Costa Rica: Half the Adventure is Getting There…

Buenos Dias, La Gente de Mi Blog

Que pasa? Estoy en Costa Rica ahora para trabajo. Que vida yo tengo cuando el trabajo [forces me] ir a Costa Rica! Pero, que puedo hacer? Trabajo es trabajo y si necessario hacer cosas como ese, entonces yo voy a hacerlo. Por supuesto, todo en el nombre de mi trabajo. Yo no voy a hacer algo divertido. Solamiente trabajo. ;) Entiendes? No? Que lastima! Ojala que una dia tu puedes ser como mi. Hahaha, pero no se que ese es posible porque soy un baller internacional, mashaAllah!

Ok, ok, sorry, I like to get in character sometimes. I’ll switch it back to Ingles now...

So my latest adventure brings me to Costa Rica. And, yes, I’m blogging here in Costa Rica because I have a little free time before I give my presentation. I really hope I get the opportunity to check out the rain forest and other sites, but we’ll see. Unfortunately, unlike Vienna, I have a lot of work to do, so it may be difficult. InshaAllah, time will tell. It is nice, though, to look outside my hotel room right now and see mountains with their peaks covered in clouds because we’re 3000+ feet above sea level. Seeing the beautiful flora and people swimming outdoors while sipping on a glass of papaya juice is also a nice site considering that the Windy City is 75 degrees one day and 40 the next.

But getting here was a battle and a definite test of patience. And it was also perhaps an ode to my stupidity, but in the end, a testament to the Rabil Alameen (aka God)…

So my flight out of ORD was going to leave at 2:20pm on Tuesday and stop over in Dallas. I was scheduled to then depart Dallas at 6:20pm direct to San Jose, Costa Rica. The best part of this was that for the first time I was going to travel First Class & Business Class, mashaAllah. First Class to Dallas, Business Class to CR. (Have I ever mentioned that I love big pharma? Well, I love big pharma. I hope they keep manufacturing drugs we really don’t need! j/k!) I was also particularly looking forward to the flight because work has been pretty stressful lately and a comfortable business class plane ride would just lessen the burden that every superhero including me carries.

I recently inherited a study-from-hell and it has only about a billion and half issues. That’s a slight exaggeration, actually. It’s more like a billion and a quarter. How I was chosen to go in there and clean things up is beyond me. All I know is that I get to “enjoy” 12 hour minimum work days again and I’m oh-so-excited about that! Anyway, my plan was to pack on Monday night but that didn’t work because I worked until 12:30am and shortly after collapsed on my bed when I intended to take just a five minute power nap. But, I’ve done stupid things like that before, so the next morning I wasn’t that worried about it. Scratch that. I actually was worried because the study-from-the-depths-of-Tartarus was trying to drag me into meeting with Hades himself. Hades, you can imagine, isn’t the coolest of people to meet so I had to go forth and battle him with my Zeus-like thunderbolts. (I have no clue why I’m suddenly inspired by Greek mythology.) This battle of the IVRS (my field) Gods turns out to be rather time consuming. My window to pack for Costa Rica begins to shrink. (But you’re dang straight that I had enough time to update my Facebook status. Priorities, people, priorities!)

I had a 9am teleconference call that morning followed by a 9:30 call which ended up taking an hour because I had to talk to my internal team about some…wanna guess?...yep, more issues that came up! Yay for me! Now, by 10:30, I was in super crunch mode. I told my team to liaise with my assistant while I was out, but people were IM-ing and emailing me last second questions. I hadn’t even showered at this point. I finally manage to shut down my computer around 11am and begin the mad rush to take a shower and pack. The goal was to be at ORD by 12 or 12:30.

My plan of action for packing was simple: Get a huge suitcase and throw everything into it. But even doing that wasn’t all that effective because I kept forgetting things like my black dress belt, so I had to unzip my suitcase and throw that in there. Ok, I’m ready, I thought to myself. Oh crap, my toothpaste and razor would probably be good to take! Unzip and pack again. Now I was set. Or maybe not. I need ties! I grabbed a couple of my favorites including a beautiful, trendy golden paisley tie. Whew, all good now! Wait a second...! At this point I was downstairs by the kitchen and a big old light bulb over my head goes on. What about the Chips Ahoy Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies Mom bought yesterday? They will probably be finished by the time I get home! Frick this, man, I’m taking them with me! Unzip and pack again. Now I was officially set.

