Mrs. ItchyFeet Just about every time Mr. ItchyFeet and I travel, something ridiculous happens. We have this weird bad luck/good luck combo where something totally unlucky will happen but some awesome fabulous thing will counteract the bad. I call it going on “An Adventure”. It’s always An Adventure! Mr. ItchyFeet hates adventures. It was no different for our trip to Ambergris Caye (pronounced Amber-greece key).
With this in mind, Mr. ItchyFeet always insists that we get to the airport early. He would much rather chill at the airport lounge for a couple of hours than freak out stuck in traffic trying to make it on time. I’m a run-for-the-plane kind of person (as per my upbringing…I have so many stories!), but I also believe that a happy significant-other is a happy life. I’ll drink mimosas at 6am in the airport lounge any day for the love of my life!
So, we leave Mr. ItchyFeet’s parents’ house for a 8:20am flight at 4:40am. A couple of miles later, I hear the horrifying comment, “did someone close the tailgate?”. Just about everything I own is in the back of the truck. I look out the dark back window and note that my worldly possessions are not currently falling out of the back onto the freeway. My lovely mother-in-law, who was kind enough to drive us at that ungodly hour, has a mini heart attack and we eventually decide it’s a good idea to pull off and check. All is well!
On to the airport!
We have Global Entry/PreCheck, so we checked our luggage and headed for the TSA PreCheck security line. No taking off your shoes, no taking out the liquids, no taking out the laptop! We always get our luggage searched because diving equipment looks weird on x-ray so I was completely unsurprised when they pulled one of our bags. I could see the x-ray image as he grabbed my bag and the security agent and I were both like, “what the hell is that!?!”
It looked like a sword. He asked me what it could be and I thought it might be my snorkel…? He asked if my snorkel was made of metal. Nope. Turns out, in all the moving and packing mayhem, someone shoved a large honing steel into this weird space in my pack that is reserved for my back-pack straps! The hell!?! Lucky for us, the security agent knew exactly what it was, and that it’s wasn’t actually a weapon, despite all appearances, but we still couldn’t bring it on the plane. No worries, as we were three hours early.
We took the honing steel back through security to the agent who checked us in. That Alaska Airlines agent was so nice! We couldn’t get our bags back, so we turned one of our carry-on bags into another checked bag. As Mr. ItchyFeet started to pull out a card to pay, the agent let us know that there was no charge. He let us check our extra bag for free! So unlucky that this happened, but so lucky that this agent was so wonderful!
It was a fairly uneventful flight and we made it through customs with our negative COVID tests, required for entry to Belize, with no problems. The flight from Belize City to San Pedro left early and only took 15 minutes. So lucky! However, we decided we could totally walk all our luggage the seven blocks to our apartment.
Turns out Belize blocks are A LOT longer than a Seattle city block, and the streets are cobblestone with minimal sidewalks. Always An Adventure! People were so nice and kept stopping in their golf carts to ask us if we needed a lift. We did but were confident that the apartment was just around the corner. I was really surprised the wheels on our luggage survived!
Time to relax?
The apartment looked pretty good but I noticed some mouse droppings. No worries. You should always expect critters in the tropics. I cleaned up the droppings and we unpacked a bit and went to bed. The next morning, I noticed that there was a very large hole under the kitchen sink and a lot more mouse droppings all over the apartment. Big-old-bag-of-NOPE!!!
The apartment manager was so wonderful and moved us right away to an even nicer apartment with an even better view. We spent Mr. ItchyFeet’s 40th birthday repacking and moving units, but we really like the upgrade. It’s always An Adventure! Did I mention Mr. ItchyFeet’s distain of adventure? Happy 40th Birthday!
Mrs. and Mr. ItchyFeet,
So good to hear about the airport Adventures and the new upgraded apartment. A belated Happy Birthday to Mr.!! Rock on!!
Glad to hear you made it, despite all the moving pieces! Looking forward to the updates. Best of luck out there~
So happy you made it to Belize! What a great way to celebrate Mr. Itchyfeet’s entry into a new decade! I look forward to reading about your adventures. Stay happy and safe!
Yup, adventures in airports. Has the emotional equivalent of a really boring haunted house, stocked with some real horrors.
Enjoy the sun and warmth.
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