Twice around the world in 40 days

[love_the_life]

Exhausted just reading!

 

[RooFlyer]

Next destination: Panama City.

First stop JFK T8. Had a decent security experience which mentioned here. Then to the AA Flagship lounge. I wasn't sure what my lounge access would be, being a newly minted SG , also travelling without my new card, as Qantas thinks Tasmania is overseas and didn't send it to me.

OK, into the International First Lounge, no problems (but no invite to First Dining ). I'd been here last year as a WP, but the dining wasn't open then, but that's life in the SG lane.

Its a very good lounge, and a great one for North America. Lots of space and light.



Brekky options were very good; well presented and fresh. Not sure if they needed to have 5 bottles of Taittinger opened though, and going flat, as most of the





I'm not normally a champagne for breakfast type of person, but what the hell. These booths are great to get the laptop out.



I was going JFK-MIA-PTY. First leg was in domestic First, on a B767-300, with AA's new-ish J layout. Its really good.



The seat deployed to an angle-flat bed (your feet end up on the shiny pad in the LH pic below). I bit narrow for me in that mode. Also, no personal air vents.



A shelf right in front of you folds out to reveal a power point. No in-seat IFE though (I guess this is where the screen should have been - hence the power) - this was weird. Another space to the left with another power point and signs you can't miss re the J overhead bins.



PDBs served, then we were off, on time, over Long Beach.



It was a lunch flight; warm nuts to start with, then drinks, then I had a lasagne. Pretty good - none of the burning at the edges you often get with sauce-based meals. Crew were good, service attentive. It was a good flight.

 

[JohnM]

I'm not normally a champagne for breakfast type of person,

WHAT! . Keep up that nonsense and I'm never travelling with you again .

 

[JohnM]

Exhausted just reading!

Pffft! - a doddle .

 

[RooFlyer]

Miami and another Flagship Lounge. I was also here last year, but only briefly. Had a few hours this time. Again, its large, with lots of different spaces:



I didn't eat anything, but the buffet looked OK. Again, First Dining was there (invitation only - and I didn't have an invitation )



The buffet was better than my pic shows; fizz was Delamontte.



The downside of this lounge was that guys SHOUTING into their phones were probably more per squre foot than you'll get in most places. it was impossible to get away from them.

Upside was that the remote printing worked well, and I dashed off 50pp or so of my uni work to edit .

MIA-PTY was in a B737; pretty stock-standard 2-2 config. Two guys, slurring drunk were behind me and had to be shut out with my NC headphones.


Out over MIA and that's AA's CR Smith Aviation museum there on the left. Anyone been to it?



A dinner flight, and a nice steak - the thing next to it turned out to be a baked potato with some cheese on top. I thought it was an egg at first! Nice tender steak, and the spud wasn't bad, either. Warm cookie to finish.



We were on time until ATC held us up for about 15 mins due to 'congestion' at PTY, we were told.



I was worried about long queues at PTY, but I was second into the immigration area, and bags came out reasonably soon, so I was out in the curb, into a taxi (pretty orderly) and in my hotel - the Wyndham at Allbrook Mall pretty quickly, after a manic taxi driver set a land speed record, I think.

 

[RooFlyer]

So its hola from Panama City. Mandatory bit of history, lifted from Wikipedia.

Panama was inhabited by several indigenous tribes prior to settlement by the Spanish in the 16th century. Panama broke away from Spain in 1821 and joined a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela named the Republic of Gran Colombia. When Gran Colombia dissolved in 1831, Panama and Nueva Granada remained joined, eventually becoming the Republic of Colombia. With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the construction of the Panama Canal to be completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. In 1977 an agreement was signed for the transfer of the Canal from the United States to Panama by the end of the 20th century, which culminated on December 31, 1999.

Just here for a day, and like New York I arrived without having planned much.

The tour desk in the Wyndham Hotel was pretty hopeless, but through them I did get in touch with a tour guy who spoke reasonable English and gave me a classic 'City tour' - the canal, 'Causeway' and the old town, which was pretty much what I wanted. I have his number if anyone wants a tour guy while here; good clean car, careful driving and good knowledge.

The Wyndham is on the west side of the city, so it was only about 15 mins to the car park of the Panama Canal visitors centre. US$15 admission fee, with all the other visitors kicks nicely into the government coffers. You get the viewing platforms, a decent museum on the canal over 4 levels and there is an IMAX under construction.

