The Miseries of Traveling
We got off the plane in San Jose. My hair frizzed to its ultimate extent, creating an afro-like halo around my head. I was bored already. The bright airport murals made up of thousands of pieces of colorful mosaic tiles perturbed me and I wished that I were in my bedroom back home in New Jersey. I love New Jersey. There’s nothing to do except eat and even that’s too much to do for my liking. I usually sit in my bed and watch Netflix on my laptop. That’s a lie though; the shows have to be extremely boring if I really want to get immersed in a series. Lately, I prefer re-watching the intro to Friends because way too much happens in the actual episodes.
Anyways, we began our vacation in Costa Rica and set off for our hotel. The main problem with this was that our hotel was in the middle of the rainforest. I was in hell. The hotel concierge explained a few things upon our arrival. We were to get complimentary hot chocolate or coffee every morning if we so decided. By this time, I felt dizzy. The proposition of a sweet drink mixed with talk about trips to volcanoes and nature excursions through the rainforests were all too much. I attempted not to even begin to think about going on these outings while the sickening aroma of those ugly red flowers filled my nostrils. I sneezed, I sat down, and I tried to turn on my iPhone. Unfortunately, my phone did not receive a signal. I sighed and stared at my shoes, drowning out the concierge and my family as they discussed the week’s upcoming events.
We trekked through the why-does-this-have-to-be-so-damp-and-muddy soil to the cabins in the rainforest all the way from the main lobby cabin. Bugs swarmed around me and the sound they made as they buzzed by was like white noise. I hated white noise. It bugged me ever since I first heard it. As we entered the cabins, we spotted a squirrel electrocuted on the wires above the dining cabin. This squirrel was fried and I continued on, unamused, as my overly eager family went over to explore.
The first day I woke up in Costa Rica I groaned. The stupid server came to my door with hot chocolate and I was forced to get up and open it. Shocker, the next thing I did was slam the door in the server’s face and get back into bed. My brother, who shared the cabin with me, yelled at me and went to collect his steaming cup of over-sweetened garbage. I detested sweet beverages more than anything. I even detested them more than overcomplicated television.
The breakfast-food was disgusting. I was dragged out of bed by my family and into the chaotic mess of people in the dining hall. Crowds crazed me almost more than the overly seasoned food that they served. I walked by each station of the buffet with my plate. I walked past the guava and papaya juice. Ew. I walked past the plantains. What even? And I walked past the rice and beans. For breakfast? No thank you. My plate had two fluffy scrambled eggs and I could not even eat that because there were onions cooked into them. Why couldn’t anything just be bland?!
The day got even worse when I was forced onto a huge Caravan tour bus with everyone at the hotel. The engine loudly rumbled to a start and we headed out to the Poás Volcano. All I knew besides the fact that the bus was too loud and the seats were uncomfortable was that I did NOT want to see a volcano. I never had the desire to visit Costa Rica in the first place, let alone walk around an unknown country exploring pointless landmarks and monuments with no personal meaning. Stopping along the way up the volcano, the tour guide director shouted to the bus driver to stop because he saw a locally grown strawberry stand. Ugh.
Everyone filed off of the bus with their bulky cameras in tow and took out their stacks of Colones to buy some probably-bug-infested-strawberries. Why would they even bother? Again back on track to the volcano, people introduced themselves as I sulked in the back row and tried to hide from the exaggerated smiles and eagerly shrill voices. I turned on my iPod and played games till we arrived. I would have stayed on the bus and continued to play Super Monkey Ball, but my mom forced me to get off and investigate the volcano.
The volcano was such an amazing sight to see. NOT. There was steam and there was rock. That was it. I can’t believe I was forced off of my iPod to look at rocks. No. I could not believe I was forced to go to a whole different country to look at rocks. The amount of hype over something so mundane was ridiculous. One tourist even got out a foot-long camera lens attachment and started snapping pictures of an iguana. What was so interesting about an iguana? I had no idea what constituted this reptile as being the future screensaver for everyone’s cheesy phone background. All I could think about was going to bed and eating something without so much flavor. That’s what this country had—too much flavor. I was sick of the constant music and chatter and I could only wish to be home again in my own space.
Later in the week, I found myself reminiscing about the same thing as we took a riverboat ride to spot animals like alligators and iguanas. People nearly fell overboard when they spotted an alligator and attempted to capture it in a photograph. Big deal. Alligators aren’t that interesting, especially if all they do is sit in the water. I once was forced to see a dolphin show at an aquarium and at least that animal could flip in the air. Still…even that wasn’t too interesting. The boat tour dragged on for way too long as I drifted in and out of sleep. I could so not handle the boring tour, but luckily I had my iPod to play games. Oh wait, my mom grudgingly took that away from me in attempt to make me look around for once. It’s not that I didn’t look around. I really did look around at the sights and attractions. I saw the blinding green foliage and I saw the birds that looked foreign, but acted like everyday pigeons. I saw everything, but it bored me. I did not reach for the comfort of my iPod every time we went out. I simply retreated back to it after choosing to ignore the over-complications of traveling and the experiences that others- unknowingly to me- found so interesting.
A week later, we arrived back in New Jersey. I was burned and bored as my family reminisced about zip lining, tango dancing, and alligator sighting. While they chattered away, I turned back on my phone for the first time. Finally, I had service again. This was truly all I needed to survive. No traveling, no exotic food, no sights to see, and no frills. Just plain old New Jersey and my room with no one offering me hot chocolate.
