Panama, The Canal and Beyond
Day Eleven – 17-18 Nov 2014
Weather: AC most of the way.
That’s air conditioning and Air Canada.
I was up at 4 and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I got up, downloaded the football game and got ready. I was in the lobby by 6:30 and David brought us to the airport which is like only 15 minutes away. It’s a small airport with short lines and David stayed with us until we were checked in. Which was great as there was an issue with my ticket with Avianca and he was able to sort it out faster than I could have.
Cause my laryngitis is in full swing and all I could do was smile.
They got it sorted out but my bag can only go to Miami and I had a faint recollection of something similar happening on my way back from Lima. I was through immigration and security without anyone questioning why I was squeaking answers and the flight left on time.
Like my Avianca flight to Panama City, this flight was almost empty. I think in all the travelling I’ve done in the last 5 years, I haven’t been on a flight so empty. Maybe 30 people on an A-320. It’s so empty, the crew take their time serving breakfast.
I’m able to watch the end of the football game (Pats 42 – Colts humiliated :). We land in Miami at noon and my allergy head is giving me a touch of vertigo. If they ask me to walk in a straight line, I’m done for.
I pass through passport control no problem and pick up my bag. The guy taking my customs form was the first to ask if I was sick. I said it was allergies and he waved me on. It was a short walk to the Air Canada counter and the girl there asked for my credit card. Took me a sec to realize she wanted to charge me for my bags. So, for the first time, I was able to use my veteran’s card for something. No problems there. My fee was waived.
Once I’m through security, I check for wifi and remember that Miami is stingy. No free wifi.
Seriously, Miami, get with the program.
So, I go in search of more cough suppressant and finally break down and pay for the wifi. Gotta feed the addiction.
Actually, I wanted to research my flights for my tour to Vietnam in January….but I ran out of time before I got that far.
I found my gate and sat down to wait. The snow in Toronto had delayed the flight coming in by a half hour. No problem on my end. My connection isn’t until noon tomorrow and I am sooooo looking forward to a warm comfy bed at the Alt Hotel next to Pearson.
We get aboard, and for the first time, I’m in the overwing exit row that is also a front row for the section. So, the seats have the solid armrests and a video screen that pops up from the armrest. The row has no window so when the 3 jokers behind me start talking about fuel spilling from the wing, we can’t see anything.
It turned out to be the overflow valve but we had to go back to the gate to get it checked and then get the tanks topped up again. The jokers behind me were taking video and posting it on twitter.
We finally got airborne by 6:30. I’m hacking and sniffling and blowing my nose and tell the women next to me it’s allergies and you could hear the audible sigh of relief. Now, I was thinking that this is the first time my allergies have gotten bad enough to cause laryngitis and conjunctivitis.
(Turns out I had, for the first time that I ever remember having it….a wicked case of the common cold. Three days later, I’m still hacking and congested but the doc said I just have to ride it out. Hopefully the women next to me didn’t catch it. I had had it a good 2-3 days at this point, so I may not have been contagious anymore. If not, I’m guessing there are two women in Calgary who are cursing me right about now.)
I watch Edge of Tomorrow and the flight is shorter than I expected. The movie ended just as we arrived and I looked out to see mounds of snow everywhere.
Oh yes! I’m jumping in the first one I see and hugging it!
Seems like several planes arrive at once and the immigration is a bit busier than usual but I managed to make it through the whole process within an hour and I’m outside in 1 degree temperatures and just sucking in the cold crisp air.
Ahhhhhhhh.
I’ve never been so happy to have decided to add in the night in Toronto. I could have made it home on a later flight that arrives at 3 am in St. John’s, but for the sake for the $120, I thought I’d stay the night. Only a few hours difference in arrival. And I decided to take the noon flight, so that means I got to sleep in right to 8 am.
I was feeling a bit better in the morning and set out to the terminal hoping to find a bottle of cough suppressant for dry hacking cough. I drop off my luggage and go through security where they’re checking the carryon sizes. This means one can’t leave their bag with a family member while they check in. If the bag is too big, they send you back to the counter. They size they permit is quite reasonable. The policy seems to target those going on with what could be considered medium or full sized luggage.
I get through security, find my cough suppressant and the Maple Leaf Lounge. I had a pass that was due to expire, so with 4 hours to my flight, why not?
So, I munch on raisin toast and delicious tea and type this up until 11:30 then go in search of my gate. The flight left on time and I hacked and sniffled my way back into St. John’s where my sister picked me up. We dropped by a pharmacy and I crawled into my bed. My cat must be happy I don’t pick her up till the morning cause I would have kept her up all night.
Oh wait….
Some final thoughts on the tour.
Take a bathing suit if you do the Cartagena extension. No real chance to use it in Panama.
I still stand by my thought that the Boquete part of the tour either be a return flight or skipped and replaced with the Panama Canal train ride to Colon. No one on the tour ever got tired of hearing about the Canal. The drive back to Panama City was simply too long at 11 hours on a hard road.
Hotels were all pretty good to exceptional. All had safes, hairdryers, kettles, shampoo stuff and facecloths. Some even had robes. Don’t remember any having a carpet floor.
English is not as widely spoken as one would expect for a country that was so dominated by the US for so long. Using the USD in Panama was nice.
This is a lively tour. Average start in the morning was about 8 am which wasn’t bad but there were some later finishes.
Food was pretty good overall. Chicken, beef and fish were often available and my aversion to fish was never a problem. There was always an alternative.
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