[Caractacus Potts]

Much like Condogs thread on Panama, thread-48438.html I too am a bit tardy in my report. I have been home for about a month. I am reproducing this thread from memory and from texts that I still have. So without any further ado...

Thinking about it

A few months ago a friend from work was talking about going to Panama with some friends and encouraged me to go. I told him I would think about it. I honestly wasn't giving it that much consideration.

My divorce was finalized a year ago but I am still paying my former attorneys. I don't have a lot of free cash and I need to rebuild my retirement accounts. Still, he kept bringing it up.

"Caractacus, come on. $1500 for round trip airfare and hotel for a week at the Hard Rock Hotel in Panama City! The only other thing you have to pay for is your food and drinks and if you want to gamble

Like water dripping on a stone he was gradually wearing me down. Periodically I'd check online to see what the prices were but I didn't have any intention of really going.

Then I read Clean Slate's post about his post divorce Phillipines trip.
thread-47342.html

I started asking my friend more questions and he sent me the travel itinerary. They were going to be there from Tuesday May 10th until Sunday May 15th. I started checking airline and hotel prices more frequently.

Fuck it! I'm going!

Around this time the only girl in my rotation flaked on me. I had gotten lazy about approaching or sending out online messages so I was high and dry. While reading RVF one night I opened another window to check airline prices.

There it was: Round Trip airfare and hotel for a week in Panama City, Panama for $961!

I hesitated for a second and then whipped out my MasterCard. As soon as I had booked I felt excited and nervous at the same time.

I wasn't staying at the Hard Rock. I was staying at the Hyatt. It's less than a year old and has a lot of positive comments about it posted recently. I was a half a mile away from where my friends were staying but as I will explain later on this worked to my benefit.

Planning Stage

I'm not a gambler. Sitting at a table and losing money playing blackjack or sitting in front of a slot machine pumping quarters in in order to get free drinks does not appeal to me. So I started researching things to do in Panama.

Of course I started with the Forum. But there weren't very many threads about Panama City and nothing recent. I searched other online travel forums and checked the Lonely Planet guide and Fodors. I set up accounts with Latin American Cupid and Badoo and began pipelining. I had women from all over Central and South America contacting me even though I specifically put in my profile I was going to in Panama for a short time.

I knew that the weather was going to be hot and humid so I went through my clothes and was having a hard time finding things to wear. A good thing about the trip is it gave me an impetus to lose weight. Many of my nicer summer things were tight. I am proud to say I lost eight pounds in the month leading up to the trip. Unfortunately I put it all back on along with seven more while I was there>

My passport was good for three more years so no problem there. I went to one of those walk in clinics to get shots to prevent any tropical diseases before I left as well. I finished off what was in my fridge and threw away anything that I knew would go bad while I was gone.

Wheels up

The night before my flight I slept at my mom's house. I had a 7:40am flight. I hate the fact that the TSA wants you there three hours early for an international flight. My mom was a trooper and dropped me off at the airport at 4:30 am.

I checked in without any problem. The TSA security line was another matter. It took me nearly an hour to snake my way through. They only had three machines operating. The reason they want you there so early for international flights is because they don't have much in the way of staffing in the early mornings.

As I was waiting inline I studied my fellow travelers. It was not a pretty sight. There was the pushy post wall blonde getting very animated about potentially missing her flight. A couple of wildebeasts traveling in what I can only surmise were there pajamas. A couple of service members. The usual motley crew that you see at any large gathering here in America.

There was one exception. A tall thin Latina. I could see her about a dozen passengers in front of me. She was wearing heels and tight white pants that accentuated her ass. She had on a midriff white denim jacket and her black hair was pulled up into a bun on top of her head.

When she had to turn in the maze I saw her face. This woman was probably 50 years old and she put every other woman in that line to shame. She had caramel colored skin, perfectly applied makeup and her toenails were brightly polished. As we passed each other I caught the scent of her perfume. It was intoxicating and boner inducing!

I smiled at her as we passed one another. She looked me up and down and smiled back. Yes! In another 15-20 minutes the layout of the line would have us pass one another again.

The Flake

I eventually got through the line without any problem and made my way to the gate. I had an hour and a half to kill so I wandered around to see if there were any attractive girls nearby. Not really.

I went into the duty free shop because I wanted to buy some booze for my hotel room. I grabbed a bottle of grey goose and walked up to the register. The woman asked me where I was going. I thought that she was being friendly making idle chit chat. I told her I was going to Panama but had a layover in Miami.

She frowned and told me she could not sell it to me since I was going to Miami. She said since I am traveling to another US city I cannot bring the alcohol with me. She told me that I could buy it in Miami since my final destination was outside the US.

I walked back to my gate and tried reading a bit but I was tired. I tried to get comfortable in the chair but keep hold of my laptop bag. My gate was at the end of the terminal and there was a door that a lot of American employees kept coming through. Everytime they opened the door I'd raise an eyelid. I wasn't going to get any rest here.

I was looking around for somewhere else to move to when the door opened again. I turned around to see...the flake! WTF! She walked past me staring at her phone. Zombified. I called out her name and it startled her. Her eyes went wide and then she smiled. We made some small talk and then said she had to go.

It was a strange interaction. The sex with her was phenomonal. See this post thread-11951...pid1251089 Yet she didn't ask me where I was going or much of anything. I texted some of the Chicago guys about whether I should hit her up when I got back and the consensus was since she smiled she was still interested. I tried a restart when I got back but have not heard anything since.

When I landed in Miami I didn't have time to hit the duty free shop. I sent the text to the Chicago tribe and also commented on how the Miami airport has some good looking women that work there. Vinman replied in the affirmative. I just made it to the tram and got to my gate as they were boarding.

Panama

As soon as I got off the plane and was walking through the airport I could tell something was different. Almost every employee that I saw that worked there was attractive! Most of them were young. The girl pushing the old lady to her gate in the wheel chair? A fantastic ass that could not be hidden by cheap navy polyester uniform pants! It's another world.

Travel Tip: After I got my bag I went upstairs to departures to hail a cab. I read on an online travel forum that if you catch one at arrivals they will charge you $35-$40. If you catch them upstairs at departures you can get it for $15-$20. For the hard core frugal guys, you can take the bus with the employees for $2. Also, I read that you should try to arrange it so that you do not arrive between the hours of 4:30pm and 8:30pm or you will get stuck in horrendous traffic.

I walked outside and hailed a cab. I rehearsed in my head exactly what I was going to say like I learned from the Michel Thomas CD's I listened to before coming. (H/T to whoever it was that recommended those in the language thread). We agreed to $20 and away we went. Another tip I got from one of the online travel forums was to direct them to take the highway.

My driver had a little trouble finding the hotel. It is so new he didn't know where it was! It is located on Avenida Aquilino de la Guardia, between Vía España and Calle 52 Bella Vista. I highly recommend it. I paid the $10/night king upgrade and had a great view of the city.

I checked in and had them make a copy of my passport. Have them put your information on one side and the entrance stamp on the other. I had them make a few copies and left my passport in the safe. I never bring my passport out. But you need to have identification if you get stopped by the Policia.

It was 3:30 by the time I got to my room and hooked up to the hotel Wifi. Immediately I got a slew of texts from my friend. He arrived at the Hard Rock at 11:00. Check in was not until 1:30. So what did he do? He had them watch his bag and started drinking!

I unpacked and took a shower and headed over to the Hard Rock.

To be continued...