Time to go home! Boo!

The thought of going back home hasn't hit me yet despite being reminded how many days we had left and such. I've had such a great time on this trip that I don't even want to go back home though I miss my family and friends. It's been quite the journey and I loved every minute of it ... even the times that I thought I would not get through.

Anyways, we headed out early to try to avoid the long line ups esp with the departure fee that you have to pay before you check in. We had lots of time to spare before our flight on American Airlines to Dallas. When it was time for boarding, we got the announcement that we could not take any liquids over the required amount.... like WTF! We just went through screening! And Eva and Helen just bought a bottle of water while waiting to board an hour before. On top of that.... they did another check manually in your carry on bags! I was the lucky one who got picked to do the whole shabang again (taking of sweater, shoes, belt, etc and getting my shoes and self screen with the portable detector) and also getting my bag checked. How nice! No wonder boarding was an hour early lol

After that ordeal the plane was delayed by an hour because they didn't finish loading cargo I believe (I dozed off as we were waiting and only glimpsed when we were actually in the air already so I didn't know how much of a delay til later). This delay will come to haunt us as we only had 30 minutes to connect to San Fran from Dallas. AND ... we had to take our bags out through customs and recheck them back in! Amazingly, it went smoothly and it helped that we already had our boarding passes. Unfortunately, our checked bags did not make it with us :( We found that out when we got to San Fran and waited for our bags to come out. When the luggage belt stopped ... we were like crap ... our bags didn't get through! We did a delay luggage claim via American Airlines and they were actually helpful. They made the claim and said they will send the bags to Edmonton on the next day's flight. This was for me and Eva as Helen was able to get her checked bag to go all the way to Edmonton (though in the end it didn't and ended up with our bags).

Once we got back to Edmonton we made another claim but with United this time as it was United that we flew from San Fran to Edmonton. We did what we needed to do and hopefully the bags will be delivered to us tomorrow or the next day.

The bag situation was such a gong show. I got the call the next day saying that the bags were on Alaska Air from San Fran to Edm and would be delivered once it goes through customs in Edm. The day after as we were all at work, we expected to have the bags delivered but only Helen was called to set up a time for delivery. My bag as well as Eva's was MIA. I had to call Alaska then United ... apparently United was waiting for our bags but didn't know where it was - which was locked in the customs lockup room at Alaska Air -so calling them up was a good thing cause at least she knew where the bags were. I had to call a couple of times to ensure that our bags were to be delivered on Tuesday and united said they would be on the delivery run Tues nite but from 9pm - 1am. So here we thought we would see them the next morning ...ya that didn't happen.....no bags ... it's like getting a lump of coal on Christmas morning and you weren't such a nasty kid lol ... anyways ... called again this morn (wed now) and united admitted she didn't do the paperwork in time....nice! Patience is wearing thin here ... what can you do ... deal with it eh ... so to our ..well Eva's surprise ... united got her bag on the morning run and all is well in Eva's world. I, on the other hand, am stilling waiting for mine. I live on the north side so I should be on the tail end of the run ...hopefully I will get it sometime soon :) Gotta love travelling! Oh the stories to tell!

P.S. Just got word that my bag was delivered! Whoot whoot!!!!!

More photos on Costa Rica:

Album 1
Album 2