Pura Vida

Have you ever had an after dinner conversation where someone throws out an idea, like “Hey, let’s go to the Billy Joel/Elton John Concert in May in Nashville” and before the evening is over the idea has taken on a life of its own and now requires a passport?

That’s my recollection of how things went down at a quiet Valentine’s Day dinner party and the next thing you know our Supper Club is consulting their Blackberries and comparing the pros and cons of resorts in Mexico. Four couples were able to sync up their schedules, find child care and enthusiastically agree on an all-inclusive resort in Cancun, Mexico and were set to fly out of Huntsville at 6:20A.M.Wednesday morning, with most of us planning to spend the night in Huntsville Tuesday evening.

Then, then, we started hearing reports about the H1N1 Flu (I want to be politically correct and not hurt any porcine feelings – you know how I love animals). As the news stories began, we were still planning to go, trying not to be sucked into the media hype. Jo was keeping watch on the CDC web-site; I was getting notifications from the Mexican Embassy. But as the situation deteriorated, we began to have serious concerns – not about getting sick – but about getting home, possibly being quarantined, and for some there were even professional ramifications. So, we waved off Mexico at 11:26 A.M. Tuesday.

And that’s when the fun began…we decided not to cancel our trip. This opportunity wasn’t going to come around again anytime soon and we were ready to seize the day. Some of us were even packed!

We didn’t know where we were going or when we’d be able to leave and we spent the next hour or so waiting to hear from our travel agent …at 12:02P.M. we received this email…

"I have 8 seats to Costa Rica from Atlanta. Departs at 1014am;arrives 1210pm
Return at110pm;departs at 713pm. I waiting on them trying to get the rooms………. "

The email was the culmination of a marathon email thread that had started the evening before - a back and forth of should we go, not go, transfer to the sister resort in the Dominican Republic (we couldn’t get eight seats on a plane). Once we decided to cancel on Mexico, we were at the mercy of the travel agent, waiting for her email and then for all of the replies of “WE’RE IN” for Costa Rica. I must say it was an EXHILIRATILNG RIDE!

We drove to Atlanta that night and flew out the next morning!

By the way, we are talking about taking some days off, without a destination. Retreating to our respective computers twenty-four hours before and then just going where she can find eight seats!

Costa Rica was beautiful, the people were warm and inviting and I can’t wait to go back. I’d love to take my girls and experience it with them.