LAX airport to Panama City
Trip Start
Mar 14, 2008
1
12
Trip End
Mar 24, 2008
Los Angeles,
California,
United States
Friday, March 14, 2008
The flight is scheduled to arrive in Panama City (PTY) at 10:30a Panama time, which is the same as Central Daylight Time in the US. So we have a long night of sleeping / not sleeping / wishing for sleep, etc. We are hearing LOTS of Spanish spoken around us now, about 80% of the passengers I'd say
Keli at LAX
. And the flight attendants of Copa (Panamanian national airline) are definitely more comfortable in Spanish than English. We are also seeing several men (at least 15) in the crowd with yamakas. Interesting.Time to board!
OK I woke up a few minutes ago after not sure how much sleep here in the VERY comfortable airplane seat. (NOT!) Typing away on my excellent new mini-laptop. It fits on the tray table just fine. LOVE this awesome little laptop! Asus EEE PC. The best! Just found out it has a built-in English-Chinese dictionary, that will be helpful this summer!
What time is it? Maybe 9am? The sun is pretty bright out the window. I don't know, I didn't bring my phone which is what I use for time back home. Keli's sleeping so don't want to bug her. Or at least she has her eyes closed, but I get the feeling she has not slept at all. I didn't sleep much either, and I feel completely inside-out. At this particular moment, I really don't feel much like traveling, finding a cab to our hostel, or anything. I just want my own bed! This is our 2nd time trying a red-eye flight to start a trip (Costa Rica did same) and I don't think it's worth it
Dave at LAX
. We do save a day this way, not wasting a day on a plane, but we end up wasting the day anyhow since we will feel like crap the rest of this day.The captain said the weather forecast in Panama City today calls for a high of 28 degrees Celsius. That's 82 Fahrenheit, a bit cooler than I had heard. The forecast I saw on the web said it would be low 90s thru the weekend. We don't really have many plans for today, just getting to our hostel, the Acapulco. Hope they still have our reservation! I made the reservation over the phone with them a couple weeks ago, all in Spanish. Never know if you're really understanding each other! It's only $25/night. If something went wrong, we have the whole day to find somewhere else to stay.
So what is it that I love so much about traveling? Why do I think about it all the time? Why so willing to spend hard-earned money on traveling, when I'm so unwilling to part with money for most any other purchase? Why do I still remember all the trips my family took when I was a kid? Why do I love even the parts that everyone hates? I even like lining up to go through customs and boring stuff like that! Why does it thrill me so much to hear people speaking other languages around me? Why do I love going to the airport? I hope to fill in some answers to those questions on this trip (and the next trip!)
Comments
Have a safe trip
Dave, I really enjoyed your comments on the start of this trip. I do find myself enjoying all those things now as well. I can hardly wait to see more pictures of the area. I hear the coffee is excellent! Safe Travels to you two.
Re: Have a safe trip
PB! Thanks for the comment man! Very nice to hear from you. We should really take a trip together someday, that would be awesome! Take care and see you soon! Dave & Keli