Riding the Wave: A Postmortem on a Failed Adventure

Introduction

I started writing this post a few days before leaving for Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, in my apartment in Houston. I was writing it under the premise that it would be an account of how I successfully planned and executed my first trip out of the country with Nappy. 

The day before I left, I began second-guessing some of my plans and realizing I needed to rethink the trip based on how I would better accommodate my five-month-old travel companion. I also began rethinking the concept of the post and thought I could change it to a post about how I was adjusting my normal methods of travel to accommodate my beloved travel partner, while still successfully executing the ten-day trip. 

Now, back in Houston after cutting the trip short halfway through, the post has morphed into a post-mortem about what went wrong. 

Challenges

Nappy and I were not ready for this adventure. 

I take most of the responsibility for this, as I planned the entire trip, but I still wish Nappy had spoken up a little sooner to let me know it might not be a good idea. 

What went wrong?

Well, we arrived in Liberia, Costa Rica, on Thanksgiving Day with the plan to stay over one night before driving on to Santa Teresa the next day. Santa Teresa is four hours away by car, through winding, beaten roads, and I thought it would be easier on us both to break this up into two days on our first trip together. 

That first night, it became apparent that Nappy’s progress in housebreaking might only apply to my house. He wouldn’t go outside and instead was making use of the floors inside our Airbnb. This wasn’t overly concerning, as he was making it easy enough to clean up after. But I also started to notice by his body language that his anxiety was a little high. He spent our first night barking at the new array of wildlife sounds that we would hear outside. Nappy is not much of a barker, so this was unusual. 

The next morning, Nappy was a dream on our car ride down to Santa Teresa. He kept calm and quiet in his travel carrier as we crisscrossed through the beautiful Costa Rican countryside, taking our time, wagging our tails, and stopping to eat and admire the views. Nappy clearly loved the new scenery and he adored the admiring attention he was receiving from all the friendly locals we would encounter. 

When we arrived in Santa Teresa on Friday, we ran into a few more challenges. 

First and foremost, I did not anticipate our newfound needs when I booked our Airbnb. While the place we were staying would have sufficed for me as a solo adventurer, Nappy and I needed more space and a living area that was not provided. We had no couch and spent our downtime resting on the bed, which made it quite dirty as we were constantly walking back and forth from the beach. 

It was also problematic that Santa Teresa is a very remote destination, with one main road divided by shops and restaurants and then a long, beautiful stretch of beach. This meant that the only good area to walk Nappy was the beach, and this was challenging because it required us to bathe Nappy every time we took him for a walk. 

Also, this visit to Santa Teresa was during high season, which meant that the main road was always buzzing with cars, ATVs, and motorcycles, and it wasn’t safe for Nappy to walk along the road. I would have to carry him anytime we left our Airbnb. The Airbnb itself did not have a good space for Nappy to walk around outside, as the only open area was the parking lot, which was covered with hard rocks that would heat up throughout the day and hurt Nappy’s feet. 

Couldn’t we relax by the pool? No, the pool did not have an area around it for Nappy to sit. It was enclosed except for the small walkway that led to it, which was covered with large, exotic ants that Nappy seemed to find delicious, which was another concern. 

Nappy, blocking the door to leave the Airbnb.

These were the conditions that were creating an uncomfortable situation. The situation kept being made worse though by Nappy’s anxiety that would surface if I wasn’t right next to him. 

My plan had been to leave him when I needed to run errands or surf but bring him along with me almost everywhere else. It quickly became obvious I wasn’t going to be able to leave him alone though. I went to the store on Saturday and put him in his travel playpen. I turned on the Wyze camera when I left and he barked and whimpered the entire time I was gone. We had neighbors staying in the Airbnb next door, so this wouldn’t be acceptable early in the morning when I would normally surf, or for long periods of time during the day. 

When nothing is going right, even the little things start to bother you. On Sunday I felt that I had finally got Nappy calmed down enough to leave for a workout at the gym. When I left the Airbnb though, I found my car blocked in by a construction crew. So even my small hopes were dashed. It was beginning to feel like my trip was less of an adventure and more of a full time dog sitting assignment, unfolding in very inconvenient circumstances. 

Decision Time

I began to start thinking through a way to salvage the trip. I looked into dog daycare options and there weren’t any. Perhaps if I changed Airbnbs, or went to Tamarindo, or Jaco, I could make the most out of the trip. But none of the options I identified were going to solve the underlying issues.

My goals for the trip had first and foremost been to bring Nappy home safely, then to disconnect from work, then to surf, and then to make some progress on some of my personal writing projects. 

As we sat on our bed on Sunday afternoon, two things dawned on me. First, I don’t need to be in Costa Rica for three of those goals. And second, while things haven’t been going right, a lot can still go wrong. This concern was growing on me as I pulled ants from Nappy’s mouth, and as we were increasingly getting attention from large stray dogs on our beach walks throughout the day.

Sunk Cost Fallacy in mind, I decided it was time to figure out how to come home. 

Not So Simple

Even this would be a challenge though. When I arrived in Liberia and picked up my rental car, the clerk had alerted me that Costa Rica recently changed their requirements for taking a dog out of the country, and I would need to consult a vet before leaving. He said he had seen several people get turned down with their pups at the airport, and have to stay longer while they got their newly required affairs in order. 