In front of you from the viewing platforms are two pairs of locks, each with two sets of 700 tonne gates at each end. In this panorama is a pair of locks emptying upstream to the right, and their lower gates to the left. The brown embankment in the background running parallel is the new canal, finished only a few years ago ( hello, @JessicaTam ). Can take much bigger vessels.





The locks are fed by gravity. The country's high rainfall flows into the lakes in the centre of the complex, and this water is fed out to re-fill the locks every time, generating electricity as it goes (50% of the country's power, I was told).

Looking well upstream, there was a cruiser going up the next set of locks, and there is also the Puente Centenario, finished in 2004 and which takes the Trans America Highway.



The viewing platforms; I'm visiting at the end of the main tourist season. While we were there, the large ship on the right rose majestically, but slowly, in the background, on the new canal.



I was told that to visit the new canal its a hour drive, so we didn't do it, but if you go, this may be worth planning. They can of course predict when a ship will be transiting the locks. Its not continuous throughout the day. Transits from the Pacific are from about 3am to 10am, then they stop. The guide explained the system, but I didn't follow. I think after 10am they allow ships in from the Atlantic end for a period, and then they take urns exiting their respective other ends.

I would just loved to have seen the ship below left transit while we were there - this is the Pacific off the mouth of the canal, and this 3-master was charging in.



The average toll is about US$50,000 per transit. The Panamanians earn a big chunk of their GDP from the canal, which is why the Chineese have a concession to look at a rival canal in Guatemala.

 

[drron]

I thought the Chinese canal was through Nicaragua.
https://phys.org/news/2017-09-nicaragua-renews-environmental-chinese-canal.html
They are also building a 4 lane highway across Costa Rica from the port of Limon.
And proposing a rail link from the Brazilian coast to the Pacific coast of Peru.

 

[tgh]

Checking my (now defunct) Itinerary .. would have travelled a similar path in pty ten days earlier than Rooflyer… amazing…..

 

[RooFlyer]

I thought the Chinese canal was through Nicaragua

I think you are right drron, although there is a Guatemalan project mooted. My guide here was dismissive of the 'northern projects' due to their earthquakes and greater exposure to hurricanes.

 

[RooFlyer]

Driving along the Causeway which connects the mainland to a 4 small islands just offshore. When the Americans developed the Panama Canal in abt 1910, and of course had control of it, the islands were 'Fort Grant', built to protect the entrance to the Canal, and one of the biggest defence complexes, anywhere at the time. The islands and causeway were returned to the Panamanians, along with the canal in the late 1990s. Now the site of restaurants, shops etc, popular with locals. Panama City has an amazing number of high-rises.



Then to the Old Town, Casco Viejo (different from Panama Viejo).

Pirate Capt. Henry Morgan (now best know for rum) destroyed old Panama in 1671, so the Spanish moved the town to the location of present-day Casco Viejo, a promontory close to the Wyndham Hotel. Post 1900 the area deteriorated to slums and buildings were abandoned en massed.

Its been re-generating for the past 20 years and was declared World Heritage in 2003. Its a compact area to wander around in, with shops and some very nice looking hotels, but unfortunately its choked - and I mean choked - with traffic. Not dangerous, as the streets are only 1 car wide, but it spoils things a bit. I had to be patient to get car-free (+/- almost) shots!



There are many building still just gutted shells, like the one in the RH pic, but mostly they are now stabilised with ironwork and I guess will be restored, in time.



One thing to see is the Iglesia de San Jose. According to legend, when Pirate Morgan ransacked Panama, the local priest blackened his 'Altar de Oro' (Golden Altar) so Morgan missed it. Just a legend though. The altar in fact dates from the later 18th Century and is covered in low-grade gold leaf. In the back of the church is this biblical exhibition. Note the angels.



An old church, beyond restoration:



Municipe Hall on the left, and the new Panama City Hotel, fronting the main square.



The Cathedral is being massively restored - the Pope is coming!




Churches and convents ...



Memorial to El Liberatore Simon Bolivar.


Back in the modern era, the 'Bridge of the Americas', the first public road crossing of the Canal, with the Pan American Highway, and the new 'Bio Museum', not something to contemplate after a big night out.

 

[RooFlyer]

I've just been MIAed. Talk about a freak'n third world airport!

 

[TomVexille]

I've just been MIAed. Talk about a freak'n third world airport!

Luckily I've only had the misfortune of having to connect there once

 

[RooFlyer]

In the afternoon, it started bucketing down, which was expected , so I fell back on my plan B which was Albrook Mall - connected to the Wyndham hotel. The Mall is said to be the biggest in Latin America. It looks like its just grown incrementally, and is a bit of a maze.

