It's that time of the year

Well, a pattern is starting to develop- with the start of every summer, is the start of an adventure- so here I am again writing a blog in an airport terminal since I have a ridiculous amount of time to pass.

Obviously, last summer my blogging attempt failed. I blame not having a computer with me- and I'm sticking to that story. As most know, at the end of last summer, I returned to my apartment in the UK. Due to numerous reasons, I decided to move on to Calgary, Canada where I had an amazing 7 months working with my dad, living downtown, and braving the stupid cold weather. Why anyone would choose to live in a place where you are faced with -40C weather is beyond me. But, Calgary is actually a cute little city between the mountains and plains, so I enjoyed snowboarding and getting out to the mountains so easily.

Anyways.

I decided to work with Rustic Pathways again this summer and while a lot of the people I worked with last summer have decided to work in other countries this year, I decided to return to Costa Rica. In addition to working 3 months with Rustic, I will be doing several weeks of Toucan research as a research assistant after the summer in a town called Turrialba and then sort of winging it until I move on to my next venture- and already I have a couple different options to pursue. So, although staff training doesn't start until the first week of June, I wanted to get down early to settle into the place I'll be staying at after the summer and to get around Costa Rica a bit.

Yet again, I have way over packed- another pattern that is proving impossible to fix. Especially since I absolutely feel like I will need everything I packed…well I might not have needed to pack my pink nail polish..but I love the shade and let's be honest- that isn't going to break the weight limit. I have spent my almost 5 hours in the Houston airport hauling around a bookbag that is stuffed with my sleeping bag, pillow, and brownies for staff members, AND I also have a decent size duffle bag that is filled with all the clothes I couldn't fit into my actual backpack. Again, I need everything I have because I am here at least until December and need clothes for field work, the beach, and general stuff for the summer/days off. But, I can't help but be envious of those who are traveling with one simple bag. The true talent will come when I have to master traveling with my backpack, bookbag, and duffle bag around Costa Rica- but I have a pretty good idea of all the things I will leave in Turrialba that I can do without for the summer.

I propose a toast. Here's to not having anything stolen (like my sleeping bag in Ecuador), not losing anything (like my camera- also in Ecuador) [which could actually be argued that it was in fact stolen with my sleeping bag since it happened within an hour of each other, the day of the attempted coup-d'etat ], traveling without plans (did I mention that I don't have a hostel reserved for when I land), and to a great summer.
And to everyone reading my blog, thanks for following my travels.
Oh, and: happy birthday/anniversary/graduation/congratulations on your engagement(wedding)/congratulations on your baby- you know, just incase I miss it- but remember it isn't because I forgot, it's because I already said to you in this blog.