Until I actually tried to check in at Jet Blue in Ft Lauderdale where the kiosk also declined my check in attempts.
I found the customer service desk and was lucky enough to be helped by a lovely woman from the Bahamas named Keyon, who went above and beyond in her attempts to help me. She spoke with the school reps about program and my documentation. She sent my documentation to some Jet Blue "General Manager" who attempted to contact the Costa Rican officials for verification.
All this time I'm standing at her window, talking about the critters I should watch out for while in Central America. ("Check in your shoes and in your sheets for the scorpions.") And letting my 2.5 hour window between my arrival in Ft Lauderdale and my departure to San Jose tick tick tick away.
Finally Jet Blue decided that they couldn't reach the proper authorities to override the visa requirement and therefore I would have to change my return flight to <90 days out, or just fuggetaboutit...
The school offered to reimburse me if I chose to take a BUS from Ft Lauderdale to Nicaragua but I couldn't even envision myself sitting on a bus for that length of time and distance, nevermind the environs I'd be riding through all alone... And like, doesn't Nicaragua have some maximum amount of days check at their borders.... Not really sure what this would have done for me.... and besides here I was just trying to do something nice, give back for all the abundance I've received, and these are the hurtles I have to jump? Yeah, no.
So I agreed to change my return date, and Keyon then spent another 30 minutes on the phone and keyboard trying to get this modification done (tick tick tick), because since this is a volunteer gig which I financed myself I had bought the absolute cheapest flights -- which turned out to be non-refundable. So (only!) $35 later I finally left my 20lbs overweight bag with Keyon and hustled through the airport, terrified that the line at TSA was going to make me so late that the only way I'd make it to my plane would be to run through FLL like OJ (too soon?), leaping over shriveled old ladies in hot pink skinny pants and CFMs.
But wow, TSA-PreCheck actually worked its magic for me for the first time since 2016 and I made it to my gate with time to pee and grab a pre-made sammy for the flight. Whew.
And you know what? My ambivalence about this trip must really be pervasive because I didn't get upset or freak out over these glitches. I didn't feel this enormous weight of commitment on my shoulders screaming in my ear that I'm a totally worthless POS if I can't make this work (like I would have if it had been my flight to Milan). I just thought "Meh, I ain't taking a bus, I'll just get a hotel in Ft Lauderdale and hang on the beach for a week or so while I come up with Plan B. I choose not to get stressed."
And then I found $10 on the floor in the airport. So bonus. (Unless it's infected with some bio-hazard -- but that's another Netflix drama...)
