The event happened to be Kelly Slater s first as a pro. He probably had fifty people lined up to gre

I m not a poor planner, because I don t plan at all. Without a pre-established itinerary, every day is an adventure, Indiana Jones style. I realize that, as a parent, teacher, and business car rentals costa rica owner, this approach is a bad idea. I can t help it. I blame surfing. You can t plan what you re gonna do on a wave. You drop in, see what s happening around you, and react. That s my life. I m a reactor. Sometimes this gets me in a pickle.
I used to go to California every summer. I d surf my brains out, stock up on free shit from my sponsors, and surf some more. By 1990, I thought I was ready to quit being a spectator at big pro events and become car rentals costa rica a player. That summer, I flew out for the Life s A Beach Klassic in Oceanside.
The event happened to be Kelly Slater s first as a pro. He probably had fifty people lined up to greet him at the airport, all fighting to give him a place to stay. My arrival was slightly less heralded. car rentals costa rica I landed at LAX, retrieved my surfboards and duffel, and wondered why I hadn t done a better job of planning. A rental car wasn t in my budget, and after a few dollars worth of quarters wasted on potential rides, I realized I was on my own. With the contest starting the next morning, I had to go Greyhound.
I took a city bus to the Greyhound station and quickly saw I d made a huge mistake. The Greyhound car rentals costa rica drivers were on strike. A few busses were operating, but with 80% of all routes cancelled there was a line of customers stretching around the block. I figured that standing around in perfect California weather was still better than being in humid VB, so I dragged my belongings to the back of the line. What other choice did I have?
Escuse me, where you trying go? It was a Mexican dude, middle-aged, decently dressed and looking only a little friendlier than a villain from a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western. I looked around and realized he was talking to me.
Hombre smiled and fingered the toothpick between his teeth. car rentals costa rica I take you. Ten bucks. I looked back at the line in front of me. It was longer than the one for Space Mountain at Disneyland up the road. Not only was he offering me a ride, but he was appealing to my thrifty nature.
Sold. He helped lug my boards to a nearby parking lot, while I considered how much smarter I was than all those bozos still standing in line. We finally car rentals costa rica stopped at a dull gray van, not a passenger van with rows and rows of seats like your typical airport shuttle, but a bonafide molester mobile.
car rentals costa rica The back door no open, he said. Sure enough, they appeared car rentals costa rica to be welded shut. He opened the side doors and told me, We put boards troo here. Whatever, I thought. At least I could sit up front and we d be on our way, or so I thought. He pointed to a seat at the very back of the van. You wait couple minute. I go get few more people.
It wasn t too late for me to run, or at least walk considering my heavy load. On the other hand, if he was going to harvest my organs or make me a sex slave he probably wouldn car rentals costa rica t be going back for more victims. Silence of the Lambs wouldn t come out until the following year, so the image of a dumb girl getting conked in the head and taken to an underground lair in a van much like this one wasn t yet seared in my brain.
Sure enough, mi amigo returned, not with a few others but roughly a dozen, all Mexicans. They piled in through the side, gradually enclosing me in the way back beside the welded doors. Then, once we packed in like well, like a van full of Mexicans, we were gone. I don t know if the circus was in town, but if we d pulled up in the middle of it and started car rentals costa rica to unload to raucous applause I wouldn t have been surprised.
We dropped a few passengers off in a shady area of Santa Ana, but the rest I assumed were heading for Mexico. I started to doze off amid thoughts of waking up across the border and being forced to sell Chiclets car rentals costa rica to tourists when the van pulled up at Oceanside Pier. I handed the driver a ten, threw in a Muchas gracias, and hauled my stuff down the steps to the beach.
The sun was like a big Winchell s donut on its way to dipping car rentals costa rica into the Pacific, and I plopped onto the bleachers that were freshly car rentals costa rica set up for the contest. Some fellow contestants were getting some waves before dark, but I didn t feel safe leaving my posessions unattended. It was likely that I d be snuggling inside car rentals costa rica my board bag in a few hours, so I didn t want to risk someone making off with my accommodations.
If I m still here. If they were coming back for me, not even Pamela Anderson bouncing up the sand in slow motion wearing her red Baywatch suit could ve lured me from my position. For the next week, I surfed though a few heats, watched a lot of Wimbledon from the comfy futon at my friend s house, and enjoyed many breakfasts cooked by his girlfriend. Through each delicious bite of omelet and Stefan Edberg serve-and-volley, I was learning a valuable lesson: Planning can ruin a great trip.