The Journey Home Begins

Sun 29 Oct: The day we didn't want to come has arrived, time to say goodbye to the beautiful Caribbean sea (I've fallen in love) and head to the bustle of San José to start our journey home. I couldn't decide whether to set my alarm last night to get up for sunrise or not, decided not to as sleep is going to be in short supply the next few days as we travel home, however I woke up at 5.15am so it obviously was meant to be, so grab the camera and headed to the beach. Got an alright sunrise this morning, and after wondering along the beach decided to walk further along the road checking the trees for sloths - didn't find any, but did see some nice birds . Got back to the room to find Doug had also gone out for a final morning wander. Once he was back, and after breakfast we went for one last final swim, it was certainly hard walking out of that water for the last time. Got on the road about 9 am, it was meant to be only a 3.5 hr drive but we know how that can increase, and in the end I think it was about 4.5 hrs. Had got a room near the airport, so after off loading our bags, took our car back which was only about a km away, so nice and easy to walk back. Just down the road was a Walmart, so we went there looking for food, and they had a cafeteria so ended up getting a meal for a reasonable price. It was then back to do final packing of bags, cleaning boots, booking an Uber for 2.45 am a nd getting into bed at 9 pm for some sleep before our 2.30 alarm.

Mon 30 Oct: I struggled to sleep and to soon it was time to get up. 2.45 am Uber, 5 minutes to the airport, 10 minute panic trying to find our USA ESTA, 6.10 am flight to Guatemala City taking 1 hr 15, 1 hour to transit then back on same plane for a 4 hr 40 min flight to Los Angeles. Doug got called just before boarding in Guatemala for a random bag and body search. Doug said the girl who got searched before him got 2 of her 4 bags of coffee taken from her because it was deemed as too much for 1 person also a newly purchased unopened bottle of water because for some reason they don't allow that on board - what a rip, I would have been fuming, luckily Doug got through with no issues, our one bag of coffee and one tin of drinking chocolate obviously acceptable. Must say San Jose Airport is the best, once you get through security, there is numerous shops selling the popular Costa Rican coffee and chocolate brand, Britt, and so there was many stands with free chocolate covered nuts and fruit samples, and also coffee samples - we made sure we sampled them all many times over. As they say at airports time doesn't mean anything so chocolate at 4 am is 👌. A 7.5 hour wait in LAX, before our 8.55 pm flight to Auckland. We were worried about only having two hours to clear customs and get to domestic terminal for our 8.35 am flight to Tauranga, but made it with plenty of time, and we had luck on our side because the first Tauranga flight was canceled for fog but ours was all go. It was then into the greeting arms of Fiona, and happily meeting my grand-doggy Oden. We all piled into her little yellow car for our final leg back to Powdrell Road and Home, arriving 37 hours after getting up in San Jose to start the journey home. Had a lovely welcome present from the kids, a "paint by numbers" painting of them and three of my most wonderful and sadly missed dogs, Jess, Stormy and Thunder plus a box of KGB Black Russians, which we sampled at lunch - fish and chips at Whk wharf - a great reminder of the beauty of NZ. So now it's the start of our NZ life again and the end of Fiind Penguins. It's been great to keep a record of our trip for us and I've enjoyed I've been able to share it with all of you too.Read more