Journey to San Jose (Pt. 2): We've Finally Made It

But we're just getting started

Sep 12, 2025

I have never been more relieved to feel the wheels touch the ground and hear the screeching of brakes as the plane pulled into the tarmac.

This is the beginning of my new life in a new place, and unlike my life for the past 20 years, I have no idea what’s coming next.

Our first true test comes at the immigration line. I’ve never been anywhere on a one-way ticket.

My heart is beating fast.
My palms are sweaty.
I feel the nerves inside my body.

Even though I’ve been to Costa Rica a few times before, this time feels different.

I walk up to the immigration agent and he asks for my passport and proof of exit. I hand him my passport and pull out my phone to show him my ticket to Puerto Rico.

I look at him nervously.
He hands the phone back to me.

And then, the most beautiful moment. I watch as the agent stamps my passport and says “Welcome to Costa Rica. Pura Vida.”

A sigh of relief and on to our next task.

We walk to the luggage carousel and wait for our bags. One. Two. Three. Four.

The luggage stop coming out of the conveyor. Wait, where’s number five? The fifth one never comes.

I open the Find My app on my phone and see the fifth piece of luggage is still in Miami. We’ll have to get it another day – just another item for our new to-do list.

One thing I know we’ll need, now that we’re in a new country, is cash. We know most places take credit cards, but some don’t.

So I look over at the currency exchange booth. It’s still early. No one is there yet. Luckily there’s a currency exchange machine right next to the booth.

I walk up to the machine and put my bills in one by one.
Coins tumble down the chute.
The machine spits out a receipt.

We’ve hit another snag. The receipt tells us this machine doesn’t have the required bills. We’ll have to go downtown and get money there. It wasn’t the end of the world, but it did add an unexpected stop to our schedule. It was just another reminder to go with the flow and trust things will work themselves out.

Our final step inside the airport is going through luggage scans and showing the agent our paperwork for Pookie.

We had a couple of concerns here. We knew importing our possessions required an itemized list but we didn’t know if we had to declare anything in our suitcases. We also didn’t know if Pookie’s paperwork was exactly what we needed. It was done by the vet, so it should be good, but who knows.

We place our luggage on the conveyor belt.
Walk to the other side of the machine.
And wait nervously.

I take a deep breath and watch anxiously as the agent stares at the monitor. Meanwhile Anita is waiting to present Pookie’s documents.

The suitcases arrive on the other side of the belt. The agent doesn’t mention anything about them – we’re good to go. First obstacle down.

Now for Pookie’s paperwork. Anita hands Pookie’s paperwork over to the agent and he starts scanning the documents. After the actual plane ride, this was our second biggest concern.

Are the documents good?
Are we missing anything?
What happens if they don’t accept them?

As Anita is walking away from the customs agent, our hearts drop.

“You’re missing a paper,” says the customs agent.

Anita walks back nervously and the agent starts talking to her. Luckily we weren’t missing anything. Anita just resized documents to fit on fewer pages.

Crisis averted.

We grab our luggage and head quickly out the door before they change their minds.

We were originally planning to rent a car for the entire week while staying at the Airbnb. That would allow us to get our luggage to and from the airport and to our eventual new home.

But the flight delay completely ruined those plans. When I canceled our car rental the night before we decided to wait until we got settled at the Airbnb. That way we wouldn’t have to drive all the way back to the airport to return it.

More on our adventures with the car to come.

Once out of the airport we quickly get to action.

We buy our cell phone data plans.
Cross the parking structure with all our luggage.
Stuff the entire elevator with our things.
And go up a few floors to the rideshare area.

Then we order an UberXL and pray it can fit everything:
- The three of us
- Our four checked suitcases
- Three carry on bags
- And Pookie in his carrier.

The driver pulls up and starts Tetrising all our stuff. We start to worry.

The big luggage fills up the back quickly. Our carry on’s are stacked on top of each other in the back seat. We get in and put our backpacks on top of our laps and Pookie’s carrier on top of that.

After a few minutes we get everything in. Not an inch to spare.

It’s at this moment we realize the universe works in strange but beautiful ways. If that fifth piece of luggage arrived as planned, it wouldn’t have fit. We would’ve needed another car.

As the Uber drives away, we watch the mountains pass by us, and wonder what new adventures await. For the first time in a while we can take a break and relish this quiet respite, but as we know every day brings new challenges. And if there’s anything we learned during this whole process, it’s that we can handle anything that comes our way.