And it all began...

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My trip technically started yesterday morning; for once I didn't have have to wake up at the crack of dawn for my flight!!! My flight left from Calgary at 11:30am which meant I should have been there around 8:30am. As usual, I packed the night before, and was rushing (just a little bit) the morning of; after doing last minute errands I got to the airport just before 10... awkward... Can I just give a quick shout-out to my mommy for getting us Nexus cards?!??!?! Because let's be real here folks, if it wasn't for the Nexus card I would have missed my flight by easily 2 hours. The line up to go through customs was INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There were people lined up on the airport side right outside the opening to go into US customs and then there must have been a good 5-6 rows of people waiting. Not to gloat, but it felt pretty good to breeze right on by all those people. When it came to security the line was even longer! I showed my Nexus card and was immediately escorted through the hoard of people, who gave me dirty looks as I walked past, into the Nexus lane which had all of 0 people in it. Score 10000 for Nexus! My first stop was Minneapolis, the flight went as planned and I arrived in Minneapolis within 2 hours. Once I got to Minneapolis I walked around a little bit and tried to find out where my Atlanta flight was leaving from. I went to the Delta help center and got it figured out -mostly. One of the ladies that was helping me said my checked bag was going straight to San Jose, Costa Rica; only later to find out that was NOT true. I found out the right gate for my next flight and waited until they began boarding. My flight to Atlanta went well and as soon as I got there I knew that I had to find somewhere to grab a quick bite and set up a comfy spot where I could wait for the next 11 hours. There's this great pizza place in the Atlanta airport, I think in the B gate area; it's crazy expensive but what airport food isn't overly priced? Next challenge: find a comfy spot where I could spend the night. This next challenge proved to be more difficult than originally thought, I tried and tried but finally came to the realization that I was never going to fall asleep in the airport. It wasn't that I couldn't find a comfy spot, I was just too paranoid -I mean it would be just my luck to fall asleep, go into a lovely deep sleep only to wake up to a passport missing or something. As the time went on I became sleepier and more on-edge; clearly my only option would be to book a hotel room where I could crash in piece. It took an absurdly long time to book this hotel, but thanks to my mom who did the calling for me (let's be honest, no way I could function and even try to book my own room) I caught the next shuttle out to the hotel and called it a night! I had never been so happy to see a bed in my life -up until that point in time. The next morning I had to leave around 6:30 am to catch my flight to Costa Rica, so I made sure to go to bed as soon as possible and set an alarm. Waking up proved to be rather hard, I just couldn't seem to get my butt out of bed! Maybe it was a sign for what was to come?? I got my stuff together and headed downstairs for breakfast, I thought I would branch out and try the grits because, a) I love grits and b) Quaker brand usually has really good products. Sadly I was very, very wrong. Sorry Quaker, but let's stick to chewy bars and instant oatmeal, okay? No one can be good at everything... After having a few bites of the grits and feeling insta-sick, I turned to a banana and some peppermint tea in hopes to calm down my turning stomach that was on the brink of throwing up. I had just missed the shuttle and the next one was coming in 10 minutes so I made myself comfy in the lobby and played a game on my phone until the shuttle showed up. On the way to the airport I realized that I had gotten on the wrong shuttle, apparently I had gotten on the 'domestic shuttle' instead of the 'international shuttle', and yes there is a big difference because they are practically two separate airports! Luckily the int'l airport wasn't far from the international one so no big deal, just hopped on the other shuttle and off I went! Unfortunately that's where my luck stopped. I can't remember how exactly it came about, I think it was because I was trying to find my gate or print a ticket or something! Anywhooo, I ended up talking to an employee who asked about my checked baggage, to which I responded what I was told by the Delta employee back in Minneapolis which was that my bags would go directly to Costa Rica. Yes, well that Delta employee in Minneapolis was far from being remotely right. No, I was supposed to pick up my bags the day before when I first got off the plane in Atlanta, but never did because I thought my bags were going straight to C.R. Now my bags were at the domestic airport and they needed me to come pick them up in person. Wouldn't be a problem if I wasn't already running late and didn't have time to run back and forth. I am so thankful that the employee that was helping me pulled some strings and got my bags rerouted to be put on my ATL --> SJO flight without me having to go get them myself. If you're reading this, amazing Delta employee sir, which you're probably not.. but if you are! You are amazing and deserve a raise. My flight to Costa Rica was met with excitement and a ton of nerves! My first step outside was met with insanity! There had to have been over 60 people holding up signs for different travel companies and hotels, now I just had to find the VIDA coordinator! After a near panic attack from thinking she had left and having no idea what hotel i was staying at, I found the awesome VIDA coordinator, Amy. We had to wait for 3 more volunteers that were arriving shortly after myself, it was nice to be able to get to know some of the volunteers before the rest of the volunteers (25+) arrived -even though the 3 that had arrived right after I did and the one that arrived the day before were best friends so it was momentarily awkward. Loading up the bus with our luggage was the first of many funny moments on our trip; we had to lift all of our bags through the side window! Upon arrival to our first hotel we split up into two rooms, 2 in one room, 3 in another, and Amy got her own room. The hotel was small, quaint, and i absolutely loved it! It was as if the hotel was hidden away in its own gated tropical paradise, it was so cool! There was still a few hours before the rest of the volunteers arrived so all 6 of us decided to walk around the neighborhood to see what was around us. It was like any other hotel near an airport, there wasn't a whole lot to look at around the hotel; a few houses, a couple convenience stores and a small 'mom n pop' restaurant. The convenience store we went to was run by an Asian family; there were a surprising amount of people of Asian decent living in Costa Rica; we picked up some snacks and drinks and made our way back to the hotel. Still missing a couple of hours before everyone else arrived we hung out in the 'lobby' area of the hotel (which was outside, but under a gazebo type structure), did our nails, listened to music, and talked to family members and friends back home. Thankfully we were under the gazebo because it was an extremely rainy night! Everyone was scheduled to have dinner together around 9pm but a few of us were getting hungry, especially because we had been there since noon and hadn't eaten an actual meal in practically an entire day; we decided to walk around the neighborhood again (in the pouring rain, I might add!) and see if we could find some food to eat. There was this adorable restaurant that was just down the road from the hotel, and they had some amazing food on their menu for a great price. The place was so small that two people standing shoulder-to-shoulder wouldn't be able to fit through the entrance. The owner was incredibly nice and the food was delish! Whenever I go back to Costa Rica, his restaurant will be the first place I go! Finally the rest of the group arrived and everyone had their meet and greet, after which the group split up into their rooms and once everyone got settled in, we met in the front lobby for dinner. By the time dinner was over, we were all ready for a good nights sleep; we had a little gecko that accompanied us in our room for the night! He was so cute that I couldn't be paranoid about the possibility of him crawling on my face in the middle of the night -yes I did think of it for a second... or 60...

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