I sped down I-55 and 294 while talking to my assistant about things he needs to follow-up on in my absence. And then I got on the phone immediately after that to talk give my boss the latest and greatest study updates. Finally I get to ORD and it’s now about 12:30. As I end my call with my boss, I get my things out of my trunk and do my usual checks. Luggage? Check. Phone? Check. BlackBerry? Check. Car keys? Check. Parking ticket? Check. Wallet? Check. American Express card (which I’ve forgotten on past trips)? Check. Alright, I’m all set, baby!

I look at the time in total relief because I was really worried that I was going to miss my flight, which this client would’ve been pissed off about since some other PM was late at the last meeting. I start walking over to the terminals and reach back for my wallet to pull out my ID for when I check-in.

And that’s where it hit me. I’m going to Costa Rica. I’m going to freaking Costa Rica! Do you know what that means exactly? No, not that I’m going to have a great time in a tropical paradise. It means that Costa Rica is an international flight. Which means that I need to bring another form of ID…i.e., a passport! And, yes, my passport that’s sitting safely - no, not in my car - but in my table drawer. At home. Billions of light years away!

I quickly toss everything back into my car and at this point I’m nothing but pure impulse and adrenaline. I call up my boy Farooq and give him the low down. He laughs at me for a good 30 minutes, calls me a moron, and then gives me an American Airlines 800 number. I asked him for it because I need to find out exactly how much time I need to have to check-in luggage prior to take off. AA tells me that it’s 40 minutes. That means that I need to get home and get back to ORD, park, and get to the check-in counter no later than 1:40pm. And it is now fast approaching 1pm.

So now I’m driving down 294 and I-55 at speeds that will remain undisclosed for my own personal safety (Yes, I fear my mom finding out. I don’t care if I’m nearly 30 years old. She’s a Punjabi mother, man! Let’s just say that they put Hades and Zeus to shame!). Anyway, on the mad dash back home I get a phone call from my fiancée. I give her the low down, too. She calmly tells me that I’ll be ok and will make my flight. I think to myself, Didn’t she hear what I said? How is she so calm about it? I continue pushing the pedal to the floor now worrying about whether or not the C-Dub can handle the pressure. And also worrying about how my back two tires that have lost a lot of its treading and what type of impact that would have cruising at high speeds over pot holes on the highway. So, yes, you can rest assured that I was making plenty of dua and listening to naats...

So anyway, when the future Mrs. 2pac hears me suddenly telling my grandmother when I reach home that I forgot something, she asks, “Wait! Why are you at home?”

“I’m picking up my passport,” I reply back confused why she asked me that question all the while running up and down the stairs at home at warp speeds.

She replies in turn, “You mean to tell me that the story you just told me about possibly missing your flight isn’t in the past tense? It’s happening as we speak?!”

“Umm...yeah, kinda.” Little did she know that when she called me (around 1:15), I had just picked up my passport. Clearly she thought that I was on my way back to the airport and almost there (and also probably thought that I was being overdramatic for no apparent reason when I kept saying, "I'm SCREWED if I miss this flight!" or "Aaaarghh! What am I going to do?!"). Thinking about it now, I wonder what she was thinking when she asked me that question. What am I getting myself into with this guy? Just wait until we start traveling together iA...

So regardless of the situation, she advises me to be patient and trust in Allah that He will hook me up. I thought to myself that she is ultimately right. If I miss it, what can I do? So I just ask her to make dua that I do make it as I had also requested the same from Shaykh Farooq “Al-Haqq” and my momz, too. (BTW: I think my mom wanted to slap me when I told her the story of how I was running late. Seriously, I think I felt her slap me via the phone. That’s amazing if you think about it. But, at the same time, I don’t think she was entirely surprised by my act either. What does that mean? Come to think of it, neither was Farooq. What the…? What do you all really think of me, dang it?!!”)

Anyway, it’s like 1:30 and I’m about 15 minutes away from the airport. I’m clearly not going to be able to make the 2:20pm flight and probably not even the 2:30pm flight.

I get to ORD and somehow I manage to park in the outside parking lot instead of inside the garage where I normally park and where it’s also much closer to the terminals. Like I said, I was just acting on pure impulse at this time. So then I make a longer trek than normal to Terminal 2. Terminal 2, for your information, is NOT where AA is located at. They’re in Terminal 3. I mean, can this get any worse? So now I take the tram to Terminal 3 and proceed to the First Class check-in (which made me feel aristocratic).

