Saturday, May 3, 2014

I woke up this morning and did my last minute packing such as my toothbrush and whatnot to ensure that I was ready to go.  Naturally, I was ready to go much earlier than anyone else so I sat on the front porch trying not to seem too anxious to leave.  At 9:00 our taxi arrived and we said our good-byes to our host moms and Zoe and hit the road to the airport.  We were able to pay our departure tax and get through security with no trouble at all and waited for a couple of hours near our gate to get on the plane.  We finally got on the plane at about 11:45 and left San Jose right on time before making our way back north to the United States.  The flight felt longer than going down there based off my anticipation of finally seeing my parents again, but was otherwise uneventful.  We actually got to Houston a little bit early and had to wait for our gate to be ready for us.  Katie and I only had a 90 minute layover to catch our flight to Tulsa, so we booked it.  First we went through the automated scanner to get our passports scanned, then the line to get our luggage and give them the piece of paper that the scanner shot out, then we had to get our luggage sent through the machine as it went to its new gate, then we had to go through the deceptively long line to go through security again, and then we had to take the train to the complete other side of the airport.  It took 85 of those 90 minutes that we had to accomplish this feat.  As we got on the plane to Tulsa, we almost had a reverse culture shock as we came across some very obvious Oklahomans coming home from a trip to Cancun on the plane. We flew into Tulsa right as the sun was setting (which is weird when it sets at 8:15 now…) and got off the plane.  As I exited the doors, I saw my parents and gave them a hug.  It was good to be home again!  They even brought my Jeep with them and let me drive home, something that I had missed and amazingly still remembered how to do.  Overall, I had a fantastic experience in Costa Rica and would do it again in a heartbeat.  Now it’s time to go graduate.  Pura Vida.