Costa Rica Adventures (plus NYC, Boston, San Francisco & LA)

[v1nce007]

Currently in the Admirals Club at Chicago waiting for my connecting flight to Boston. Just enjoyed my first flight on AA domestic F in a fairly new 737. Good seatback entertainment, the crew were good too. For breakfast I had an egg sandwich with turkey bacon; surprisingly tasty


The only weird part was my seatmate. I've never seen such a performance unpacking all his stuff, including a folder full of paper work that he didn't look at once. It must have taken him 3 or 4 minutes to plug in his ancient Sony headphones (then he watched my plug in my Bose QC35's in about 2 seconds). And then after takeoff he pulls out the biggest laptop I've ever seen, it was overlapping the tray table. Plus he had a plug in mouse he had to use on the armrest. Anyway, after all that he played 5mins of solitaire and put it all away. It didn't bother me but I just couldn't look away!

 

[v1nce007]

Second leg to BOS was really good, a beautiful afternoon for flying. This was an older 737 with no seatback entertainment. The FAs in F were really good. Pre-departure sparkling wine in a huge plastic glass before take off, then once in the air I had a G&T with warm nuts. I wish QF would serve the pre-meal snack this way.


The I had the beef with quinoa and asparagus. It was a small piece of meat but nice and pink inside.


Followed up with a warm cookie. Altogether a very nice flight.

 

[v1nce007]

Really easy commute from the airport; shuttle from the terminal to the subway station and then just a couple of stops to State St station which was close to my hotel. Even though I made great time, as I walked into the lobby the crew from my flight were already there checking in!

Staying at Club Quarters in the Financial District. It's fairly basic but is in a great location, walking distance to everything and the price was great.

 

[v1nce007]

Had a great time exploring Boston in beautiful weather. Downloaded an app with audio commentary and walked the Freedom Trail. The architecture in Boston is outstanding and the harbour is beautiful.

 

[v1nce007]

For lunch, I stopped off at the famous Neptune Oyster. The line was out the door and groups were told there was a wait of 45mins-1hr. As a single, I only had to wait about 10 mins for a seat at the bar to become available.

I came here to try their famous Maine Lobster Roll. They serve it either warm with butter or cold with mayo. I'm told this is controversial and there are a lot of passionate arguments about which way is correct. I went for warm with butter and it was out of this world. An incredibly generous helping of lobster. Cost was just under $40 including a glass of pilsner. The girl behind the bar was super friendly and a fan of the Aussie accent.

 

[v1nce007]

Took the Amtrak Aclea Express train in first class from South Station Boston to Penn Station New York. It is considered a 'fast train' as it reaches speeds of up to 150mph in certain sections.

First class passengers have access to the Acela Lounge which is pretty basic, but definitely the nicest place in the Station to wait. There is free water, juice etc, and snacks such as fruit and chips. A few computer workstations and good wifi. The weird thing is Station Staff and Amtrak Police Officers seem to use the lounge for their coffee breaks.

 

[v1nce007]

The Acela Express journey takes around 3.5 hours. I believe the normal train takes another hour or so longer. The real benefit of taking the train is that it departs and arrives in the middle of each city.

This train has business and first class only. In addition to the power cars there are 3 business class cars, a cafe car, and the first class car. There is no need for first class passengers to visit the cafe car as meals and drinks are inclusive in F. Looking at other passengers bag tag I get the impression most of them are Amtrak elites who upgraded to F on points. A "confused" business class passenger did try to take a seat in F and was politely but quickly moved on by the conductor.

The business class cars are in a 2-2 configuration while the F class is 2-1.

The F car:

 

[v1nce007]

After leaving the station the attendant comes around with a lunch menu and a small bag of bar snacks and takes the drink orders. I went for a sparkling wine which was actually ok.


Sorry I forgot to take a photo of the menu but the choices were a fried chicken with rice, prawn biriani, some kind of salad I think, and a cheese/fruit plate. I went for the fried chicken, it was quiet tasty. I'd compare it to a decent economy airline meal but served on proper plates with silverware.


It was such a relaxing way to travel and the views through Connecticut were beautiful, especially on the left side of the train.



