Traveling
Written just after Thanksgiving......
We are back in the US. I have things in mind to write about, but with the whole family here including three young grandchildren, there is minimal quiet time. You can credit this writing with being on the west coast with the tree hour time change, and today I am up before the rest of the family. (For 10 minutes as it turned out, so excuse any disjointedness in the rest of the post)
The trip here is always long but usually uneventful. We started with the long bus ride on Monday. The buses are big and comfortable though, and stop in Santiago so you can stretch your legs and get something to eat. There are usually movies on the bus, usually action adventures movies, but this ride was quiet which is fine too.
We stayed at the Costa Inn in Panama City, our usual place. It’s an older hotel with occasional unusual features, like the room with two bathrooms, but it’s always clean and the people are nice. There is also a very good 24 hour restaurant on site. At $38, with breakfast and an airport shuttle it’s a great deal. But, we had to catch the 5am shuttle to make our flight so it was a short night and too early for breakfast.
We flew Delta and I had downloaded their app on my tablet. Technology does some cool things these days. I checked in with the app and tracked the status of the flight. It even sent me a message when my luggage was loaded on the plane, and unloaded at baggage claim. How cool is that.
I have flown on Delta the last few times because they had a good price, good travel times, and I really like the free movies and electric outlets for your devices. With a 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 flight to San Francisco, the movies really help pass the time more pleasantly.
An aside, we qualify for the jubilado (retired people) 25% discount on airline tickets which is a significant savings. You have to go to the airline’s office though, or use a travel agent. Our agent, Andrea Cook, makes the whole ticket buying process super easy. [email protected]
So, we made it to SFO without incident, hopped on the Airport Express to Santa Rosa where my daughter and grandson picked us up. Now my other daughter has arrived with her husband and little girl, so the whole family is together. Thanksgiving was yesterday at the in-laws. What a beautiful time with the whole family here! It is enough to totally melt a Grandma.
Now though, people are getting dressed and ready for this morning’s adventure, an adventure outing to the children’s museum. It’s going to be fun. Hasta lluego.
Very nice! What a great deal on the flights! We have used Spirit both times we've flown here and that's just because there are 7 of us. Even a "great" deal on another plane can't beat Spirit's "great" deal of $200 round trip to DFW when it is multiplied times 7 even if we have to fly out at 3 am. We haven't ever stayed at a hotel in PTY either - we've stayed at a guest house once. I need to check your hotel for the next time we are there. Sounds like a great deal. I enjoy Panama City for short stays. We have never taken the bus either. It's that whole, is it cheaper to drive or pay for 7 round trip tickets? :)
We have flown on Spirit when we lived in Florida, but it doesn't seem to work out as well when we go to the west coast. And, there are only two of us, and often only me, quite different than your 7! We have spent enough time in Panama City to see the important things, and now we are only there coming or going from the airport. I like David much more, way less crazy here, especially if you stay out of downtown.
Downtown David is pretty crazy!! We went there the other day right before Mother's Day and it took us 20 minutes to go a few blocks. Then roads were blocked off and there were people everywhere! It was nuts. I like the malls in PTY but we really don't buy anything in them. Hopefully David's malls get finished up soon. I hear a Walmart is going into the big one. Haven't heard anything about the Chiriquí one. You?