I’m stuck with some desi chick, but to my surprise she was really cool. She told me that I was too late for the flights to Dallas and then tried to get me on a flight to Miami. The only problem was that I’d arrive in Miami at 8pm and the flight to San Jose was going to leave at 8:20pm. And I’d have to re-check my bags in because she couldn’t bypass that process. There was a similar situation for a later flight in Dallas. Arrive in Dallas at 6pm and then the flight to San Jose leaves at 6:20pm. Do I try my luck, I kept wondering? She then booked me for a 4pm flight to Miami and then a 10:30am (the next day!) flight to San Jose, which meant that I’d now have to get a hotel room and spend the night in Miami (which normally would be awesome, but not when you could potentially piss off your client for being late). I called my company’s travel agency to see if they could find me any other alternatives. The only other one was to fly to Denver, get there at midnight, and then take an overnight flight from Frontier Airlines to San Jose that would arrive at 5am. Umm, no. I’m not THAT concerned about pissing the client off or not. So then I resolved to stick with the flight that the AA desi chick set me up with.

On the bright side, good old HP/Harry Potter/Harry/Harris/Future bro-in-law happened to be in Miami so I could hang out with him and his in-laws for the evening.

And so off I went via my baller First Class status, mashaAllah (now I know how Farooq mashaAllah feels on a daily basis). You get so spoiled traveling first class. I don’t think I can travel any other way now. But more on that later.

So when I arrived in Miami, I noticed that we got there incredibly earlier than expected. We were due to arrive at 8am like I mentioned, but got in just before 7:30am. Wow, I wonder if I can make the 8:20?! By the time I got my luggage, though, it was getting close to 8pm and my glimmer of hope was soon fading. It was a nice thought, but what can you do? Despite the odds, I went to the check-in and tried my luck. I told the guy that I realize it’s late, but is there any chance that I could check into the 8:20pm flight to San Jose? He looked at me as if I was an idiot and said, “There isn’t an 8:20pm flight.” He then reminds me that I was booked for the 10:30am flight the next day. Thanks, man, I think I know that. I was actually a little confused about his statement because my travel agent and the AA agent both told me that there was an 8:20pm flight so I asked him again, “So there’s no 8:20pm flight scheduled to go to San Jose, Costa Rica?” He looked it up again and told me, “No.” But then he added, “That flight has been delayed. It’s now leaving at 9:15pm.”

My eyes shot up. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn't believe that the flight was delayed and I couldn't believe that this punk didn't share that information with me the first time I asked! “That’s awesome! Is there any chance I can get on that flight?!!” He held up his finger and told me to wait (yeah, so, clearly this guy has control issues in his life). Then he asked me how many luggage pieces I am checking in. Two, I told him. Before I know it, he prints out my new itinerary. I was booked to go San Jose and reach there Tuesday night as originally planned! SubhanAllah!

I was amazed. I mean, seriously. What were the chances of my flight arriving into Miami more than 30 minutes earlier than scheduled and then the connecting flight being delayed by an hour. In fact, more than an hour. It went from 8:20pm to 9:15pm to 10pm.

I finally arrived in Costa Rica sometime past midnight. One of the first things I thought about was how my fiancée reminded me to have trust in Allah. Hasbonallahu wa naimul wakeel. The very lose translation of that is Trust in Allah for there is no better Advocate than He. Perhaps Allah had reminded me about two things that day:

1. Trust in Him. I had resolved that whatever the outcome was going to be, I was going to trust that it was His Will and that I was going to be content with it no matter what.

2. Related to the point above is a reminder that no matter how we plan for things in our lives, it is all in Allah’s hands and happens the way He wants it to happen. No matter the odds, He has power over everything. La hawla wa la quwatta illa billah…

And no matter all the planning I had and despite me missing my flight and having little chance to catch the connecting flight, it’s all up to Allah. We can only hope and pray to keep this mind in everything we do.

I was also reminded that my mom, Farooq, and my fiancée all had made dua for me to make it and that Allah answered their duas, too. And so I’m grateful to them for it! And especially my mom’s because there’s nothing in this world that compares to the duas of your own mom.

Well, that’s it for now. Off to my meeting.


Buenas noches.