After lunch I relaxed with a beer. I was very impressed to find a Dogfish Head IPA on the menu. A really nice beer although packs a punch at 9%


We arrived right on time into Penn Station NYC

 

[v1nce007]

Not much to say about New York. It's my favourite place in the world. I don't do the tourist stuff, I know my way around and how to use the subway, and I spend my time just strolling around the different neighbourhoods and finding nice places to have a drink and do some people watching.

For accomodation I booked into Pod39 on 39th st in midtown (just a few blocks from Grand Central station). This was perfect for me as it was cheap (by Manhattan standards) and gave me everything I need as in just a place to sleep at night: clean and comfortable, private bathroom, air conditioning, great location). Obviously I wasn't anticipating on getting lucky with the single bed.

 

[v1nce007]

The return trip to Boston on the train. Remembered to take a pic of the menu this time. I went with the fish, it was pretty dry but there was plenty of sauce underneath to help it go down, and the attendant was very proactive with topping up drinks. Some great views of Manhattan as we left.

 

[v1nce007]

Then it was time to start the journey to Costa Rica; 5 flights over 2 days.
First leg BOS-ORD in F. This was a refreshment service. The choice was a cheese and fruit plate or a buffalo chicken hummus. Forgot to take a pic but I had the hummus and it was quite tasty.
Then a quick stop of the ORD Admirals Club; they make fresh guacamole to order in the afternoons

 

[v1nce007]

2nd leg was ORD-SFO in F. Had a lasagna with prawns on the side followed by ice cream; really good. The FA on this flight was amazing, really proactive and constantly checking on everyone to see if they needed anything.

 

[v1nce007]

Overnight stay at Aloft hotel SFO. Easy shuttle every 15mins from the airport, room were large but basic and can earn SPG points.

 

[v1nce007]

Up early for a 6am flight SFO-DFW in F. This was a breakfast service. Had the egg sandwich pictured on a previous breakfast flight. Cutting it fine with the connection time in DFW, 55 minutes, however we were on-time and even having to change terminals on the sky trains I was still at the gate 10 mins before boarding. I am arriving in Costa Rica 24 hours before the start of my tour, so I have a little room to move if I miss a connection.

Next flight DFW-MIA in Y. My one world sapphire status means I can select a 'main cabin extra' seat. The leg room is not too bad


Final flight is back in F from MIA to San Jose, Costa Rica. Really good service from the FA on this flight. I had 2 sparkling wines and when I asked for a 3rd she said they only load 2 per flight on this leg?! so stuck to beer for the rest of the flight. Dinner was a grilled chicken. Didn't take a pic, it was not very appetising looking but tasted ok. Nice warm chic chip cookie to finish.

 

[v1nce007]

Arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica for the start of the intrepid tour. Staying at Soluxe El Sesteo hotel. It's about a 20 minute walk from the centre of San Jose. Basic but comfortable with a really nice pool and excellent wifi.


Met up with the rest of the group. There are 9 of us in total. 4 from USA, 2 from Ireland, 2 from NZ, and I'm the only Aussie. Plus our local guide. A really good group. Had a nice dinner together and a few beers, then back to the hotel ready for a 5.40am start the next day.

 

[v1nce007]

The 10 of us (including the intrepid guide) got picked up from the hotel at 5.40am as planned by the company running our 2 day rafting trip, Rio Tropicales. It's a couple of hours drive to the river, making a stop off at another hotel to collect 4 more people who were doing the rafting trip too, and then a stop at a restaurant for breakfast which was included in the tour.

Then after a safety briefing we boarded the boats for several hours of incredible rafting in class 2 and 3 rapids.




Our rafting guide was really fun and he had us trying a number of different activities on some of the smaller rapids. There were a few intense moments too such as getting stuck in a hole and doing 360 turns, 2 members of the group went overboard at that point.
We also stopped for lunch on the riverbank. One of the rafts was turned upside down to make a table and the guides prepared sandwiches for us.

 

[v1nce007]

After some more rafting we arrived at the Rio Tropicales Eco Lodge set in the hills on the side of the river. It is only accessible by rafting and was beautiful. Individual cabins are dotted around the hillside plus there is a open kitchen/dining room/bar. A local family look after the housekeeping etc and the rafting guides do all the cooking.

 

[DontGetMeStarted]

Boston is on my bucket list hopefully in 2018...great report

 

[Major]

Looks like a very active trip

 

[drron]

Seeing those first 2 posts I cant help thinking of that current ad-I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger.