Following our trip down from Inverness, our flight to Costa Rica was a three class Boeing 777 which means there is no First cabin. The main CW cabin was almost full and whilst we had several cabin crew looking after us, I have to say they did their job and no more. No particular welcome, no chit chat, just a very ordinary perfunctory service that should have been better given the cost of tickets in a premium cabin. The aircraft interior was certainly in need of a refurb; fraying carpets, grubby windows and IFE screen, and sagging seats. I am now in total agreement with a lot of comments on the dire state and condition of BA aircraft that are based at Gatwick

I thought our dining selections were really quite poor. My husband did not get his first choice of main course and ended up with something that looked a bit dried out and more akin to an Economy meal. I was not proactively offered a drink with my meal, and it was all very disappointing and a bit unappetising.

However, we made good time to San Jose and it was a pleasure to be greeted with warm sunshine and smiley faces.

It was a fair trek through the airport to the large immigration hall where I was astonished to see hundreds of passengers from earlier flights snaking round the hall to the Immigration desks (of which there were many, all fully manned!) It took about 45 minutes to clear, then a further 45 minutes to get luggage, and more time to then clear customs as all luggage from everyone had to be scanned prior to exiting.  San Jose airport gets the accolade for the longest delay in leaving an airport that I have ever experienced.

The following day we has an early pick up from hotel to meet up with our shared transport to Doka Coffee plantation. A pleasant Sunday morning drive through San Jose, up into the highlands for an informative session on coffee from bean to coffee pot. And there were a few things I didn’t know!

We had breakfast in the restaurant which was tasty and I did rather like the traditional Costa Rican black bean rice dish.  We then went higher in the mountains where the climate cooled, became wet, misty and verdant. We head to La Paz Nature Park and waterfalls. The park housed all manner of native species; butterflies, frogs, birds, and cats, both big and small.

The weather turned even rainier and I was glad of our waterproof ponchos. A very wet riverside a waterfall walk followed before returning to our vehicle back into town

The Poas volcano part of our trip was cancelled due to some activity in the region, so many of our group paid a reduced tour price. It seems that I need to get on to our booking agent and negotiate approximately £40 rebate as our itinerary specified the Poas volcano visit.