We are relatively experienced travelers. Heck, Don has flown over a million miles, all over the US and Internationally! I've been all over the US and to nine different countries, a few of them multiple times. So how did we mess up this time?
Maybe it's better to say "Things We Learned" instead of mistakes. Nothing was a tragedy but we made some real rookie boo-boos.
This trip had us leaving from San Jose, Costa Rica, and flying first to Cartegena, Columbia, then on to Medellin, so to save stress we broke it down into two travel days each way. One day to drive from Coco to San Jose, another to fly to Medellin. The drive to San Jose is notoriously unpredictable ranging from 3 1/2 hours to 6 hours to travel 236 km (that's 147 miles to us Americans). Thinking about that hurt my head. In Texas going that distance would take about 2 hours, a bit longer if you wanted to stop at a Buc-ee's, which you absolutely should do!
A little bit of highway 1 is two lanes in each direction and it is being expanded, but after that you're down to narrow 2 lane roads with everything from tractors, rumbling delivery trucks, and loose cattle blocking your way. There's also a lot of construction; near-constant landslides and shifting ground keep road crews busy in addition to all of the expansion.
The plan was to leave around 9 am and just take our time getting to the airport hotel for a flight that would leave the next day. We made it to the Airport Hampton Inn in about 4 hours.
The best thing we learned on the drive was that there were lots of large gas stations with convenience stores and clean bathrooms to stop at along the way! We also loved how the "Men Working" signs on the road looked like alien spacemen with spears.
The Adventure Begins!
Our flight out departed at 10:15 am so we hopped on the shuttle from the hotel at around 7:15 and found ourselves quickly at the airport and standing in line at Avianca to check in, which turned out to be our first "oops." If you check in at the counter as opposed to the kiosk they charge you $15 per person, soooo, after 20 minutes of standing in line we had to pop over to the kiosk to check in and then go back to the counter with our tickets. They were very friendly and helpful in explaining what we needed to do. We were confused and befuddled and yes, we were those people who slowed down the whole line...sorry.
Mistake #1: Thinking Covid is Over
Mistake #3: Customs and Connecting Flights
Mistake #1: Thinking Covid is Over
To be clear we didn't really think it was over. In fact the week before this trip we went and got the newest booster. But when the website said we needed to wear our masks on the plane I was convinced that was a mistake. Maybe they just hadn't updated their website. Surely we weren't going to have to wear masks the whole time.
Nope, not a mistake. we had to put masks on and wear them on the plane, in the airport in Cartegena, and couldn't take them off until we got outside the terminal in Medellin. After that, everywhere else was optional.
Also, we completely forgot to check if you had to prove you were vaccinated to fly or enter Columbia. Thankfully we always store our vaccine cards in our passports! When they asked for them we had them but we didn't even think about that and not having them on hand would have been a huge issue!
You can travel right now to Columbia without vaccines but you'll need a negative Covid PRC or Antigen within 72 hours of departure.
Mistake #2: Baggage Fees
We bought discount tickets for this flight way back in September. I sort of remember a discussion about luggage and fees and combining things into one bag. By the time we got to the airport in late October, neither of us remembered that and my jaw fell open when the woman behind the counter said it would be $80 to check the bag and $110 if I wanted to bring it on the plane.
Me: For both bags?
Her: No, per bag.
Me: Round trip?
Her: No, each way.
Yep, $160 to put two small carry-on bags in the luggage compartment. The good news is that we can save about $15 if we do all of this online on our way back, insert big eye-roll here.
This is totally our fault. All of this information is available on Avianca's website and usually I scour websites before I travel and gather all of the details, take screenshots of important information and store it in a special folder on my phone and/or computer. Not this time. I didn't even open their website. I'm just like, "Yeah, here's an airline I've never flown on, I just want to show up not knowing anything and figure it out as I go." That is so unlike me.
Mistake #3: Customs and Connecting Flights?
According to the itinerary I printed from my email our flight left San Jose at 10:15 am and arrived at 1:05 pm in Cartagena, adjust watches one hour forward for the time change and our next flight left for Medellin at 3:26 pm. That should be plenty of time to make it through customs and get to the gate, right?
