Panama via New York City

November 19 - 29, 2009.
By Brad Taylor

Once every two years or so, all of our friends get together and do what we call the "Trip of a Lifetime". In 2009 the destination ended up being Coronado, Panama.

We landed on Panama as it was the only place that would fill our simple requirement: find a house that we can rent for two weeks that sleeps 13 people. Easier said than done.

The Vacation Rental by Owner (VRBO) website is extremely handy for finding rental properties and was how Lynn found us our mansion.

So on Saturday November 19 we made our way to Pearson International Airport to catch the first leg of our flight down to Panama City. Problem was, upon arriving at the airport to check in our luggage, we were informed that there were issues with our connecting flight out of Newark New Jersey and we wouldn't make the flight.

The decision was made that instead of paying to go back home and returning the next day, we'd simply get to Newark and catch the next flight to Panama City. Boy was that a great idea.

We didn't realize just how close New York City is to Newark's airport. As soon as we got into our hotel for the night, we immediately decided to wake up early and somehow get ourselves into Manhattan. The hotel had a pretty nice bar in it so we spent the night having a few drinks and discussing the idea of splitting a cab to get us into Manhattan.

The next morning we stumbled out of the hotel, into our black SUV cab and were quickly winding through the Holland Tunnel heading into Manhattan.

The cab dropped us off just outside of Times Square and would pick us up in 5 hours near Central Park.

If you've never been to New York City it's one of the most amazing places I've seen, getting out of the cab, you're hit with the distinct feeling of what a city should be.

In five hours it seemed like we fit in most of the main sites to see in Manhattan. We saw Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Radio City, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Central Park, Strawberry Fields, the American Museum of Natural History and had a nice wander through Hell's Kitchen.

Our cab picked us up and we were quickly back at the Newark Airport to catch our flight down to Panama City.

We arrived in Panama around 11:00pm and after an hour long cab ride into Panama City, we got checked into our casino/hotel. We stepped out for about an hour or so to grab some dinner then it was off to bed.

The following morning we got a cab to take us to the old Spanish quarter of Panama City. This is a beautiful area with lots of little shops and a nice boardwalk that provides you with some amazing views of the city skyline. After a few hours of wandering around it was time to catch a cab and find the house we were renting in Coronado.

Coronado was a bit of a disappointment. It's a gated community where a lot of the rich people in Panama City have their summer houses. Problem was, it was November and no one was around, it was almost deserted.

The house that we rented was gorgeous and it was previously owned by the brother of one of Panama's archbishops. So this was how we were to spend the next two weeks, chillin in the backyard in our private pool and palapa, outstanding!

For the first week in Coronado we didn't really do too much. We stuck to the house, enjoying the pool and really cheap beer sold at the convenience store on the corner. It wasn't till the second week when we rented two cars that we really got out and saw some of Panama.

We found a great little surf camp called El Palmar that had surf board rentals and a great palapa over looking the beach. The second time we went back to El Palmar was the best surfing day I've ever had. I had about 15 good runs!

The following day we drove up into the mountains to see Chiriqui Arriba which is a really nice hotel and restaurant 2500 meters above sea level. The views from the dining room were amazing!

From Chiriqui Arriba it was off to El Valle de Anton to do some zip-lining. Now I need to state this ahead of time, I'm terrified of heights. Going zip-lining was not going to be easy for me.

After trekking through the jungle for about half an hour, we got geared up and were standing on the first zip-line platform. Lynn goes first, it's fine, no big deal... Then comes my turn... OMG... WTF... why is it I'm doing this again... I'm hooked in, there's no way out of this now... It was actually pretty cool. I was scared outta my mind and had a few choice words while flying across the tree tops but I think I'd have regretted it if I backed out.

After all this excitement it was back on a plane back to Toronto. Panama was a pretty cool spot visit although I don't think I'd go back, besides, I'm already looking forward to our next "Trip of a Lifetime."

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