My 100th flight since being employed with Delta needed to be something exciting, so after some research, we decided on a new country - Panama! This is also my 462nd flight total since starting our crazy non rev flying. I've flown a total of 548,970 miles!
Hunter and I both worked Friday, but after work around 3pm we headed to the airport. Security was busy, but the line was moving along. It took about 15 minutes total, which is pretty long as we can usually do it in 5 or less.
Once we got through security, our departure was from the F concourse where there's also a priority pass lounge, so we stopped for a drink before going to our gate. Our flight was delayed about 30 minutes, but nothing too bad. We were assigned seats and boarded shortly. We had a comfort plus row to ourselves 14D and F. The flight was 4.5 hours, so not very long. My flight to Seattle last week was nearly 6! It felt weird that we were going to a different country far away, but it wasn't that far away!
Sunset on the way to Panama
The flight was smooth and we landed around 9pm. We cleared immigration and then got an Uber to our hotel which was about 30 minutes away in the city. We were staying at our favorite property type - a JW Marriott! We checked in, confirmed our activities for tomorrow, and headed to room, 3007. This was on the 30th floor! The elevators up were full glass with beautiful views of the city even though it was dark. The room was quite interesting but lovely. You walk in and to the right is the glass shower and in front of you is the tub! We had a balcony ocean-view room. Hunter carefully tip toed toward the edge and looked over. We were definitely high up!
We decided to head down to the lounge after dropping our stuff off to grab a drink and a snack before bed since we hadn't eaten a real dinner. The lounge was empty, but the drink fridge was not! We grabbed two Diet Pepsi drinks and a pastry they had out and went to sit outside by the pool. It was lovely outside!
After our snack we headed back up to the room hoping that our welcome snack had been delivered, but no luck. We showered and got ready for bed. About 2 minutes after we shut the lights out and I put my phone away, a knock on the door! I begrudgingly got up and decided I could still have some yummy charcuterie snacks! It did not disappoint! After our snack, we finally got to sleep.
Water boxes!
Date: Friday April 14, 2023
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I woke up around 6:30 which is 7:30 back home, my usual wake-up time. Hunter got up around 7. We had planned to go for a quick swim in the morning before our day started but decided that we didn't quite have enough time. We got ready and headed to breakfast in the lounge. The breakfast spread was quite impressive for just being the executive lounge, but that's typical in foreign countries! Hunter and I ate a ton of local fruit!
After breakfast we explored the pool area a bit. It was super nice and the infinity pool is gorgeous overlooking the ocean! I'm excited to maybe go swimming.
We headed back up to our room and got ready for... Drum roll, please... A Panama Canal tour! The hotel booked it for us and we were told to meet at the front desk at 9:50am! I initially thought it was 9:30 so we arrived a bit early. Our guide, Marty, came over at 9:45 and introduced himself to us. The first 5 minutes with a guide really impacts how the rest of the day is going to go, and let me tell you, he was amazing. First impressions were great and he made us very comfortable talking and joking about all sorts of things. He had been a PAN AM station manager years before and was very excited to hear we were also airline employees.
On our way to the cruise port, we passed Telecommunications Hill which is the highest point in the area and a former US Army command point. Marty told us this was one of the only places in the Americas where you could see the sunrise over the Pacific thanks to the area's unique geography.
On our way!
Telecommunications Hill
Hunter and I definitely want to go to the museum next time!
Arriving at a port
Our tour start was a bit delayed thanks to missing people and a broken transfer bus, but we eventually got on the way to our cruise. We got to drive through the old US military canal zone where my dad had transited years before as a member of the US Navy. It was cool to see the history as a lot of the buildings had been abandoned or converted after US Central Command decamped. As we left the city and the base we began climbing out of the flat farmland into the mountains and forest.
There were a couple updates along the way that seemed to indicate we were making suspiciously good time on our journey to the other side of the continent, then we discovered that what we had requested be a full canal tour from end to end was actually only a half canal tour that would start from the Port of Gamboa in the middle of the canal on Lake Gantun. This explained what seemed like such good timeing while the guides and drivers all seemed to think we were running behind. There were some logistical difficulties when we arrived and we passed the time looking for birds and monkeys in the forest from our bus with our binoculars.
