{"id":54365,"date":"2025-12-30T23:09:41","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T05:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/?page_id=54365"},"modified":"2026-01-05T21:28:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T03:28:54","slug":"home-sweet-home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/?page_id=54365","title":{"rendered":"Home, Sweet Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Cartagena Day 5<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nWe got up at 4ish, driver came at 5am. Time to head back home.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThis is how they pick up trash in the Old City.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nIn no time at all, we were at the airport. That was fast.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nNo line at immigration.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nAnd we are in post security. That was fast, a little too fast. Now we\u2019ve got over 2 hours to wait it out until our flight\u2026.so we could have slept in just a little bit more\u2026Oh well. Better early than late.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nEven though it\u2019s not even 5:30am, the hotdog stand inside the airport is open and serving hot dogs!!! Did not expect that.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nWe lost power for a split second, then I think the generators kicked in. We never once lost power during our time here in Colombia, and surprised that when it happened, it was at the airport.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe hotdog stand was open and already serving hot dogs at 5:30am. But do you know what was hard to find here? Coffee. Yum, in a huge coffee producing country, we had to go to multiple food store fronts to find some coffee. And even then, they only had drip and nothing else. This is as unexpected to me as having hot dog served at 5:30am.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nAunt CH is a good aunt.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nLKL was sick when we first came to Colombia, so he had his own water bottle. He named it Fred and has been annoyingly diligent that we don\u2019t lose Fred and accidentally throw him away the entire trip.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nChocolate croissant from a bakery that finally opened\u2026long after the hot dog stand already opened. It\u2019s quite greasy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nAlright, time to board, finally. They put pieces of plastic bookmark things to show that they\u2019ve checked our passports.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nTil next time Cartagena. It\u2019s been fun. And much to all of our relief, the family that caused all the trouble on the trip here wasn\u2019t on the same flight as us this time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe waters look rough out here with all the white caps. That\u2019s probably what our boat ride rode through a couple of days ago.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nCL still has some cough, but much much better now. Good thing I had bought this giant zip loc bag worth of cough drops. Originally for LKL, but mostly consumed by CL.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nIn Florida now.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nWonder what all these evaporation ponds are for.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nI chuckled at this sign. I thought it was funny and dramatic.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nWe\u2019ve got almost 4 hours here, doing the calculus means going to the Centurion Lounge, pay $190 for the extra guests, but get our money\u2019s worth in food and drinks. When there\u2019s 8 of you and you are paying airport prices, $190 for unlimited food and drinks is definitely worth it.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nNice, they are actually serving lunch this time and not just breakfast.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThinking.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThis will do. I got the food for the kids, and I made repeated trips back to the buffet bar for food. People must think I\u2019m a glutton and got all these rounds of food for myself.<\/p>\n

A comment about Centurion Lounge. I remember 10 years ago, the lounges were not as crowded and the people here were a lot more polite and nicer. Now, half of the people are rude and don\u2019t show the slightest politeness. I am just talking about basics like saying excuse me when two people are in each other\u2019s way. What happened to just common politeness?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe boards would help, if they were actually set at the correct time slots. This lounge could use some work.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After the many gate changes here in Miami on the way to Cartagena, I checked and check my phone to make sure we weren\u2019t about to get another flurry of gate changes. Then it was time to go to our gate.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nLKL was convinced that this was the escalator to the sky train. As he went ahead and got on, we told him no. Here he is climbing back down on an upward moving escalator while we all looked on, cheered him to beat the escalator, and laughed.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nHe made it.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nLKL gets in trouble. He ran ahead onto the sky train platform without waiting for the rest of the party while all of us were asking him to slow down so we don\u2019t lose sight of him. He\u2019s been a handful this trip.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nGot to our gate, and it stayed and didn\u2019t change. Boarded the flight and the captain was nice and invited the kids to checkout the cockpit. Cool, thank you.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nLKL points.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nYay, back in Austin.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nHome, Sweet Home. I\u2019d say this trip brought us all closer as a family. Good times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Cartagena Day 5. We got up at 4ish, driver came at 5am. Time to head back home. This is how they pick up trash in the Old City. In no time at all, we were at the airport. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":53622,"menu_order":9,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-54365","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54365"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54504,"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/54365\/revisions\/54504"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gottobepresenttowin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}