Monday, January 17, 2011

Sunday: from Sacramento to the Pura Vida Hotel in Costa Rica

January 16, 2011
Sitting in the Dallas airport, contemplating the fog and how perfectly this trip is going so far. B dropped us at SMF at 4:30 this morning, our flight to Denver was on-time and pleasant, and the weather there was picture-perfect. However, the departure board showed our flight to Dallas would be delayed by 30 minutes, and since our connection to Costa Rica was a tight hour and 30 minutes, the anxiety switch turned on. Looked like we could make the earlier flight though, if they would let us. American Airlines initially told us we had to fly with our checked luggage and therefore could not take the earlier flight. (Note: although we could have traveled with all carry-ons, we decided to check one bag since we have to make 2 connections.) Funny how that rule is waived as soon as they realize you aren’t going to make your connection! They immediately gave us boarding passes for the earlier flight, and now we’re thinking about a leisurely bowl of gumbo at Pappadeaux, Doug’s favorite Cajun restaurant that happens to have a branch here. I love travel!
Dallas gets points for having great restaurants at their airport, but what’s up with charging for WiFi access? $8 seems like a rip-off to me, especially since it’s good for 24 hours and being here that long would indicate lots of other things to be unhappy about. Ah well, write now, post later.
Postscript: We had a wonderful supper at Pappadeaux, with oysters, gumbo and crayfish bisque. Totally delicious! As we wandered back to the boarding gate, we glanced at the departures board just out of habit. It said our flight was on final boarding! We thought we had another hour! Turns out Doug hadn’t changed his watch (and I don’t own one that works). We ran the last few yards and were relieved to board just a few minutes before take-off – how lucky are we??



1 comment:

  1. Whoa! that was exciting! Glad you made your flight.. this seems like it's a blessed trip so far! xxo

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