The long road home

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Geo: 37.5406, -77.4334

Just a quick note to put a capstone on the blog. Our flight didn't take off until 12:45pm, so we had time to go out and pick up food for breakfast and lunch. Alex and Mom walked about a mile to a grocery to grab stuff for sandwiches, keeping in mind that drinks would be forbidden and that fresh fruits and meats couldn't enter Texas. Continental did give us some food and we made peanut butter and guava jam sandwiches to keep for an emergency, along with the kids' favorite galletas mantequillas (butter cookies).
The hotel taxi guy tried to overcharge for the drive to the airport. Mom shut him down and gave him what the hotel web site said it should cost. Keep in mind that Costa Rica has an international exit tax. It's payable at a desk just inside the terminal; walk in and look right. For us it was $26 per person. After we had the paperwork indicating that we paid we made our way through the line and dropped off our bags. There are no bargains in the SJO airport, except perhaps at Duty Free. We were glad to have brought food along. Josh entertained himself by walking up to strangers who looked like they spoke English and offering to do card tricks for them. He also wanted to play his whistle for tips, but Mom shut that enterprise down.
There was a second bag inspection as we boarded the aircraft, but it went pretty quickly.
When we got to Houston we had to pick up all of our bags, go through customs and recheck our luggage. We had enough time, but it was close. The flights were pretty uneventful. Mom gave a thumbs up to Continental's $8 Tapas box. Not a deal, but the hummus, crackers and olives were good. Dad, our hero, picked us up at the airport at midnight and drove us the 2 hours home.

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