The Traveling Widower

Category: travel

Default category for all travel related posts.

  • Another Long Trip Home

    Crowded airport terminal with a long line of passengers waiting in front of check-in counters, large windows allowing natural light, and several advertisements visible in the background.

    March 28th, 2026

    De-embarkation day is always a bit sad, especially when it was a fun trip like this one. You get your cabin well organized so it’s sort of like having a dorm room in college (for some of us at least), and you have a group of new, short-term friends to have lunch and dinner with. And then it’s all over. 

    A long hotel hallway featuring numbered doors and carpeted flooring in blue tones, illuminated by ceiling lights.
    Last look down steerage level

    We had pulled into port  in the early morning, relatively close to the airport (about an hour drive). Cruise ships was clearly not the main business here – we were parked between container ships, and got to watch them unload one of the ships – never seen that before.

    A cargo ship docked at a harbor with cranes, ready for unloading. The scene captures the ship's hull, the cranes, and a portion of the quay.

    The mobile cranes are huge – they look a lot like the rigs used to move space boosters to the launch pads.

    The San Jose airport is pretty well organized – check-in was about 5 minutes, and security about the same. Unfortunately, Houston will not be the same. The TSA nightmare continues – last evening, about the time I would be traversing security today, the wait time was 4 hours. I would not be making my flight, even with CLEAR which was shutdown today for a while. So, I’m nice and relaxed, sitting in a lounge at the San Jose airport, working on a blog post until my flight leaves in 3 hours. No stress for today at least.

    View from an airport window showcasing airplanes on the tarmac with mountains and blue sky in the background.

    I hope that volcano does not decide to blow before the plane takes off. That would be my luck.

    Home tomorrow, I hope. Peace.

    (Note: I have two posts in progress from the last two days of activities – many more pictures. I was just bored at the airport and decided to write a bit. It’s become a habit..a better one than drinking or smoking).

    A brief update – the flight from Costa Rica left about 30 minutes late, due to a medical emergency from the baggage handlers loading up the plane. We wound up landing about 40 minutes late – not so good for all the passengers with 2 hours to get to the next flight. I made it through customs in about 5 minutes – Global Entry is worth it if you are traveling overseas a lot. I just breezed on through. Baggage took a while, and the wait times to go back through security were not too bad. I might have made it. But it was nice not having to try and run through the terminals which most everyone else on the flight was doing. I cannot really run with my Forest Gump brace on…or with it off as well. So, I’m happy to be sitting comfortably in the airport Marriott. I’m really beat from the trip anyway.

    One other thought on that topic – I spoke with an airport employee as I passed through security, just to ask about the TSA lines and delays. He said that it has improved just a bit, since that person in the White House said the TSA agents would be paid next week. Most of them he knows are not sure they believe that will happen since the president says a lot of things and then changes his mind. But at least there is some hope that the delays may improve a bit in the next few days. That would be very nice. I’ve got another trip in 2 weeks.

    I might as well finish the story instead of starting another post.

    My flight to Sacramento was scheduled for 10:15AM this morning (Sunday), but I decided to play it safe and got over to Terminal E early….before 7AM. Even then, there was a sea of humanity in line. Even worse, they did not bother to open the CLEAR line, or the TSA Precheck. Everyone got to suffer together.

    The lines were well organized, and everyone just shuffled along until they got to the few TSA screening stations. After that you waited in another long line to go through the x-ray scanners. All told, it was about an hour from start to finish. Not that bad. I did like the little signs they posted along the way, with the estimated time from that point.

    I did get to see a whole bunch of ICE agents standing around, drinking coffee, and with one exception, not doing anything useful. Your tax dollars at work. I felt so much safer having them there. Not.

    And yes, I did finally make it home. I need a real vacation.

    And just to add insult to injury (I’m not sure that fits, but it sounds good), that guy in the White House issues an executive order to pay the TSA workers, and now the lines have suddenly disappeared in Houston. There was nothing stopping him from doing this a week ago. Would have been nice to a lot of travelers, myself included.

  • Hot and Humid in Costa Rica

    A smiling male photographer stands in a lush green jungle, wearing a t-shirt and carrying a backpack. He holds a camera in his hand and is surrounded by tropical foliage.
    Not me, my Avitar, AI generated

    March 25th, 2026

    It’s hard to believe that the trip is almost over – time really does fly sometimes. And I am so looking forward to waiting in line for hours at the Houston airport next Sunday.

    On Tuesday night, we sailed over the border from Panama to Costa Rica, and were given instructions by the trip lead to change the clocks on our phones and computers to stay on Panama time, rather than setting back an hour. Since the ship goes back and forth between time zones each trip they stick with the Panamanian zone to avoid messing up the crew shift schedules. We docked in Golfito in the morning, and let passengers wander into the (very) little town. Nothing was open. Of course, it was only 8AM on Costa Rica time.

