Travel Journal: Costa Rica (2)

We are here!

OK. So first… remember how I mentioned in my last post that travelling with the littles is a *bit* different than travelling solo just the hubs and I?! Yeah. It really is.

In yesteryear, I do remember considering throwing in a bottle of tylenol or maybe a package of Tums… if I were being REALLY cautious I might even consider some pepto bismol. I won’t say that this policy of light packing did not from time-to-time come back to bite my posterior, but I managed OK!

Fast forward a decade or so. Mama is travelling with her brood.

This is bag one of three of Mama’s pharmaceutical supplies. Bug bites, sun burns, upset stomach, skinned knee, headache… you name it, I have pharmaceuticals to fix it. Prescription grade. The good stuff. I considered checking “yes” on my customs form when answering the question: “Are you bringing Pharmaceutical Products into the country for redistribution?” Seriously. I did.

So, bags all packed, our adventure began with a short jaunt to an Airport hotel in Calgary, Alberta. The Acclaim Airport Hotel was a great stop over for an early morning flight. There is a very good family-friendly Italian restaurant located in the hotel (the kids particularly enjoyed the grill-your-own bread and butter option. Breakfast is not included with your room rate, so if you are travelling with kids (or you like having food readily available should the hangries arise), pack along a snack pack (mine included nuts, granola bars, pretzels, raisins, and mini chocolate chip cookies)!

We arrived at the Calgary International Airport bright and early and departed for Houston, Texas on an Air Canada flight (great flight, TV’s all worked, kids were pleasant and well-entertained ;)), then transferred to a United Airlines flight to Liberia, Costa Rica. That flight was a bit more interesting because the in-flight entertainment (only streamed through your own device) only works over the continental US… i.e. only for the first 15 minutes of your flight. Luckily, the kids are learning to play chess and had some reading to do for school, so we managed unscathed.

Our kids do not recall the last time they travelled to a tropical locale, so upon disembarking from the plane, CT remarked,

“Why is there reverse air-conditioning here? When are we getting out of it?!”

And JJ chimed in,

“I can’t breathe! What is in the air here.”

Humidity and heat son. That’s called humidity and heat. We don’t have that where we come from.

The heat, and a late arrival took their toll, and two bedraggled travellers checked in with their grown ups at the Hilton Garden Inn, Libera Airport…

The little one clearly a bit more affected by the elements than the older ;).

The Hilton Garden Inn is a great stop-over hotel as well. It was clean, but quite dated. The food was reasonable and there is a pool to entertain the littles while waiting for the shuttle to whatever Costa Rican adventure awaits.

A few notes on our travels thus far…

– I LOVE this iPad for blogging and keeping travel notes (sure glad I bought it for the hubs for Christmas ;))

– I LOVE having a Nexus card when travelling with the kids. Not waiting in customs lines is wonderful when we are all tired and ready to get where we are going!

After a short 1-hour shuttle ride (and stop at a great local grocery store), we are safely at our lovely house near Tamarindo. The sun is HOT, the pool is lovely, and the pineapple is oh so sweet! Today is a pool and beach day, and we are all using it to catch up on some much-needed chillaxing time!!