Panama Trip (Day 1)
Tuesday, December 26: AUS > IAH > PTY
I got up at 3:30am to do a short workout before we left for the airport at 4am to catch our 5:45am flight to Houston and then to Panama City, Panama. Thanks to Mr. E's 1K status on United, we got one free meal on board, and the southwestern omelet was actually pretty tasty, especially the side of potatoes that included sweet potatoes.
We arrived a bit early in Panama but had to wait at the passport control area for quite a bit, and the process involved getting our photos taken and fingerprints scanned. Once we retrieved my bag, we went upstairs to the Copa check-in area to get our seat assignments for our return flight, since those had not yet been confirmed. We then found a taxi outside (grrr on the annoying taxi dude who "escorted" us to someone else's vehicle but then expected a tip for his services) for transportation to our hotel, the Marriott Courtyard at the Multiplaza Mall.
After we checked in and dropped stuff in the room, we went across to the Mall to find something for lunch. Unfortunately for me, the Subway in the food court was out of turkey. Mr. E still was able to order a club sandwich, but I had to try another spot and selected the Japanese restaurant, hoping for a good experience with the salmon salad. Despite my very clear instructions and the notation on the order slip, the kitchen still put lots of cebolla (onions) on my salad. Grrr again. The second version returned much more quickly, and I'm pretty sure they just pulled off the onions and rearranged everything on a new plate. Grrr. Grrr. Mr. E had a similar inaccurate experience when he tried to order a second lunch item at Burger King, which ended up appearing with both onions and mayo. Bleah!
I managed to get rid of my grumpy grrrr mood with a 5K on the treadmill while watching Face/Off on the TV in the Fitness Center, and Mr. E did a similar workout after a short nap. We got drinks at the Lobby Bar, and I had my first experience with Seco, a typical Panamanian liquor that's similar to rum. Yum! Future Duty Free purchase! We opted for dinner at the hotel restaurant, Pacific Grill. Mr. E had a Bahn Mi, and I ordered a veggie club sandwich that came with some sort of mayo-based spread (though that wasn't in the menu description), so I ended up with a little graveyard of discarded bread at the side of my plate while I ate all of the non-contaminated veggies and cheese in the middle. We procured two small bottles of red wine at the mini hotel market and enjoyed some of it back in the room while scanning the many TV channels. I was surprised to see how much programming was available in English!
I got up at 3:30am to do a short workout before we left for the airport at 4am to catch our 5:45am flight to Houston and then to Panama City, Panama. Thanks to Mr. E's 1K status on United, we got one free meal on board, and the southwestern omelet was actually pretty tasty, especially the side of potatoes that included sweet potatoes.
We arrived a bit early in Panama but had to wait at the passport control area for quite a bit, and the process involved getting our photos taken and fingerprints scanned. Once we retrieved my bag, we went upstairs to the Copa check-in area to get our seat assignments for our return flight, since those had not yet been confirmed. We then found a taxi outside (grrr on the annoying taxi dude who "escorted" us to someone else's vehicle but then expected a tip for his services) for transportation to our hotel, the Marriott Courtyard at the Multiplaza Mall.
After we checked in and dropped stuff in the room, we went across to the Mall to find something for lunch. Unfortunately for me, the Subway in the food court was out of turkey. Mr. E still was able to order a club sandwich, but I had to try another spot and selected the Japanese restaurant, hoping for a good experience with the salmon salad. Despite my very clear instructions and the notation on the order slip, the kitchen still put lots of cebolla (onions) on my salad. Grrr again. The second version returned much more quickly, and I'm pretty sure they just pulled off the onions and rearranged everything on a new plate. Grrr. Grrr. Mr. E had a similar inaccurate experience when he tried to order a second lunch item at Burger King, which ended up appearing with both onions and mayo. Bleah!
I managed to get rid of my grumpy grrrr mood with a 5K on the treadmill while watching Face/Off on the TV in the Fitness Center, and Mr. E did a similar workout after a short nap. We got drinks at the Lobby Bar, and I had my first experience with Seco, a typical Panamanian liquor that's similar to rum. Yum! Future Duty Free purchase! We opted for dinner at the hotel restaurant, Pacific Grill. Mr. E had a Bahn Mi, and I ordered a veggie club sandwich that came with some sort of mayo-based spread (though that wasn't in the menu description), so I ended up with a little graveyard of discarded bread at the side of my plate while I ate all of the non-contaminated veggies and cheese in the middle. We procured two small bottles of red wine at the mini hotel market and enjoyed some of it back in the room while scanning the many TV channels. I was surprised to see how much programming was available in English!
posted by jms | 5:26 PM
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