Day 1

So you know that feeling you get when you think you’ve forgotten something….?
We booked a hotel in Wpg because we had an early flight Sunday morning and I was shooting the Bomber game Saturday.
Whilst laying out our luggage in the hotel, you know, for the third or forth time, I noticed I hadn’t seen the lug bag where we keep our, you guessed it, passports and e tickets in.
That is a terrible feeling when you only have a few hours before heading to the airport. Driving home again wasn’t my idea of how I wanted to spend that time.
So, we started prepping to gather everything for the frantic trip home and back.
That’s when my wonderful wife asked if I’d checked the bag with the clothes we were leaving behind? After all no need to take extra clothes to the climate we were headed to.
Lo and behold at the bottom of that bag was the precious package we needed. Crisis averted!
As my heart rate began to come back to normal levels, I could now focus on getting a few hours of shut eye before heading to the next round of stress…airport security lol.

Time for some shut eye…

Not sure why, but this guy was taking pictures of the cockpit on our flight to TO. Weird….

Ok, gotta say, day has gone pretty well. People have been friendly. Could be the grey hair?
A little excitement getting off the plane in Houston. Delayed as a couple of armed border guards came and took away the guy sitting in front of me. No fuss no muss.
But I’ll tell you, as they walked down the aisle looking in my direction I was having some uneasy feelings!!

 Here’s me taking a random picture of my beautiful traveling partner.

Here’s me not letting her take a pictrue of me 😉
Fun things to do in an airport lounge waiting for the next flight.
We loved the gaps with this particular flight. No panicking trying to make the next gate.

Checked out some local beverages with our meal before our final flight.
The Moose Drool is from Montana and is kinda like the smoothness of a Sleemans Honey Brown Ale.

Guns & Oil is more of a lager with a bit of sharpness to it.
This one comes from Austin TX.

Had a good meal at a place called Republic.
Nice non greasy burger. Nice and full and ready for a food coma on the plane.
We did a last minute upgrade to the emergency row for more leg room. Makes a huge difference for a guy my size.

Flight from Houston to Managua went smoothly. A tiny bit of turbulence as we dodged some weather. Flight attendants were friendly and, well…attentive.

Some interesting people around us, assuming they are Nicaraguans. Young guys with head gear from Sask Roughriders, Calgary Stampeders, Boston Red Sox, Houston Texans, San Francisco Giants. And I’m standing there wearing a ball shirt and baseball hat from Nicaragua!
Being that I’m somewhat taller than them, I became the guy to get the overhead luggage down. Instantly makes you a friend. One of the things we like about coming here is the friendliness. They may be a little cautious, but once you engage with a smile, they’re quick to do the same.

I’m always a little nervous going through customs anywhere. I gotta say, I was impressed again. They’ve got more young people working with a decent working knowledge of English. Certainly better than my working knowledge of Spanish.
Only delay was when they scanned my bags with the photo equipment. I got shuffled to a separate table to have the bags inspected.
The girl that inspected them tried her best to ask if I was bringing any drones. However, in my tiredness, I understood DRUGS! I just kept repeating I couldn’t understand. She finally gave up and sent me on my way LOL.
They’ve been a little more careful lately because of people claiming to be “religious” groups bringing in goods intended to help locals, then turning around and selling them for profit. They were caught and now everyone is under closer scrutiny.

Not sure what the deal is with the drones though. Our is the one that clued us in as to what she was asking for.
They had a surfer guest get his confiscated.
Poor girl must’ve thought I was some senile senior and took pity on me.
I’m tellin’ ya the grey hair works…

The driver that came for us was a last minute substitute. It would appear the guy that was sent never made it off the resort property. The car he used flipped and rolled several times. Thankfully, he was ok. The SUV, and Patrick really liked that vehicle, not so much. He was just thankful, as are we, that we weren’t in the car at the time.

I’m pretty sure the guy that picked us up was the same guy as last year. Great command of English so the 3 of us had a good conversation that carried us through the hour drive from the airport to the resort.

We’re staying in a one bedroom condo which by our standards is just beautiful. Ocean just out the back door.

After letting the kids know we were safely on the ground, it was time for some much needed sleep…