    The town of Golfito is in the Golfo Dulce (Gulf of Golfito/Golfito Bay), the deepest gulf in the world. If you are interested in geographic trivia, now you know. The plan for the day was to do either kayaking or Panga rides along the Mangrove trees at the edge of the rainforest. I chose the lazy route – a Panga ride. I was hoping for a lot of wildlife, and carrying a heavy expensive camera in an open kayak did not seem like a particularly smart idea. The second outing for the day was a visit to private rainforest property, which was great for bird watching and photography. Woo Hoo.

    One interesting feature of this part of Costa Rica is that this gulf sort of blocks the wind, so you get a lot of rain, and the humidity and heat can be unbearable. Not Woo Hoo. You can tell immediately when you wake up that it is going to be humid – all the windows are fogged up.

    Two round portholes on a ship, one displaying a warm sunset glow and the other showing a foggy exterior view.

    For some reason, this area is a haven for the ultra wealthy. Jeff Bezos had his yacht here the other week. When we pulled in today, Mark Zuckerberg’s super-yacht was docked across the way. And then this huge, weird looking ship with a helipad midship, pulled in. This also belonged to Zuck. It carried all his toys – like a helicopter, a small sailing yacht, and a small submarine. There were probably a few cars as well. I guess if you have it, you flaunt it. 

    The first outing on Wednesday was nice and relaxing – it was hot and humid, but the panga’s have tops over the seated area,  and it was pretty nice when we were moving around at high speed. We cruised along the mangrove shores for an hour, hoping to replicate the experience we had with the Monkey Islands in the Panama Canal. Not even close unfortunately. We did see a few birds and a snake, but that was about it. It was still a nice ride – the jungle is beautiful, and it was really nice being out on the water. And I did get some very nice shots of a white egret and three-colored heron.

    Lush green tropical forest with palm trees among dense foliage.
    A white heron perched on a branch above calm green water, surrounded by lush greenery.
    A blue-gray heron standing on a branch among lush green leaves, near still water.
    A white bird standing on a branch over calm green water, poised as if about to catch fish, surrounded by lush green foliage.

    The next outing required sailing across the bay, which we did over lunch. By then, it was getting really hot and humid. Miserable is the word that comes to my mind. The landing was on a rocky beach, and it was a wet landing meaning you have to get your feet wet walking from the boat in the surf to dry land. I brought the wrong water shoes, and had to do a step-ouch-step dance up to the sand. The place we landed in had a bunch of Macaws overhead in the trees, but I was too busy changing shoes to get the camera out, so I missed the photo op. When we were all set, a bunch of us were assigned to one of the local guides, and off we went on our hike through the gardens. 

    It’s kind of hard trying to describe this place – it is a huge (500 acres) family owned property, which borders a national park. It’s a jumble of hiking and walking trails, with chicken coops, ponds (with a resident Cayman), native plants, and areas where pineapples, coffee, cocoa and other fruits are grown. The jungle surrounds everything’s, so you don’t feel like it’s a plantation – the family maintains it as sort of a eco-tourism business. And there are all kinds of birds flying and screeching. It was an interesting experience – not too great for photography, so lugging my heavy camera and lens around was an effort. But I did get a few good photos….but not of the Macaws or Toucans. Darn.

    A colorful bird perched on a branch, featuring a green head, red chest, and black tail, surrounded by lush tropical foliage.
    A vibrant heliconia plant with bright red and yellow flowers, surrounded by lush green foliage.
    A group of chickens in a makeshift coop made of corrugated metal, surrounded by lush greenery and trees.
    A toucan perched on a mossy tree branch surrounded by lush green foliage.
    A close-up view of a crocodile's head partially submerged in water, with textured skin and a visible eye, surrounded by lush greenery.
    A brightly colored bird perched on a branch, featuring green, red, and gray plumage against a blurred green background.
    Two red macaws flying against a clear blue sky.

    I captured one short video worth sharing, something I’ve seen in documentaries, but never live – leaf-cutter ants. Very strange, and they are all over the place.

    After our hikes were over, we sat around re-hydrating for a while, watching the Macaws fly overhead (but never quite in range of my camera). Most of us were ready for A/C and a shower – I was pretty much drained at that point, so I did my ouch-dance across the rocks, and boarded a Zodiac back to the ship. 

    Two more days to go. And one last photo – high humidity usually leads to nice sunsets. Here’s one.

    Mark Zuckerbergs private yacht

    Peace.