Day 1 in Costa to the Rica, narrated by an exhausted, bleary-eyed traveler

Once upon a time there were three girls on opposite ends of the west coast that decided it would be a good idea to meet each other in Costa Rica over break. The first two girls, Megan and Sarah, left LA together and had a fairly effortless flight to Mexico City. They were thrilled to find that Mexicana Airlines serves tasty cuisine, most certainly unparalleled by any other airline. They ate, chatted, and laughed as they soared over the coast of Mexico. Unbeknownst to them, their third party, Sarah's sister Rebecca, was stuck in a plane in Denver, that needed to be de-iced.

While the plane thawed Rebecca's connecting flight to Costa Rica left without her. When her plane was finally thawed, she ran to her gate, but it was deserted. She ran up to the front desk and asked the kindest looking lady for help. Hastily, the attendant began looking for any flight (or series of flights!) that would eventually end up in Costa Rica. She typed in Rebecca's name and said, "Well, somebody must be looking out for you. There are 70 people on a waiting list for this flight to Miami but your name just got bumped to the top of the list. It looks like you're getting the only seat available. And you're in first class." Grateful and weary, Rebecca thanked the attendant and exclaimed, "God is good!" The man behind the counter agreed with an emphatic, "All the time!" Then, he searched the entire baggage area in the basement for her apparently lost bag. When he couldn't find it looked again. He never found the bag, but he bought her a smoothie and talked with her about their shared Christianity.

When Sarah and Megan found out Rebecca's flight was delayed, they began praying fervently. They prayed that God would place kind, caring people in Rebecca's path, and that he would direct their plans. They quickly came up with a tentative plan B, canceling their immediate trip to the beach, and hoping to find a place to stay an extra night in San Jose. As they prayed, they boarded their plan to Costa Rica. Their seats weren't next to each other, although they tried to get them moved. The plane was just too packed. The doors closed, and the girls kept praying for Rebecca and their plans. Right before they took off they realized that there was one empty seat on the entire plane. Right next to Megan. It turns out God cares about even the littlest details of traveling, like sitting making sure that two friends get to sit together.

Rebecca made it to Miami, and stayed the night in the airport while she waiting for her early morning flight to Costa Rica. She was cold, so she asked the cleaning man for some plastic bags to wrap up in. While she shivered and tried to sleep, an elderly man brought her a blanket.

When Megan and Sarah arrived in Costa Rica at 1 am, they discovered that both their bags were also lost. For the next 12 hours they called repeatedly to get news of their bags, but the airport was just as clueless as they were. While they waited they easily booked a place to stay in San Jose, and quickly found bus tickets for their postponed beach trip. They prayed that God would place a burden on somebody's heart to work diligently and go out of their way to get their bags to them as soon as possible.

Shortly after Rebecca arrived in Costa Rica, she got a call from a airport baggage claim worker. He called the girls' hostel from his cell phone, determined to help her get her luggage. He committed to help track down all three girls' luggage when he heard their story, although they flew with different airlines. He is still working to track everything down.

This narrator is having trouble forming intelligible sentences, so she's going to hit the sack. More news of God's goodness and grace to come in days 2-14.