Costa Rica Day 1: And away we go!

I woke up this morning to a light coat of frost on the cars in our driveway and a definite chill in the air.  By the time I dragged myself out of the house, dressed and fairly clean for real, the thermometer registered at 33 degrees.  Although the day quickly became sunny and the temperature warmed to a relatively balmy 50 degrees, it was a shocking reminder that in less then twenty four hours, we will be in an entirely different climate.  Yes, my friends … the time has finally come!  We are on our way to lovely Costa Rica for two weeks.    By tomorrow morning, I will be trading in sweaters for t-shirts, polos for thermals, sandles for snow boots.  Of course, I am super excited … but it really has not fully set in yet.  To me … the tropics are a dream, a fantasy and I don’t think our honeymoon has become a reality yet.  My mind alas is still filled with concern about my sick patients, the sump pump in our crawl space, my Bee's nose (she has been snoring more lately), bills, taxes and of course the stress noted two posts ago.  I know intellectually that we will soon be riding horses on the beach, dancing the salsa in a local bar, basking in the hot springs of an active volcano and so many other cool things ... but really... I mean really? This is a SUPER big deal!  I'm sure most people reading this blog know that I am not a newly married man.  EJ and I exchanged vows over 2 years ago... so why the delay??  Well that is <not> a funny story....
    In the fall of 2008, almost all of our preliminary wedding plans were settled so it was time for some fun stuff.  Fun for EJ was making the gift registry, fun for me was planning the honeymoon.  So one sunny Thursday after a routine monitoring visit with my oncologists (We were surveying my cancer <testicular> to assure that it stayed gone after my surgery the previous spring.), we visited a local travel agent in order to get info about Hawaii and Costa Rica.  Fun was had by all until ... my cell phone rang with a New York phone number on our ride home.  Now, in and of itself, this may not seem like such a dreadful thing to you but consider these facts:
1) The only New York city phone number not identified by my caller id who would call me are my oncologists.
2) My oncologists NEVER call me if everything ok and good.
The cancer had come back, and with a vengeance.  I had masses in the lungs and in my retroperitoneal lymph nodes.  We no longer had the luxury of playing nice... the gloves had to come off and the medical gowns had to go on.

So began my brief but horrible trial with chemotherapy and eventually major abdominal surgery ... fun fun.  So long honeymoon... I need to time off to survive!  Naturally, for a long time, I haven't wanted to think about traveling for a long time since.  EJ's ultimatum and the fact that I am two years alive with no evidence of disease (fancy for clinical remission) have finally kicked me in the rear end enough to get this trip planned and implemented.  So yeah BIG deal.. honeymoon but also YAY I'm healthy vacation :)

Because of Armstrong most
people think yellow is the
color for test. cancer.  Nope
its Orchid ... how manly :)

   Even though we have a later flight, there has been no rest for the busy today.  Ever seen the show "The Biggest Loser?"  Every week before they are weighed, the contestants get a 'last chance workout' to prepare them for this important event.  Well we had a last chance dance lesson to get us (ok ok me) more confident about shaking my moneymaker in public.  Sure, sure salsa and merengue may not be my things, but I'm not bad at the rumba and man can bachata!!  Hopefully, we can con some local into taking some action pics for our awesome instructor Toni.  After the lesson, it was off to grab our bags and on to the airport thanks to our super awesome chauffeur Chris (also known as Dr. C). 

  Admittedly, there was a small snag at check in (computer had our reservation double booked hmmmm) and we had to redistribute EJ's suit case to avoid a overweight charge, but once we were through security it was smooth sailing (so far).  A quick diner lunch was filling though I am hoping for better dining during the trip ;-)

So now we are chillin in the lounge waiting for our flight to LA then onward to Costa Rica overall 13 hours total time (11 hours travel time through 3 time zones).  EJ was smart and brought a neck pillow, I was smart and brought my kindle.  Of course, other then that there are sites to see even before we leave...

We are hoping to see lots of animals
in Costa Rica, but how about the New
Jersey wildlife!

Goodbye New Jersey, see ya in a couple weeks!

Thanks to Jules and Dawn we know our house will stay intact and our animals will be well cared for while we are gone.  It is so much easier to go away when people your trust are taking care of your stuff :)  Only problem is can I protect myself from me during the vacation?  For this I may need your help my friends.... if I find some way to call the states please try to prevent me from doing work calls!  I spent a bunch of time trying to get things settled before I went, but most of you know my An*l type personality... it will be hard to completely shut that off.  Still, maybe with the tropic sun on my face and the monkeys hooting in the distance I will allow myself to relax (or at least maybe I will be overly busy avoiding flying natural projectiles :) ).

I'll probably add more once we are in LA, but I'm gonna sign off for now so EJ can use the computer.

Until next time

Zach

What better way to get through an airport wait then to blog?