Latin Trip
 

PANAMA. The first rainy day of my 500k run, which will end tomorrow with a COPA flight to Miami and then USAIR home. It,s been a great adventure. The first surprise was Aeropostal out of Miami, which after some of the reports and the loooong checkin process seemed as if it would be a pretty bad start. The plane was a little seedy, but the service was attentive and excellent. The drink cart kept rolling through the aisles, we had a choice of beef [in a tangy sauce] or pasta, with salad and an excellent raisin cake dessert. It was kind of like going back a few decades in time.

The transition in Caracas was relatively painless holed up in the Diners Club lounge. Good conversation, and surprisingly good beer. Avianca left on time, the connection in Bogot went smoothly, and the long day ended in Quito. Avianca also served a meal on each segment .. CCS-BOG and BOG-QUITO. It can actually be done and done well on an hour and a half flight. Meals were consistently good, and service approached excellent.

You have read a lot of reports about Quito. It was wonderful. Old city, equator, Indian market. Weather was comfortable and sunny )about 75), people were friendly and well dressed. The golden dollar coins were a bit hit. The Marriott was an exceollent base for it all. My platinum card had upgraded me to a suite, and the lounge provided a European breakfast with cold cuts and cheese and rolls. Then it was off on ACES to Bogota.... I was first in line to check in, but the whole process still took nearly two hours. Aces managed a meal on the segment... eating breakfast while looking out at the Andes is not an every day experience for me. BOG to San Jose was on Lacsa, which left about 20 minutes early since everyone was there. Underway another meal.. cold beef with potato salad and a fine Costa Rican red wine. The early departure,however,gave me a little over 4 hours at San Jose, which was an airport that reminded me of Detroit. There was nothing to do except drink beer and read, until TACA rescued us and took us on to Panama. TACA was perhaps the best of the airlines so far... again managing a meal in the short one hour flight to Panama City... cold pork and salad.

I´m glad I have done the run, and I hope to come back with my family sometime. The good advice on FT made it a breeze. Thanks to all of you.

"The drink cart kept rolling through the aisles" reminds me so much of the experiences on Aeromexico flights from Tucson to Guaymas and back,which were so short that the plane was either rising or descending during the bev/meal service- and the FA's had a hard time with runaways! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Thanks Phil! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

awesome!