There is only one vet in Santa Teresa, and being Sunday, I would have to wait until the next day to try to see them. But when I showed up with Nappy on Monday morning, they told me he wouldn’t be able to be seen until the following day. 

So there I was, having spent my Sunday afternoon waiting for the vet, now being told to spend my Monday doing the same. 

I decided not to wait. I packed up our things, checked out of our Airbnb, and hit the road heading back to Liberia. I had no plans, no vet appointment, and no place to stay,  but I decided that I was ready to get us home. I hoped that being in a larger city close to the airport would help hurry things along. This could have gone wrong in several ways, but it didn’t. 

One of Nappy’s greatest admirers happened to be texting me on the drive, and when I explained my situation, she was happy to call ahead to the vet’s offices in Liberia and find one that could see us that day. I didn’t have much cell reception and was also trying to focus on the winding, potholed roads ahead of me, so this help was needed. She struck gold, and we had a destination to head to. Nappy and I also stopped for a lunch break at a “soda” on the side of the road, where I was able to book an Airbnb in Liberia for the night while Nappy dazzled the staff. 

We made it to the vet’s office just before 4 pm, where the process and consultation went smoothly. Nappy loves people and dogs, so he adores the vet’s office, and this visit was oddly a highlight of the trip. 

The only hiccup was that the federal office that needed to validate our departure paperwork closed at 4 pm, so we would have to wait until the next morning. This meant we wouldn’t be out on the first flight the next day. We stayed at our Airbnb, went out for nice steak and dog food dinners, and booked our Tuesday afternoon flight out.

Fortunately, the paperwork came through on time the next morning. We ran into no issues getting through customs and Costa Rican animal control, and we made our flight and our return home. 

Silver Linings

Now, it would be a mistake to say the trip was a total failure. Much went right, and that deserves to be mentioned. 

We began the trip not knowing if we would even be allowed on the plane. I read many accounts online of people getting turned down by United Airlines for their pets coming on board. The people in front of us in line to check in were turned down because their dog could not stand up in the carrier without touching the edges. But then they had a shift change and the attendant that helped us did not give us any issues. We made it through.

Nappy also did well on the flights. He did not love the experience, but we had worked for weeks at home and in his puppy school getting him accustomed to his travel carrier. He was able to rest during the flights and remain accident-free. That’s my boi!

Nappy proved to me that he’s my ride or die. That little guy is game for whatever I’m doing and always happy and playful in any situation. As long as we’re together, he’s in great spirits and down for the adventure. In fact, after this trip, he has been promoted to bed brother status, as he slept in bed with me throughout the trip, sans accident. 

He also has come so far in his comfort in car rides. When I first got my little fella, he was very anxious even on short trips. Now he can stay relaxed for hours at a time. This is tremendous progress and opens up lots of doors for road trips in the future. 

Costa Ricans love Nappy. I swear, he was pet and played with by locals everywhere we went. Even on our way out of town at the Liberia airport, I was able to take him out of his carrier next to the pet relief area and at least 20 airport employees stopped by to pet and compliment him. 

I also learned a lot about traveling with Nappy which will help me going forward. I now know what we need in a destination and in an accommodation. I know what Nappy can handle and what we need to work on. And importantly, I learned that there will likely be some trips where it would not be wise to bring him. 

Just as experience breeds confidence in humans, I believe this trip will help Nappy tremendously with his growth. I have made it a priority to challenge his comfort zone often as a puppy in hopes that it will help him become an active, outgoing, relaxed adult dog. I would bet that this experience will begin to show great dividends at home as he now has the confidence that comes from conquering exotic, international travel. 

And most importantly, we both got home safe and healthy. There were opportunities for that to have gone wrong, but we kept our eyes open and avoided any pitfalls. 

Going Forward

I remain confident that there is a way to adventure with my beloved dog. 

In fact, a couple of small differences, such as a better Airbnb or location choice, would have kept us there longer. I could have made my peace with the separation anxiety issue in a more comfortable situation. All of that information will be valuable for future trip planning. But I also know that we need to break our mutual separation anxiety and keep working on his house training before the next trip. 

I am also now more amenable to leaving him behind for short trips to inconvenient locations, and will probably sign him up for a night away sometime soon so we can see how he handles the separation.

All that being said, while this trip didn’t unfold as hoped, it’s not difficult to step back and appreciate it for the little adventure it was. 

Many years ago, my brother and I had a Costa Rican road trip that went south. I got food poisoning, my rental car had a blowout, and I was robbed. 

I learned a lot from that trip. I imagine that experience is why I am now comfortable picking up and heading to other parts of the world, renting a car, and exploring. Even with all the mishaps from that adventure, I still look back on it fondly. So too I expect I will look back on this trip and warmly remember Nappy and I’s first big trip, and especially his overwhelming smile while prancing on the beach for the first time.

As a single puppy father, maybe some of the plans I had in store for my future will have to adapt. I think that’s fine.

I like to tell people (in my bro voice) that life’s just a wave you gotta ride. Roll with it, don’t resist it. Take it how it comes. 

And I have written before about how I don’t plan to be the same person at 45 that I am now at 40. I now spend a considerable amount of my time, money, and energy on my adventure travel and have for the past 5-6 years. But if my priorities shift, so be it. 

Where I started at the outset of this trip wasn’t where I am going. 

In life, to move two steps forward often requires first taking a step backward. 

I’m going to keep riding this wave and see where it takes me. 

🤙