Day 1: January 31, 2026





 


Day 1: January 31

Today was a rough morning.  Waking up at 4 am to make it down to Toronto for our 8:00 am flight.  The airport was MUCH busier than I was expecting at 5:30 am.  We found our way top our baggage drop, got rid of our three big bags and made our way through security with our carry on baggage.  The entire check in process was uneventful and we made our way to the lounge.  Only it was closed.  ☹  So we sat at a table in the ‘restaurant’ area of the waiting area and ordered breakfast.  Almost $100 for a mediocre breakfast was a hard pill to swallow.  We then had to take a shuttle to the terminal our flight was leaving from.  We waited a bit longer and then it was time to board our flight.  We managed to get three seats together (Paul was separate at first but a kind woman offered to trade seats with him).  I had the window seat so didn’t get up the whole flight.  It was a long flight and we were all very tired.  It felt SO good to stand after almost 6 hours of flying.  We found our rental car rep and he took us over to the terminal in Panama where our rental car was. 

As Paul was trying to negotiate with the rental car rep, I could see he was getting upset.  I went over to see what was going on.  They wanted to charge us $2,200 for a month of rental car.  I said, just walk away and we will challenge it with our credit card.  He didn’t move.  So I said hold on.  And I walked over to another rental car place, told them that we were getting scammed somewhere else and did they have a car for us and how much was it.  HALF the price so we said, GREAT.  We walked away from the original car rental place and got a much  better deal.  Crisis averted.  Aint’ NOBODY ruining my month away on day 1!!  This took a couple of hours however, and then when we finally got going we found out it was going to be almost 3 hours to our condo.  The traffic was really bad – but then as we later learned it was rush hour.  By the time we got to our condo it was almost 7 pm and we were all starving.  We found the closest restaurant on the property and had dinner there.  I had a seafood pizza (DIVINE!!), Paul had peperoni and Kiefer had a burger.  

We were BEAT! 

Came back to the condo and went straight to bed.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 4 – February 3

Image
Day 4 – February 3: Today we slept in again – I made Kiefer eggs this morning.  We don’t have any non stick pans or high smoke point oils so it’s been very difficult to make eggs.  Nearly impossible.  But it was done.  We walked over to the welcome center but it was closed.  So we then walked over to the hotel (opposite ends of the grounds – 1.25 km!)  We visited the sales center briefly and then had lunch at the restaurant on the beach.  It was absolutely stunning.  Right on the beach overlooking the ocean.  The beach has been red flagged every day we have been here because of the high winds.  It feels like we are in Kansas and Dorthy is about to fly by at any minute.  After lunch we went over to the sales center and Hector showed us a three bedroom unit on the ground floor right in front of the pool.  Also with slightly blocked views of the beach.  It was nice – but small and surrounded by large buildings.  On a bus...
Read more

Day 18 - February 17

Image
  SLOTH DAY IS HERE! Today was one of those days that makes you stop mid-thought and go, Is this actually my life right now? We woke up early because the drive to the sanctuary is just under two hours, and we were on the road a little after 9 a.m., coffee in hand, full of excitement. About three-quarters of the way there, we realized we’d missed a turn and added an extra 10 minutes to the drive. Oh well — in Panama, time feels a little more flexible anyway. We rolled into the resort around 10:50 and immediately discovered parking was… ambitious. Paul checked us in for the tour while Kiefer and I circled until we finally snagged a spot. We boarded a bus that took us deeper into the sanctuary, officially kicking off the day. The first stop was the frog exhibit. At first, nothing. Just greenery and silence. Then the guide turned on mist sprinklers, and suddenly the tiniest frogs imaginable started appearing. I don’t know what I expected, but these were miniature . We caught a glimpse ...
Read more