The usual pre travel chaos

So, here we are again the night before travel and everyone is tense and snapping at each other. For the past three days I have been asking myself if all of the extra work and pressure are worth it. Then I read some of our past adventures that I posted on this blog and I remember that yes, the pre-travel hassle is worth it with the fun and education we have had.

So, the goal is for all packing to be completely done tonight. We did most of the big stuff this weekend.

Here are our clothes bags. Everyone gets the clothes they are wearing and what they

could fit in this bag.

This shows the size of the bag. I might be cheating though. That's Tate's shoe. Size 14

The rest of the stuff includes a travel pillow, sleep sack, shower flip flops, a light jacket, a poncho, and some toiletries for each person. We also have two snorkels, a laundry line, flashlights, and other small flotsam.

Each person also gets a small day pack with books, ipods, water bottle, snacks, etc.
All in all, everything fits on our backs.

So tomorrow we leave for St. Louis. Friday morning we get on the planes. Three total before the day is done. See you all in Panama!

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In Costa Rica

Again, this computer will not take an SD card. However, I am drinking the best coffee I've ever had while writing this so it's mas-o-menos. (good and bad) We were only able to spend the one night in Bocas del Toro because we made reservations at a specific hotel in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica and they only let you cancel if the can rebook. Thus, for the third day in a row we were on the move. That is really exhausting so I'm glad we are in one place for at least three days now. It took us about five hours to get here from Bocas. We first had to get a water taxi to get back to mainland. They were very busy that day so we had to wait an hour for that. Then I splurged and paid for us to get a direct minibus to the border. Otherwise that would have been a taxi then two different busses to get there. Then we spent 30 minutes getting visas and stamped out of Panama. After that we walked across a rickety, rusted bridge into Costa Rica. From there another office for cus

Long hours in St.Louis

We drove to St. Louis last night and stayed at a hotel because our flight was scheduled for 8am. We got up at 4:30am to get the 5:30 shuttle and be in the airport by 6. (International flights require a 2 hour check in ahead of time) When we got here we found out our flight to New York was canceled but they put us on a direct flight to Miami. That flight leaves at 11:50am. It's good that we don't have to do the extra NY leg, but I could have used the extra sleep. We had a one day pass for the Admiral's Lounge for Steve and the kids are free so it was only $50 for me and we could hang in there for the extended time. Money well spent. The seats are comfortable, there is no noise, and the drinks and snacks are free. A significant savings when you consider we have Tate. So, the Windmoeller Hillbillies moved in. We also have free computer use (thus, the blog post) and free "drinks" for the adults. Not one to ever let a free Bloody Mary pass me by...or two.

The real first post

O.k. That last post was really just a test as I was setting things up. Now the real, good stuff begins. Where to next? My kids and I are on our way to Ecuador for a month of Spanish language school. Steve will be joining us the middle two weeks of our adventure. I will answer each question in turn. Why spanish school? We don't know any spanish. Actually hablo Espaniol en poco. Muy poco. (The people who know spanish and are reading this are probably laughing.) Tate and I went to Honduras two years ago and I figured we would be able to get by because lots of people speak English. It is pretty much a universal language, right? Wrong! I could not function and felt very detached from the people and culture I was learning about. (The same thing happened in France but that was o.k. The French did not want to talk to me anyway.) We got separated from the fluent Spanish speaker we were with and I nearly had a meltdown. I coped by going into a Wendy's (yes, they have Wendy

Are We There Yet? Travel Log

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