Eventually, it was time to get on the cruise boat and Marty made sure we were first so we could secure great seats by the railing. It became increasingly apparent that we were his special side guests from his normal tours and, while he was there for a larger tour group, tried to take extra special care of us.
Our lovely ride for the day
We left the dock at 12:43 and began our 3-stage descent from 85 meters to sea level using the old canal lock system. Along the way, we passed through the famous Galliard Cut (also called Culebra Cut) with its stepped walls that were cut with massive effort by the American Panama Canal Company. It has since been further enlarged as part of the new Panama Canal project as erosion and bigger ships could go faster through the canal. We passed under the new Century Bridge and also passed under the Bridge of the Americas at the end which was the first to link the two sides of the canal which were previously only linked by ferry services after having been severed by the canal. From there we saw the former largest crane in the world. It was originally German, but was taken as a war reparation by the US and installed in LA in the port of Long Beach. It was eventually moved here where it continued to be used into the 2000s to help service the canal.
The big German crane
Keeping our eyes peeled for any wildlife
Century Bridge in the distance
Galliard Cut (also called Culebra Cut) on the sides
Impressive cuts!
Century Bridge
This is the type of boat Hunter took through the canal in 2010
We eventually reached the Pedro Miguel Locks and then finally the Mira Flores Locks. Our tour boat was paired with a Japanese roll on roll off cargo ship that we liked to think could have been returning from delivering 4runners to the east coast from Japan. Since it was a Panamax ship it was exactly as wide as the locks which was crazy to see. It was amazing to go through the historic side and while the new canal next door has much bigger locks, ours were plenty impressive and we had a whole visitor center of guests watching us go through at the end.
Arriving at the first lock, the Pedro Miguel locks. They have these massive train cars to guide the ships since it's such a tight fit.
Hunter at the Pedro Miguel Locks
Length markers of the individual lock section
In the Mira Flores Locks
Visitor center with many onlookers
Stormy at the Mira Flores Locks
Big ship being guided behind us
Down we go!
And we are out!
Bridge of Americas in the distance
After passing through the last lock we leisurely cruised through the bay as the sun set over the city and got some great views of all the fishing and sailing boats coming back to the harbor. When we got back to port it was time for the bus ride back to the hotel and hopefully dinner. When we arrived we had to correct some issues with our expectations around the tour and the hotel's communication on price and trip contents - we thought the price of the tour was for the entire canal, but we only got half a tour. Eventually, they gave us enough points for a free night and an airport limo transfer for the next day due to their poor communication with us. Like any good negotiation, it seemed to leave neither party fully satisfied, but this would do.
Bridge of the Americas
The museum we passed at the start
Beautiful sunset
We decided to eat at one of the hotel's restaurants which was famous for its variety of ceviche. The ceviche was delicious and it was nice to eat outside on the hotel's terrace on a lovely tropical night.
After dinner, we were pretty tired so decided against going swimming. It did not take me long to fall asleep. especially because we had to get up pretty early for our transit to the airport.
Date: Saturday April 15, 2023
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The next morning we woke up early for our thankfully already booked airport transfer. Hunter had been a bit nervous about getting an Uber this early, so it was nice to have confirmed transportation. On arrival at the airport, we learned that the United flight to Newark had been canceled the night before so Hunter immediately started looking at fallback options since our flight had gotten a lot tighter. We eventually made it through customs and at the gate decided to S2 just in case to make the only direct flight home that day with any seats. Our fallback would have put us spending the night in Houston and commuting in to ATL early before work (YUCK!). We just barely made the flight with our S2s so we were definitely glad to have used them!
On arrival in ATL, Emily picked us up from the international terminal conveniently located near our new homes, and we went from off the plane to home in just minutes. It's great to have global entry, live in a global hub, and be right next to the airport.
Panama is a cool country to visit and I'm glad I got to see the incredible engineering of the Panama Canal, but I know there's still plenty to explore when we ever go back someday.
Date: Sunday April 16, 2023
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