When we got to the line it didn't look that bad and it seemed to be moving along at a good speed, we figured half an hour at the most. Then the line came to a screaming stop for about ten minutes. I pulled out my ticket and looked at the gate for our departing flight, Gate 5, cool. There was a box next to the gate number that said time, in that box was 14:26 (they use the 24-hour clock, that's 2:26 pm). I looked at my watch it was now 1:30. I looked at the line, we weren't even halfway through. We could still make it.
Fast forward at a very slow pace and we are only one row away from the front of the line but now it's 2:10 pm and we're in a bit of a panic. We still have to grab our luggage, race through the X-ray machine, leave the airport, go back into the airport, check our bags, go back through security and run to our gate.
"I'm exactly where I need to be, exactly when I need to be there," I said in my head over and over. Don looked at the line, looked at our tickets, and pulled up google translate to find out how to say my plane is leaving soon. I glanced at my watch, my heart rate was 102.
"I'm exactly where I need to be, exactly when I need to be there," I muttered.
Don waved at the guard at the front of our line.
Don: Disculpe, tengo una pregunta! (Excuse me, I have a question)
The guard came over, read his google translate version of, "am I going to miss my flight" and asked for his ticket. She took the ticket to one of the officers at the immigration checkpoint, there was a little back and forth, and she returned with the ticket.
Guard: (in English) He says you have to wait. (she pointed back at the officer). This is your departure time.
She then pointed at a time that was an hour later than the one in the big box right next to our gate number.
So, what did we learn here?
If you have a question while in line at customs at the airport in Cartegena you can ask one of the officers there and they will help you.
On Avianca's printed tickets they put the time they want you at the gate for departure next to the gate in a box in bold print and the actual departure time in smaller print further down on the ticket.
My internal mantra was right and there was no need to panic.
Oh, and then after racing to get our luggage we learned we didn't need to do that because they were transferring it to the connecting flight for us.
We exited the airport, walked back in, quickly got through security then went to check on our gate. Next to our flight number and gate in bold lettering was RETRASADO, delayed.
We ended up pushed back about 2 1/2 hours. So my mantra was super, duper correct. That gave us a chance to learn a few things about the airport in Cartegena.
We decided to get some food. Airport food is always crazy expensive. When we were in Costa Rica we ate at a Denny's next to the airport and it cost over $35 for two meals and two drinks. We ate there because it was the closest restaurant to our hotel not because we are super-duper American. I mean, we are, super-duper American but that's not why we ate there.
In Columbia, the currency is the Columbian Peso and it's printed out like this on menus, $20.000. When I first saw the menu of what looked like a hamburger joint at the airport I thought, yeah, that's about right, $20 for a burger, fries, and a drink. Then I pulled out my trusty currency converter and entered $20,000 pesos, it came back as $4.09. What?!
These are the nachos I got at the airport. Not a great food choice, I was tired and overstimulated and wanted comfort carbs. $15,900 pesos is $3.25. Wow! (they were bigger than they look in this picture)
So the first thing I learned in Columbia, food is inexpensive!
Also, if you get delayed at an airport do a recon lap. Walk through the place and see if there are other places to sit or quiet corners to chill. We have a travel credit card that gets us into executive lounges and that makes a big difference when you need a place to relax. Cartegena doesn't have one that is part of the system we are in but by doing a lap around the little airport we found an upstairs public lounge that was practically empty where we could spread out and decompress a bit.
The picture on the left is the busy central area of the Cartegena airport, all of the gates are there. It's not a big airport. The picture on the right is the upstairs lounge. We could still see our gate and had a monitor that listed departure times and gates.
When we left Cartegena for Medellin our flight was quick and efficient. We arranged for a shuttle service from the airport to our hotel and found our driver quickly. By 9:00 pm we were at the hotel restaurant taking bad selfies and enjoying the view.
It took 11 hours to get from our hotel in San Jose to our hotel in Medellin, which is quite a long day considering the flights themselves were only 1 1/2 hours and 1 hour each.
But what's that old saying? It's not the destination, it's the journey or maybe it's wherever you go, there you are.
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