This edition of Short Tails is another trauma-inducing memory for me, but one that thankfully turned out in our favor. This time, we were in San Jose, Costa Rica and things started badly from the moment the airplane’s wheels touched the tarmac.
Welcome to Costa Rica
In August of 2022 Hannah and I left Grant and Polly in Waco, Texas (see – Welcome to Texas) and headed to Costa Rica for the first time. It had always been a dream destination on our radar and we were both so excited to finally be heading for a slice of Pura Vida.
Although we had a couple of Workaways and Trusted Housesitter stays booked we planned to spend the first week by ourselves. We figured it would give us some time to adjust to a new country, and a new continent as we had never ventured to Central America before. Using Booking.com we secured a one-week stay in the center of the Costa Rican capital city, San Jose.
The Problems Start
We had a stupidly early flight from Dallas, Texas to San Jose so stayed near the airport the night before. However, on arrival, we were told that although our room was available, as we hadn’t pre-paid, it had been canceled. We could still have our pre-booked, pre-arranged, confirmed room but we would have to pay a higher rate.
Needless to say, I didn’t take this kind of customer service too well, it was a hustle. I had confirmation codes, emails, and everything a savvy traveler needs to get into their accommodation. I refused to leave the reception desk until they gave us our agreed price, much to Hannah’s dismay. We got it though, managed to get about 2-hours of sleep and headed to San Jose.
The Way to San Jose
Despite an hour delay and a very tight flight transfer in Flordia whereby we walked off one plane and directly onto another, we made it to Costa Rica on time. As is standard practice on landing I turned my phone back on and the first message I received was from our San Jose hotel saying our room had been cancelled. ‘We’ve had no water for 3 days!’ he said. Info that may have been useful to us 3 days ago!!
Thankfully Costa Rican passport control isn’t as stern as the US or UK. When asked where we were staying and I responded ‘I have no idea’ the friendly border agent shrugged it off, probably wrote down his address, and let us in.
We didn’t panic, there was an airport cafe with WiFi, so we planned to sit, re-group, and book somewhere new, hoping to bag a last-minute deal. With a beer and sandwich in hand, we found another hotel, it wasn’t ideal but it was somewhere to go. Confirmation email received, we got in a taxi and headed to our new accommodation.
Arriving at the New Hotel
After a dicey drive into San Jose, we quickly learned that the rules of the road in Costa Rica are loosely followed. But pulling up to what our driver told us was our hotel, we quickly realized things were about to go from bad to worse. This hotel had not been open for a long while!
Despite the confirmation email, it seems that Booking.com has a feature whereby automated emails are sent after booking. Speaking precious little Spanish, we still managed to garner from the bemused neighbors that this was no longer a functioning place to stay.
Now, it’s 4 pm in Costa Rica during the rainy season, which meant the skies were about to open for the daily storm. We had no WiFi, low phone batteries, and it was starting to get dark. It is one of the few times during our traveling when I have been stumped and very concerned. Thankfully when I zig, Hannah zags, and she spotted a small cafe with shelter, power, and WiFi.
The Tables Begin to Turn
As the rain began to pour around us we decided we needed to give up on Booking.com for now. In fact, given their level of help, we didn’t use them again for over a year, but that’s another story. We needed direct contact with hotels or Airbnb owners, so we started messaging hosts in San Jose, saying ‘Is this room available right now?!’
Thankfully San Jose is one of the more affordable cities we have visited, so prices for last-minute hotels and apartments weren’t crazy. One Airbnb owner got straight back to us and completely understood our situation. He said ‘Yes, the key is at reception, the room is ready, go now!’. It was a 5-minute taxi ride away.
We pulled up to the tallest, and most modern apartment block in the city, our doors opened by a fancily dressed doorman. We knew things were on the up.
URBN Escalante
It had looked nice in the listing but we had no idea how good things were about to get. We were in a luxury penthouse on the 18th floor with a city-facing balcony. URBN Escalante has a swimming pool, a gym, a library, coworking spaces, and a bar/cafe. It was unreal.
With about 2 hours of sleep between us in a couple of days, we slept like babies in the soundproofed, deluxe bedroom. The surrounding area was packed with cool bars, parks, and all the main attractions of San Jose. What started as an absolute disaster and then got worse, ultimately turned out to be a big positive.
We loved the apartment so much that we ended up re-booking it for a return trip to San Jose toward the end of our stay in Costa Rica. Thankfully this time we were able to give the owner more than 2-minutes notice!
Conclusion
Costa Rica was a crazy adventure and we loved it. We visited a whole host of different cities and experienced everything we possibly could during our 3-month stay. It would have been easy to have been put off given the introduction we were given, but traveling presents many new and often interesting challenges.
Being able to adapt to situations is part of being a full-time world traveler and though it’s never nice when things go wrong, there’s always a resolution. Hannah and I look back on our arrival in San Jose as a good test and we’ll be ready and even better prepared if something like that happens again.