uneventful, apart from an emergency ... read more

Time for another trip – this time to Central America, first stop Costa Rica. It’s the first time we’ve travelled with British Airways for many years. And there’s a reason for that. It’s not a great start, with a last minute change from an 11.30 to a 9 am departure. So we decided to travel up to Gatwick the night before and stay at the less than celubrious White House Hotel in an executive room, which frankly no self respecting executive would be seen dead in. We’re up at 6 for our taxi to the airport. Once there, it takes an hour to make it to the front of the check in queue to be told the flight is running 30 minutes late. We head through security. Now the delay has gone up to an hour ... read more

Today we had planned to drive to San Francisco and do touristy things. Instead, Plan B, as they call it on planet BoJo, requires an extra Covid test, which has been introduced since our arrival. The first struggle was to find a suitable, reasonably priced test – the first test I Googled was $449! We finally find somewhere near the airport we think meets the criteria and only costs $69 so set off for our '5 minute' drive-through appointment. After we have paid, we have to scan a QR code. Daughter no 1 has a Huawei phone – it doesn’t do QR codes, so I pass her mine. This will only scan if connected to wifi, so the man goes to his hut and returns with his wifi code. Next, we must enter an email address. ... read more

Today will mostly be taken up with travel. We just have enough time for one last walk along the strip. Preparations are ongoing for the weekend’s Honolulu marathon. We (I) play a very judgmental game of ‘here for the marathon/not here for the marathon’ with passers-by. Daughter no 1 says I'm a troll, then promptly joins in... Then it’s time to check out and head for the airport. Google maps suggests that instead of catching the bus (20) which actually goes in to airport and takes 73 minutes, we catch a bus (42) that passes nearby the airport and takes 60 minutes, leaving us with a ‘4 minute walk’ to the terminal, and is therefore, allegedly, quicker. We fall for it and catch the 42. Once off the bus, we have to cross 2 freeways, walk ... read more

Breakfast has not been properly thought through; it consists of Everything Bagels, topped with a thick coating of garlic and onion, and blueberry cream cheese. This morning daughter no 1 wants to go on a whale watching trip. On an island with a reputation for big waves. With storms forecast and a wind advisory in place. I cannot be tempted to join her, so she sets off for the marina alone. I am, of course, right and pretty soon she texts to say all boat trips have been cancelled. So we agree to meet at the mall 2 miles away. She has the money belt containing all our cash, so walking is my only option. Instead of sending me a block up and along a street lined with shops, Google maps sends me a block down ... read more