Travel & Arrival: Costa Rica

The day started with an 06:30 taxi to Bedford train station, then a ~2hr train to Gatwick. A quick bag-drop and straight through security. Stopping for a coffee with an amazing table at Wondertree, overlooking the runway and apron, and finding our flight has been delayed by 30 mins, coffee quickly turned into 2nd Breakfast.

The flight was seamless. We were welcomed aboard buy the senior flight attendant who was waiting for us, to take us to our upgraded seats (thanks Steve!!!). Although the seats were possibly the best we’d ever had, we couldn’t sleep. So we arrived in Costa Rica nearly 12 hrs later somewhat tired, dishevelled, and disorientated.

Initial impressions of Costa Rica from the airport were positive. Everywhere was clean and appeared to work as it should (take note Luton airport…). It was not long before we met up with Carlos (from the Rescue Center), who picked us up in a minibus, and we had a 20 min drive under an amazing Pacific sunset.

We were quickly shown to our room, told the rough plan for our first day, and went directly to bed.

Again, neither of us slept well. Nearly 20 hours travelling, and a windy night in a strange room, it was not so easy to settle. However, we did wake to the sunrise and various animal calls nearby. Looking out around us for the first time in daylight we saw squirrels and a fantastic woodpecker.

Accommodation

We were initially disappointed…. We were not given a tiki hut as requested, and arriving after 18:00 meant there was no manager to query it with.

But… once we had time to get our bearings, we realised we actually had a good room.

We were at the end of a new block still being built (basic metal frame and plasterboard all round). It’s a private room called The Owl Room; ‘creatively’ decorated (artistic over practicality), but we were happy to have our own tiny ensuite, so no need to walk over to the shower block any time.
It’s very small but all we need. The top of the walls are open, just with nets – which means we get full fresh air, ambient nature noises, and no mosquitoes!