20.06.13 - 21.06.13 - Seattle, USA to San Jose, Costa Rica

Woke up at my parent's home with Kevin to start a day of goodbyes and what would become an epic travel day. Started with some play time with the lil one, my 3.5 year old nephew, Kyler (aka, my favourite person, ever). My sister Kelly flew to California at 3pm so I said my goodbyes to sis, nephew, mom, and papa as they pulled away toward the airport. The next time I see Kyler, he will be 5...

A quick run to see Jasper at Starbucks where she added a cool "Big in Bham" shirt to my travel wardrobe; stopped to see Molly at her casa and get one last spine crack before I left.
We ran a few errands - you know, the simple stuff, like antibiotics and malaria medications. We stopped at Avenue Bread for lunch and watched it rain outside while we cuddled in the corner of the bar at the window. We made it home to finish packing me up and spend a bit of quality snuggle time before heading to the shuttle stop.

We arrived to a few friendly faces from the Kulshan Chorus! I will be spending my first two weeks of my trip on tour with them in Costa Rica - singing for and with Costa Ricans in a 50+ person ensemble. The group sings in honor of human diversity and social justice. This is their fourth international tour - my first time singing with them. Travel, friends, music - what a way to begin. Mom and Papa were able to make it back from Seattle in time for one more goodbye - glad to get one more hug from each of them before I miss them for a year. A special thanks for their love and support, even when it creates months of anxiety to look forward too :)

The drive to SeaTac was long - 4 hours from Bellingham - the longest it has ever taken our shuttle driver. Oh well, more time with Kevin. My lovely boy and I listened to the Moth podcast and music while shifting between little breakdowns and supporting each other in turns.

Finally, it was time for Kevin and I to share a long goodbye at the check-in gates with promises to return home to the most loving arms I have ever known (see you soon, Sugar). Dinner at Anthony's in the rotunda with some Kulshan Chorus friends waiting for our flight, now delayed 2 hours... if only that was the worst of it.

Once on board, the crew had trouble getting the plane started due to a lack of auxiliary power (first red flag). Finally off the ground but restless and could not sleep. Did I mention it was midnight at this point? I finally began to drift off until... "Precautionary Landing" at Denver International Airport due to unidentified burning smells. We land to the lights of  charging fire trucks to have firefighters board the plane, scan for hot spots, and evacuate us to the terminal. 5am, Colorado time. We wait in the terminal, get some food, and are discovered by an NBC affiliate...

... who doesn't love making national news after 22 hours without sleep...

We boarded, experience another delay, and then are back in the air. Finally, some sleep. We arrive in Miami hours after our connection has left and quickly booked onto another flight leaving in.... 20 minutes. We quickly spend our "Sorry for that" food voucher on yet another airport salad salad and hop on the next flight to San Jose, Costa Rica.

We arrived to weather that is cool and slightly humid. The sky broke into thunderous roars and drops a torrent of rain to welcome us. A quick cab ride and we are checked in at the Hotel Balmoral. We all freshen up and meet at the bar for, you guessed it, another salad! I returned to the room to relax a while and video-chat with Kevin on Google - it feels good to live in the technology age.

I came back to the bar to meet next wave or arrivals and sip on Cacique, the sugar cane liquor of Costa Rica and my new favourite. Smiles watching our friend Wizard dance with the locals carrying his "Peace / Paz" sign. We shared drinking stories and talked about the dynamic challenges of a not-for-profit model in a capitalist and business culture. You know, the usual first night abroad stuff. Glad to be sharing this time with Mama Heidi, Charlie, Geof, Liz, Alicia, and Wizard... with many more to come!

Time for bed.... after episode 9 of House of Cards (thank you Kevin for the Netflix log-in). 25 hours of travel to move ahead one time zone - this is the start of a very.long.journey.