We’re up a half hour before the sun, and I check the room again to make sure we’re not forgetting anything. We have the front desk call someone to pick up our gear and verify a taxi is on the way. The taxi picks us up at 530 am and takes us the ten minutes to the port. The porters load our bags on board. We spend five minutes at Caye Caulker and it’s another fifty minutes to the mainland.

We peruse a shop while we wait for our stuff to be unloaded. With luggage in hand, we notice a guy waiting with Caleb’s name on a sign. Some kids ask us for change, and a guy in a military-like uniform tells them off from the parking lot where our ride, a Foton van, to the airport awaits. Our driver had a gall bladder stone removed two months ago and wants to learn diving next year.

We wish him luck as he drops us at 815 am. I buy a Snickers bar for $2 and learn that countries sell them in different weights (mine being 58.7 g) while Caleb talks with the employee. Once we’re able to drop our bags, we get fry jacks outside and walk to see a jet, then go through customs and security. I find a store selling stickers, but sadly none that I want.

I get us a crappy pizza that we finish, after paying our departure tax of $35.50 each, before boarding. Note for my return: stick to local dishes (always a good idea) and Mexican food while here, as it won’t be as disappointing when it’s bad (chances are lower of this happening). We get moved out of the exit row, which Caleb always tries to procure for that extra legroom and child-free seating.

Somehow, we still have more space to stretch our legs. There is gum stuck to the wall, so Caleb grabs a wipe and then another to get rid of the goo on our tray tables. I do a crossword puzzle, and we’re in the air, then landing in Houston hours later. A woman joins our race up the stairs to get to customs, so we race her down the escalator after.

We get dinner in the United Lounge, which includes jalapeno mac-n-cheese and a cinnamon sugar donut. I’ll read for the majority of the flight to San Diego. I hear a kid next to me, “I’m trying to avoid the forever box.. a coffin.. I’ve been researching West Nile Virus, and I scared myself.” Fallon is there to pick us up, and we will get home after 9 pm.