Today started off much the same, coffee with the grackle (finally got a good video of him bathing in the pool- see picture link), and last breakfast at Breaking Bread with the potted kitty.
The roads were clear and smooth sailing all the way back to Liberia and we got there with time to spare. Avis was a good rental company and right by the airport so I definitely recommend them. Also, Liberia is a great airport to fly into if you are intimidated at all by international travel as its super small and very easy to navigate.
We ended up trying to spend the rest of our colones in the gift shops but still just too expensive to do gifts for everyone :/ The stores there do offer free samples of just about everything though so we felt like Costco goers sampling the rum, chocolates, coffees, and hot sauces before boarding the plane for the 3.5 hour flight to Atlanta.
If you are ever flying into the country and Atlanta is your first stop, let me tell you how this works. You will deboard the plane and go through immigration where someone will ask you where you were, how long you were there for, and if you have any food/booze/vegetables in your luggage. Obviously we said yes and he asked how much- apparently the small quantities we buy in aren’t enough to alert the US Government.
Next you will go to baggage claim, yes even if you are connecting to another airport like we are. You will pick up your bags and take them to the connection bag check in, which is not far and you just throw them back on a belt so they go bye bye 🙂 Then you go to customs which is a longer line its basically a security check again – bags on the belt, all the stuff from your pockets needs to go in your bags- and you walk through the metal detectors again. This time we were flagged because we had bought some alcohol and salsa in the Liberia airport and the security needed to double check Ponkey’s bag to ensure it was all legit. All good 🙂 After that you are in the airport and can go to your gate… easy peasy right?
The one thing that always strikes me about this airport is how much it feels like everyone who works here be it gate agents, restaurant workers, baggage claim personnel… all of them… hate their jobs! I get it, there is no way I could deal with this many people day in and out but do try to smile …lol!
So after just having dinner at Papis, a little carribean restaurant, we are sitting for another hour before boarding and then it will be a late arrival into GR tonight. Thank you for everyone who has followed this journey of ours! I intend to go back and redo a lot of my posts to add further travel tips for Costa Rica, call out the blogs that helped me plan, list the links of the restaurants we loved and the excursions we took with the end goal of hosting this on a public website so it can help others travel in the future.
Its been a journey, time to go home 😉 Adventures of BackPack and Scoots are over for now. Pura Vida!
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