Home--Final Spending Update

Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013--Managua to Houston to San Antonio

I awoke at 2:00 not able to go back to sleep.  (Nicaragua is in the same time zone as Texas.)  I was worried about whether the hotel would remember my wake-up call.  Also, I had bad indigestion for some reason.  Anyway, I read on the computer and in my last book, then they called about 4:25.  There was a fruit plate and a glass of juice ready for me in the lobby at 4:50.  Then I caught the taxi at 5:00.

As usual, things were disorganized at the airport.  The fact that airlines can't ever seem to get their check-in act together amazes me.  They had a perfectly nice long line.  Then they tried to move it.  Then another group of airline people tried to tell the ones who were moved that they had to go to the end of the line.  Those people started fussing that they were told to be there and would be losing their place in line.  Then the airline personnel decided just to turn it into two different lines, although they only had 3 machines for checking  non-elite/non-first class passengers in for the flight.  That created a mess at the fronts of the lines.  Fortunately, I was already toward the front of the queue when all of this happened and was not affected much.  But why didn't they just work the long queue ask quickly and smoothly as possible rather than make all that trouble?

I created a mess for myself while on the computer at the hotel.  I decided to go ahead and reactivate my Netflix account.  Then I called to ask them to add DVDs to the streaming, because they don't have this option online anymore.  (They like to discourage DVD usage, since it costs them more.)  But when I called, I was told I had created a Nicaraguan account and that DVDs were not available in Nicaragua.  (Their computer had read my computer's location at the time and had ignored the fact that my request was to REACTIVATE my old account.) The said they wouldn't change anything until I was back in the US.

In Houston, I called, and I got one of those call center people who should not be working in a call center.  She just created a totally new account for me.  And in doing so, everything had to be spelled out to her 3-4 times.  She had 3 different spellings for Chambers Rd. before she got it right!  Anyway, then I went online to find that in creating a new account, I no longer had a queue of films I had selected, and it no longer showed the ratings I had given films (which I use as an indicator that I have seen the film and should not put it back in my queue).  I had to call a third time.  Fortunately, I got a guy who understood exactly what I was saying, called in a supervisor and got it all straightened out.  But my e-mail has about 9 messages from Netflix regarding all of this, and my credit card account will have multiple debits and credits they created in trying to fix it all.  What a hassle that was.  Now I know never to use the computer to restart the account until I am inside the US.

The flights went well.  It was my first time at Houston Intercontinental with a layover in many years.  I was very disappointed in their food services.  They have tried to emphasize expensive sit-down restaurants.  In doing so, the fast food restaurants have small counters and very limited, if any at all, seating.  I bought a Subway sandwich after waiting in a long line (because most people wanted something cheap rather than an expensive restaurant meal), then I had to go to a nearby gate to have a place to sit and eat it.

My sister Sue met me at the airport here in San Antonio.  Everything was fine here at home.  I'm unpacking, doing laundry, putting things back in their places, etc.  Later, I will go through my mail.  The worst chore will be taking down the Christmas tree which is still up due to having left on Dec. 25 for this trip.

I finished reading the last novel I had found in my luggage--Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh.  It was the winner of a Pen/Hemingway Award.  It's an interesting story about a cad and the women who become his wives through the years.  It's a very fast read, and it is definitely light reading rather than serious, well written literature.  I gave the book 3 stars out of 4.


Final Spending Update:  During the 28 days I was in Nicaragua, I spent $1024.59 for an average of $36.59 per day.  That rate was somewhat inflated from what it might have been by stays in very nice (more expensive) hotels on 12 of the nights.  That compares with a daily average of $48.01 in Panama and $36.89 in Costa Rica.  For the entire trip, I spent $1982.03 over 51 days for an average of $38.86 per day.