Travel Tips - Learn From Our Mistakes!
Yesterday, my family arrived to the border in Panama for a week long visit. They decided to fly into San Jose, Costa Rica and then take the bus up to the border where we would pick them up. My husband had done this same trip last month and it went well and was cheaper than flying into Panama and taking the bus over to our area. So they decided to give it a try...
Wear Your Passport
My first travel tip is to basically wear your passport. Do not let it out of your sight. Do not leave it in a bag and put it underneath the bus. Keep it with you in a pocket or a purse that you do not take off!
Make Sure Your Bag Goes Under the Bus
If traveling on a bus (or plane), make sure your bag gets on there. Stand with your bag until it is put in the bus (or on the conveyor belt for the plane). You should always get a ticket stub to claim your bag at the final destination. Do not assume someone else will put your bag on the bus for you - even if they tell you to get on the bus and leave your bags. Watch your bag and make sure it gets on board!!
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The Story
We waited for hours in the heat for our family members to arrive. They arrived later than we thought. Kids were hungry, thirsty and we were all sweaty and hot! Yea for the family arriving, when suddenly my husband comes running back over telling me I have to go translate. In a group of 10 people, I am the only one who speaks Spanish! Translating is a big job!
The driver tells me there are no bags. The family tells me they told them to put the bags on the ground and get on the bus. The driver tells me he saw bags sitting there as he drove off. He tells me maybe they are still sitting there...7 hours later. My only hope is to call the station and ask. He gives me some numbers and basically tells me it isn't his fault (now I'm seeing what @moderndayhippie is talking about with the Ticos). He finally calls a friend at the station for me and tells me to call him after 8. My phone dies. He tells me to go charge it.
Then they tell me. The passport. Is in. The bag. At the terminal!!!
I spend quite a bit of time talking in Spanish to the guy when 8:00 rolls around. Describing the 3 bags. Describing the contents of the bags. He sends me a pic and I confirm those are the bags. Then they tell me there is a 4th bag. The guy in San Jose is not thinking this is funny, but helps me get the bags identified and tells me they will be on the next bus in the morning. Half relief.
Now the issue of the passport. The family member decides to just stay at a hotel at the border overnight and wait for the bag since he can't legally enter Panama without his passport and he is already legally in Costa Rica. $30 for a room with two beds in a sweaty, hot, loud border town isn't bad.
I called and confirmed this morning that the bags are on their way. We should have them around 3:00 and hopefully they contain everything they did yesterday. The family member at the border is alive this morning as well. We ALL learned from this experience.
My friends, the moral of this story is...keep your passport on your person and make sure your bags get on the bus!
I know it's not nice to laugh, but this reminds me of all the reasons why I hate to travel. And I chuckled my way through this whole post. But it was a sympathetic chuckle. I'm glad it all worked out well in the end. It sure could have gone the other direction. (And Mercury is retrograde!!)
Yes it could definitely have been a completely different situation! They all talked about how dumb it was on their part. They made it home with bags and passports, so that's good. The stuff we could have done without (a bunch of it was stuff we had ordered for them to bring to us - protein powder, Shutterfly books, etc. and some clothes). The passport would have been a huge deal. He would have had to have gone back to San Jose and gone to the embassy to get a new one. And it would have taken the whole trip! Had I not been totally involved and translating the whole mess, I would have laughed too. ;)
Very good advice, a bird in the hand saying could be changed to a bag in the hand. I'm very surprised that the bags were even still at the station it will be interesting to see if the contents are intact when they arrive.
Yes, it's amazing that the bags were still there with all items inside accounted for (as far as I know). We were amazed that the passport was still there as well!
Oh, yeah, except we didn't lose the bag, we lost the pram. When boarding the plane, you have to hand over the pram at the entrance to the plane. When we arrived at the destination and left the plane, we clarified, where to pick up the pram. Steward told us, that the prams would be delivered with the luggage. We passed passport control, received baggage, but the pram wasn't. At the same time, we noticed, that the rest of the passengers from our flight are already with prams. We asked, where they got them, they answered when leaving the plane. We rushed to look for our pram, our daughter was a year old and if we were left without a pram - it would be a problem. It was happening in Turkey, the airport staff spoke very poorly in English. After 40 minutes, we found our pram, but its wheel was broken .... Luckily the bus couldn't leave without us - everything ended well. In addition to the wheels of our pram)
Oh wow! That would not have been good. Glad it was found, even with a broken wheel!
I am sorry to read that your family members had to deal with all that! Canoa is not one of the best places to stay overnight. I hope they will retrieve their bags without missing any items. I never took the bus in Costa Rica, I always drove in there.
I did have a similar thing happening while I was in Ecuador by bus. At the end of my bus ride from Quito to Cuenca, I had all my bags, but some of the things inside were stolen.
Yes, we got the bags back with all of the stuff still inside. Even the passport was there! We were amazed. Now they're heading back to Paso Canoas today to head back to CR. Hopefully all goes well. :)
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I've learned to always have at least $20 cash on my person. For when you encounter somewhere that doesn't take credit cards.
That is a good one! Always important to have at least some cash!
Very good advice. When I travel, I always keep my passport in me, but you need to be conscious of where you keep it, too. At least in the larger cities in Spain, there are some talented pickpockets. I never had a problem, but I've known people that were robbed that way.
Yes, I totally understand that. I had a friend walking around a market in Mexico with me once and someone sliced the bottom of her purse. Thankfully her hair brush kept her wallet from falling out! We usually have ours on one of those passport necklaces or in a zippered pants pocket!
We travel with Gate 1 Travel quite a bit. They load the buses themselves. But, they have each passenger identify their bag and watch them put it on the bus every time there is a move from one place to another. Sorry you learned this the hard way. And passports...well, obviously I had an issue with that as well, as I recently documented. Glad you were able to get it resolved.
Yes, your passport story was no fun! The guys were able to get their passport and bags today, so all is much better! Now we only have 3 full days to spend with them. We're packing the activities in!
OMG! What an ordeal. I'm glad you were able to locate the bags. Life is so full of unwanted adventures! Enjoy your visit. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for stopping by! Yes, it was crazy but the bags and passports were all returned today! Now we just have a few days of adventure before they head back home!