Panama Day 1: Getting to Panama City

November 3, 2011

Although I will try to blog daily, I doubt that will happen.  Instead, I will post when I can and do a day-by-day account of my trip and add pictures when I have the opportunity.  Once I get home I will update everything and add a full photo journal.

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Of all the airports I have been through around the world, I still think that Tampa International is one of the nicest and most convenient.  Ticketing is on one level, departures and arrivals on another level and baggage claim on yet another… all functions separated from each other.  A tram takes you to the gates and parking is a convenient, short walk away.  The airport is always clean and presentable.  I arrived at about 5:30 am for my 7:15 am flight and there was absolutely no line for security.  One of the things I really appreciate about TPA is the free wi-fi.  Miami charges for internet access as does Atlanta, the other two airports I go through most often.

I usually print my boarding pass at home but for some reason could not on this trip.  I was dreading having to go through the ticketing area even though I have had few problems with American Airlines in the past.  Although these self check-in terminals are supposed to be intuitive, I can never seem to figure them out.   I needn’t have been concerned as I was met by an agent as I walked up to the kiosk and she walked me through the process.

Once I got to my gate I realized that I was not wearing the long-sleeve T-shirt I had planned on wearing.  Planes can often get cold and I usually wear a long-sleeve shirt over another shirt just in case.  Tampa was fine and even the flight was OK, but Miami airport was freezing.  Idiot.  On this trip the long-sleeve shirt was intended to do double-duty – keep me warm on the airplane and to be worn at night to protect against mosquitoes.

Even though I have been through Miami airport a million times, I always forget how huge Terminal D is, the main American Airlines terminal.  This terminal is so large that there is a skytrain with 4 stops between the various sections and 2 Admirals Clubs.  On this trip the timing between flights was perfect.  I had about an hour’s wait before boarding so I had plenty of time to get to my gate, stop in the men’s room and re-arrange a few things in my carry-ons.  I checked my email on my Blackberry (again, no free wi-fi in Miami) and checked the weather in Panama City (90^o with a chance of thunderstorms).  For some reason I could not pull up Bocas on Weather Underground.

Coming into Panama City

Once on board and en route to Panama City, the two and one-half hour flight was uneventful.  I did, however, remember one of the other reasons I like flying American over Delta.  American seats have a handy adjustable headrest.  I brought my blow-up neck pillow since I figured I would want to catch an hour or so of sleep (and did) but the pillow was unnecessary.  Fortunately the temperature on the airplane was considerably higher than in the Miami airport.

So far on this trip my only gripe with American is that although I checked seating about twice a week before flying, I could not get a seat more forward in the plane.  I figured that the plane must be fairly full – not even close.  I would guess that only 25% of the seats were filled, so why couldn’t I choose another seat prior to departure?  The only thing I can think of is that there were large blocks of seats set aside for consolidators and were just not made available.  Anyway, the flight was better than expected because I had three seats all to myself and was able to stretch out and be comfy.