LAtoTA Flight

I am excited, anxious, exhausted, and overwhelmingly emotional right now.  It is 1:45pm pacific time on October 18^th, and my flight just took off from California.

The past 4 months have been a whirlwind…Tom and I returned from a 2 week trip to Israel in June and all we could talk about was whether or not it was the right decision to move.  In our hearts we knew it was right, but was it what we wanted…was it what I wanted?  When we first began dating, I would tell select people (none of which included Tom) that sure, yeah, if Tom wanted to move back to Israel I would join him…and then the time came.

We packed up our little life in San Francisco, said goodbye to our family and friends, and I cried…a lot.  

Our official goodbye party

Tears of sadness to be leaving such an amazing city and all of my phenomenal family and friends, and tears of joy and excitement about the new chapter ahead…not only was I looking forward to our move across the world, but also our vacation. 

Tom and I spent the past 30 days on an adventure in Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador.  Without giving you a complete play by play of the trip, I will highlight a few magical moments.

Banana Azu

The Costa Rica I remember from our family trip almost 12 years ago doesn’t exist anymore.  It’s great for the country that it has become such a tourist destination, but I was overwhelmed by how transformed the country actually was.  Everyone spoke English, they preferred the US dollar and gladly took as much of it as they could from us.  The best part about Costa Rica was when we found Banana Azul, a wonderful, small resort right on the beach in Puerto Viejo.  Once we got there we truly felt that we were on vacation.  Prior to our arrival on the Caribbean coast we had been staying in places all alone and now we were surrounded by newlyweds, Vegas showgirls, old couples celebrating their anniversaries, and a white trash family who was there for a wedding that apparently had been called off.  We went surfing, hiking, snorkeling and relaxed in hammocks…vacation.

After our journey to Costa Rica, we landed in Bogota, Colombia where we were greeted by Sam and Oksana, Tom’s dad and his wife.  Bogota is a city of 10 million people and it was enormous and overly crowded.  I thought LA traffic was bad, but honestly, it has nothing on Bogota.

The highlight of the entire 30 days for me was the floral aspect.  Tom will now be working with his dad in the flower business, and I got to see it all first hand.  For those that know me well, you know I love flowers, and giving away my plants, and especially my orchids when we left San Francisco brought tears to my eyes.  (Friends who inherited orchids and various plants, I am waiting for picture updates.)  Walking into a convention center completely full of roses, carnations, daisies, lilies, and many other flowers in all varieties and colors was remarkable.  As you can see from the pictures (I took 101 this day) I was surrounded by pure beauty.  One of the days in Bogota we also visited a flower farm and got to see the production of the flower, from growth, all the way to the packaging…Trader Joes $3.99 Alstroemeria.

After spending 4 days in Bogota we arrived in paradise…Caratgena.  There were numerous times during our 6 days in Cartagena that I asked Tom to pinch me…it was surreal.  Every morning we went for a nice swim in the pool with our junior sized goggles, and then followed that with some freshly made arepas.  One of the highlights from the trip was our journey to the private islands where we snorkeled, ate fresh crab and lobster, and relaxed in the sun.  On the ride to and from the island, Tom and I sat shotgun laying out on the front of the boat.  We ate tons of good food, walked around the old colonial city, saw live music, and attempted to salsa.  It was great.

Lunch on the island

View from our room (that's Tom)

After our 10 days in Colombia, we made our way to Ecuador.  Ecuador is an amazing country and since we decided we had already had a lot of beach time, we hung out in the Andes the whole time.  Banos was definitely the highlight of Ecuador.  From the 20 kilometer bike ride we took to numerous waterfalls, to the grueling hike up a huge mountain where 70 year old men and women were farming, to the banos de cajon (a personal steam shower up to your neck with ice cold water poured on you every 15 minutes), to the 2 massages I had, to the upset stomachs from ice in Colombia, to the monkey that stuck his fingers up my nose, and not to mention the $2 lunches…it was incredible.

The monkey had never seen something so big

The center of the world

Tom and I truly had a wonderful time on our month long adventure and I feel so lucky to have had that time to relax, do some exploring and reflecting.  There is about an hour left on the flight, my anxiety has settled (for now) and I am ready for the next journey to begin.  I don’t really know what I am getting myself into, but I know I am in good hands, and I am excited!

I am a new blogger so bare with me as I document this new chapter of my life.