Well after a year of planning, some blood, sweat and even a few tears from some, I said goodbye to Australia and finally arrived in Costa Rica to kick off this adventure.
While I am pumped to be on this trip, I gotta say it was tougher than I expected to leave behind everyone and everything. I'm glad of that too, I think you need something and someone to miss.
Getting to Costa Rica was a 40 hour adventure in itself. A good friend of mine is a pilot for a major airline and was kind enough to book me a business class flight on his staff travel account. The only condition being that it was a stand-by ticket, no spare seat means no flight. It was rare to miss out though, and I planned to fly on a traditionally slow day outside of the holiday period to minimize the risk.
God though always has the final say. With the volcanic eruptions in Chile, the ash cloud soon found its way to Australia and various airlines and routes began to shut down. Spirits were high though, as I was flying ex-Sydney which was unaffected at this stage. I checked in 2.5 hours before departure and was promptly dealt a good slap in the face.
I was to be told that my attire was unsuitable for business class and I cannot enter the US without a return ticket although it probably wouldn't matter anyway because my flight was oversold and I was unlikely to get on the plane.
My heart sunk...... I knew this didn't just mean a short delay as flights were backed up for days with the overflow from stranded passengers delayed by the ash. There goes my connecting flight ticket, paid hotel reservation and scheduled catch up with my riding buddy Charlie.
I had to do something so I decided to tackle the problems one at a time. First I explained that I had a connecting flight to CR which seemed to keep them happy on the return ticket front. Easy.
Hmmmm, ok so business attire, they wanted me in dress pants, leather shoes and a collared shirt. How do you pull that outta your bum when your packed for a motorbike adventure? I remembered that my new kevlar pants were nice and shiny, they'll do. My riding boots are leather, that should work. Now although collared, my Thirsty Swagman (International pub crawl company ) shirt probably wasn't going to cut it. I was going to have to reach into my pocket for this one. It was an Airport after all, so I found a shop and bought an out of season shirt at a reasonable $50 airport price. It wasn't a fashion contest so I figured that they couldn't reject me for just my bad taste. After providing an entertaining cat walk complete with a twirl, the check out chick checked me out and proceeded to checked me in. What do ya know, it was a fashion contest after all.
So now I'm checked in but still on stand-by. How am I going to fix this one??? In short, I can't.
I was told that various flights delayed by the ash were inbound from Melbourne with 80 odd passengers looking to connect with my flight. It was simple, if they all turn up, I'm not going anywhere.
It was now on boarding time and no word. 10 minutes from departure and still no word. One at a time, other stand-by passengers started to get called up. My heart was racing, please call my name! One, two, then three people get called. I scanned the terminal for the 80 mystery passengers and I spot a transit bus from the domestic terminal pull up outside. I watch as dozens of thrilled holiday makers sprint in front of me and hand over their passports. It's over I thought... Soon enough it was departure time and hope was all but lost. I took a deep breath and went into contingency planning mode. What the hell am I gonna do now?? Then like a voice from the heavens, I hear may name called.
I'm on.
With instructions to run to the departure gate, I cleared customs and began a steady fat mans jog to literally the other side of the terminal. Guitar on one shoulder and a backpack complete with helmet on the other, I bounced my way to the gate and was greeted with a dirty look and a "we've been waiting for you" comment from the gate staff. I didn't even bother to explain. Fact was, my lungs were burning from that pathetic jog so I probably couldn't of anyway. I'll have to do something about that I think, I might think about it over a Scotch on the plane.
Well fast forward a couple dozen hours and I'm sitting at the Los Volcanes hotel just outside of San Jose Costa Rica. Charlie should arrive tomorrow and my bike (I hope) arrives by freight sometime within the next week.
Right now it's time for a cold beer and well, another cold beer.
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