Just under a year ago I sat in this very same airport with a group of students en route to volunteering in Costa Rica and one of them asked me if I’d been on a trip of lifetime yet. Despite the fact that I’ve been fortunate to have done some pretty great traveling, I replied no, but that Antarctica would be it. A week after we got home I received the phone call to tell me that I’d been selected as a National Geographic Grosvenor Fellow and that they were sending me to that very place! I am always amazed at how much life can change in a year and I am extraordinarily grateful for this opportunity that I’ve been given.
It’s hard to believe that after all of the preparation and anticipation, this “trip of a lifetime” is actually here! Even sitting here in Houston, it still doesn’t quite seem real. Although it’s been a couple of years since I’ve lived in Costa Rica, commuting through this airport on a fairly regular basis, there’s still a part of me that expects to step off the plane at the end of this next flight onto Costa Rican soil. Instead it will be the 33 degree Argentinian heat! After all of the reading, the documentaries, the YouTube videos of penguins I’ve watched in the last few months, my mind still can’t wrap itself around what I’m about to experience and I can’t wait to soak in every minute of it!
I have decided that starting a trip with a night at the Fairmont is kind of the way to go! Except… you should always make sure they give you the right room number. The bellman gave me my key and room number, but he wrote 1216 instead of 1126. Big difference. As I stood there trying a key that wouldn’t work, another bellman came along and said that he could open it for me. That sure surprised the guy who’s room it actually was. Good thing he was dressed. Upside was that they gave me a credit at the lounge and free parking for Lindsay who came to visit me for dinner. The hotel was a good choice though because it was an easy walk downstairs for a 4:30am security check.
The flight from Vancouver was easy and I enjoyed my first NEXUS experience. Nothing like walking to the front of the line! Paul, I now understand what you’ve been going on about all of these years. Now it’s time for a 7-hour layover that I’m kind of looking forward to. It may be weird but I love airports! There’s so much energy and it’s great to just sit back and watch everyone coming and going, excited about their trips... except for the dude who just missed his flight to Amsterdam, he wasn’t too happy… that’s a whole other type of show to sit back and watch.
Well I best get working on the TEDx talk I’ll be giving when I get back. I’ll be flying overnight and then hitting the ground running on Friday, so I’ll try to get an update of some sort on here Friday night. Thank you everyone for the well wishes over the past couple of days! I didn’t have time to respond to all of them but I read and appreciated each one!
~Jenn~
It’s hard to believe that after all of the preparation and anticipation, this “trip of a lifetime” is actually here! Even sitting here in Houston, it still doesn’t quite seem real. Although it’s been a couple of years since I’ve lived in Costa Rica, commuting through this airport on a fairly regular basis, there’s still a part of me that expects to step off the plane at the end of this next flight onto Costa Rican soil. Instead it will be the 33 degree Argentinian heat! After all of the reading, the documentaries, the YouTube videos of penguins I’ve watched in the last few months, my mind still can’t wrap itself around what I’m about to experience and I can’t wait to soak in every minute of it!
I have decided that starting a trip with a night at the Fairmont is kind of the way to go! Except… you should always make sure they give you the right room number. The bellman gave me my key and room number, but he wrote 1216 instead of 1126. Big difference. As I stood there trying a key that wouldn’t work, another bellman came along and said that he could open it for me. That sure surprised the guy who’s room it actually was. Good thing he was dressed. Upside was that they gave me a credit at the lounge and free parking for Lindsay who came to visit me for dinner. The hotel was a good choice though because it was an easy walk downstairs for a 4:30am security check.
The flight from Vancouver was easy and I enjoyed my first NEXUS experience. Nothing like walking to the front of the line! Paul, I now understand what you’ve been going on about all of these years. Now it’s time for a 7-hour layover that I’m kind of looking forward to. It may be weird but I love airports! There’s so much energy and it’s great to just sit back and watch everyone coming and going, excited about their trips... except for the dude who just missed his flight to Amsterdam, he wasn’t too happy… that’s a whole other type of show to sit back and watch.
Well I best get working on the TEDx talk I’ll be giving when I get back. I’ll be flying overnight and then hitting the ground running on Friday, so I’ll try to get an update of some sort on here Friday night. Thank you everyone for the well wishes over the past couple of days! I didn’t have time to respond to all of them but I read and appreciated each one!
~Jenn~