It was not planned to take that long. In all plans, there is always a chance that something goes wrong. Like it did during this journey.
It all began a few months ago. My beloved wife wished to fly away to some distant land of beauty and sunshine at the end of the year. She would rather not spend the December holidays in grey and cold Germany and was in a mood for something else other than the usual India visit. Our search for warmer regions of the globe led us to Central America and we eventually narrowed in on Costa Rica for its nature and beaches on offer. After weeks of itinerary planning and hotels, rental car and tour package booking, we eagerly counted the days down to the well deserved 2 week vacation.
On the big day, we started off at 5:30 am from home and drove to the Frankfurt international airport. Some ominous signs were evident during the 2-hour drive with an unusual headache and an uncommonly heavy downpour giving me a hard time behind the wheel. We however made it to the airport in good time and joined the long queue at the Condor check-in counter. As the queue shortened and other passengers headed towards security check and boarding, we cheerfully looked forward to being in warm Costa Rica that night, little expecting the turn of events that awaited us.
Tourist visa is unfortunately compulsory for Indian passport holders in most countries. But having residence permit of the EU, Costa Rican regulations did not require us to have visa for this trip. But as it turned out, that was not the end of the visa issue as we had believed. One of the stopovers during our flight to Costa Rica was to be in San Juan, Puerto Rico. And while booking the flight, we had been unaware of 2 facts. 1 – that Puerto Rico is a territory of USA. 2 – that USA requires a visa also in case of transit via one of its airports.
So coming back to the scene at the check-in counter, before we knew what hit us, the personnel told us – “I am sorry, but you cannot board this flight”! The drop from the peak of elation to the abyss of dejection was so sudden and drastic that we had no clue for a few minutes what to say or do next. I only wished it was just one of those nightmares and that I would soon wake up startled. It had to be. But sadly not.
As we slowly recovered from the shock, my brain went into overdrive, considering the different possibilities. Canceling the trip now was out of question. Our hearts and minds were already in Costa Rica waiting to pick the rest of our bodies up at the airport! So the only option was to rebook with different stopovers. But considering the peak tourist season, chances of finding alternative connections at such short notice seemed slim. Wishing, hoping and praying for the best, we headed towards the ticket counter.
I always tell my wife that God sends us a solution with every problem. In this case, He sent us alternate tickets with the missed flight! We found a connection with not-USA stopovers starting that evening at a fair additional price. It included several hours of waiting in Frankfurt airport and an overnight stopover in Madrid, Spain. But we could not complain, it could have been worse. We finally reached our hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica at 10:30 pm local time, exactly 48 hours after we started off from home, 1 day later than planned.
But Costa Rica turned out to be every bit worth the trouble. Friendly people, welcoming hospitality, tasty food, sandy beaches and diverse nature helped us quickly put the starting problem behind us. All’s well that ends well, or as they say in Costa Rica – “PURA VIDA”!
