We decided to visit Grecia, Costa Rica for Spring Break because it’s a beautiful place with a rich history, extremely nice people, a delicious culinary landscape, it is not your typical tourist destination overrun by drunken college kids slurping Jell-O shots out of each other’s various orifices, and the United States is totally going to shit so we wanted to get the hell out for a while.
In that regard, we got off easy on our journey with hardly any waiting or delays at airports at all, despite the fact that three major travel events were colliding that very week: Spring Break, St. Patrick’s Day, and the SXSW Anything But Music Festival in Austin, Texas. This was somewhat thanks to my brilliant strategizing, although I had no idea that St. Patrick’s Day and SXSW were actually even involved at the time. I figured most Spring Break travelers would be flying out on Friday or over the weekend, so we’d leave very early on Thursday to avoid all that. It worked. We got through TSA in minutes (with Pre-Check, another part of my brilliant plan. You paying attention, Nobel Prize people?) leaving us with over three hours to sit around before our flight. We had a brief layover in Fort Lauderdale, and while that airport was utterly packed, our plane boarded and left right on time. Likewise, by the time we got to Costa Rica it was early enough that the line for getting through customs was only moderately long and was moving at a steady pace. We were through that in about 20 minutes.
Here’s a breakdown of various key moments:
The Flights
We flew jetBlue for the first time, and I was very impressed. I don’t know why, but I’d always thought they were on par with Spirit Airlines. For those of you who don’t know, Spirit Airlines is a “budget” airline offering very affordable ticket prices by way of cutting out all the “perks” other airlines offer, such as seat-back entertainment systems, free snacks, legroom, and fuel. I’ve flown on Spirit once. The interior of a Spirit Airlines plane looks like a collapsed grain silo full of folding lawn chairs. jetBlue is nothing like this. They are just like the “big boys” United, Delta, and American, but have slightly more legroom (as measured in nanometers) and free WiFi.
We had two flights from Austin to Costa Rica, and my son demanded to have the window seat on both. You can see him enjoying them here:
Alarming Development #1:
While we were waiting in the Fort Lauderdale airport for our second flight, I realized that I still had my pocket knife with me. Yes, I’d made it all the way through TSA security in Austin with a pocket knife and was allowed to board the plane! I have lost many pocket knives when traveling because I’d forgotten they were in my pocket, and TSA caught them and took them from me. I suspect that didn’t happen this time because the TSA was, and still is as I’m writing this, not getting paid due to a government shutdown Trump, himself, of his own free will, has imposed and yet is blaming everyone else he can think of for (Democrats, “the gays”, astronauts, forest gnomes, etc.). I bet a TSA agent did spot my knife but figured, “Eh, what the hell. I’m not getting paid for this crap anyway,” and just kept their mouth shut. Not wanting to cause a pocket knife-related issue in a foreign country, I went to an airport bathroom in Fort Lauderdale, wrapped it in a paper towel, and threw it in the trash.
Alarming Development #2:
In both the Austin airport and the Fort Lauderdale airports, there are entire vending machines dedicated to selling nothing but trading cards. I can’t put my finger on why, but I find this very troubling. Also troubling is that there’s not a single pack of Garbage Pail Kids in there.
Arriving in Costa Rica
As I mentioned earlier (did you already forget?!) the customs line in Costa Rica was moderately long, but moved at a steady pace. Here’s a pic I took when we first entered the line:
We rented a car from the San Jose Airport Budget Car Rental. The rental process was quick and painless, thanks primarily to the gentleman helping us out. His name was Juan, and he was one of the most informative and patient car rental employees I’ve ever encountered. If you ever need to rent a car, I highly recommend renting one from Juan at the San Jose, Costa Rica Budget Car Rental. Even if you’re in, say, Elkhart, Indiana, go get your rental car from Juan at the San Jose, Costa Rica Airport Budget Car Rental.
Driving in Costa Rica is an adventurous endeavor. I’ll write more about it in a separate post but the overall experience can be summed up in this bullet-pointed list:
- Holy shit I don’t think I can do this without getting my family killed.
Arriving at our Airbnb in Grecia, Costa Rica
After surviving a 40-minute drive from the San Jose, Costa Rica airport we arrived in Grecia and pulled up to our Airbnb, Casa Barquero, at around 2:00 pm, giving us plenty of time left in the day to experience the welcoming, exotic beauty of Costa Rica by taking naps. Later, we drove to the Maxi Pali Supermercado to stock up on groceries for the house, and then later that night for dinner we had a traditional Costa Rican cuisine called “pizza” from a “pizzeria” around the corner from us called Pizza Napoli. The following day our adventures would truly begin…