I grabbed a late lunch (and you can see why @amaroo would never travel with me ) but it was cheap, convenient and sorta healthy.



I had dinner in the hotel seafood restaurant - didn't take the pic until I was partly into it, but it was a nice ceviche with lime juice, with a trio of seafood bits on some soft corn based base as entrée (which came out second). Panama's take on a pisco sour was a bit odd, but tasted OK.



I was due to fly out of PTY at a nice leisurely 1:30pm next day, so got my friendly tour guy to take me to the airport at about 11:00.

Drove past downtown, which I missed in the dark (and the speed) on my way in. it looks like a good, clean city with a tremendous number of apartment and office towers:



Arrived at the airport, check in OK and I remembered that there was no lounge. There is a huge new terminal under construction, so hopefully that will change. My priority Pass had run out, otherwise I could have used the Copa Lounge. No matter, I settled down with a coffee and my laptop for an hour or so,

Boarding was painless - onto an AA E175, in J. 1-2 config, with me in 1A (there was some other dude settling into it, but I kicked him out, even though he said he was following my TR and this was his natural spot ). Took off on time and was soon crossing the Panama coast.



Lunch was decent (that's cheesecake, not cheese!) and soon reached the Florida keys.




We landed 50 mins early; I expected that the gate wouldn't be ready. It was, but I was then wishing that it wasn't!

Rant hereby begins.

What followed was one of those airport experiences where you swear you'll never fly again. I'll stop at never flying into MIA internationally again. We rolled into some far gate and disembarked down an outside ramp, then along some strange tarmac thing, onto busses and into a train wreck.



The bus merely took us around the corner to gate D60, at the VERY-far-end of the concourse. Huge long walk then, past entirely deserted gates (why not drop us off a bit closer??) which was OK, the exercise was good. I knew it would be a long walk when I passed a sign 'Skytrain to immigration'. Eventually we hit a queue extending well out of the immigration area. And then the chaos began.

Imagine 2 rows of immigration e-gates either side of a space not much more than a hotel corridor. Funnel everyone into one end, with no guidance. What happens? Of course everyone banks up at the top of the funnel, and kiosks towards the F-A-R end are unused. And you can't get through! Staff watching all this, doing nothing. The queue to get out of this area stretches up the middle, between the rows of kiosks. F'n hopeless.

Completely different experience for me compared to LAX arrival, with my B1B2 visa. At MIA, you use the kiosk and scan the visa page and answer customs questions on the screen; it gives you a ticket. Then join another queue to show ticket. Then join another queue to see immigration desks. Get shunted from one end to the other - this is 'queue management', MIA style. Immigration officer asks why I was travelling on a visa, not ESTA. I visited Iran, I replied. "Yep, that'll do it" was his reply, as he stamped my passport.

In LAX, I only had this last stage so far and had a paper customs form in my hand.

About 45 mins so far. Get to baggage carousel, where the bag has been dumped in a pile with all the rest. Exit customs. Go through to bag re-check. Then it got bad. Pure chaos in this area; people everywhere, I didn't know where to go. Bloody staff person just waved down the hall and yelled 'join the line, join the line'. Which one? "Join the line, join the line". There was a line to enter the re-screening area. it stretched down a ramp where you might otherwise exit. Total chaos.

Shuffle forward. All of a sudden, they appear to open up a new lane, and our part of the queue surges forward. A free run to the front?? ??.

No, of course not. We went past a security hall totally choked with people. We were led through the 'crew' area, to a door where we exited to the check-in area? WTF?? No explanations, just 'go there, 'go there', following a guy. We walked, and walked, and walked ... eventually into the 'E' terminal security area (we were in D).

Eventually through and I had no idea where I was. Found an Admiral's Club where I got some derisory directions.

Eventually reached the Flagship Lounge in Terminal D 1hr 50 mins after landing.

It wasn't so much the time that pissed me off, but the total chaos of the whole process with none, ZERO explanation or guidance or assistance from the airport staff. they just stood there and watched.



Rant ends. For now.

Had a couple of hours to kill. had dinner in the lounge, which was pretty good, and then time to boart my next AA flight, to DFW. A 737 in 'First'.

The first row was 3, so I was in 3A; I didn't mean to choose a bulkhead, but that's what happens when they start the numbering at 3. Pretty standard B737 J, 4 rows of 2-2. Only IFE was a small screen on the bulkhead with some cough NBC TV show. No IFE in the AA phone application.



It was probably because I was still pissed off at the MIA thing, but the lead FA on this flight was a shocker. Hard not to say the 'wrong thing' here, but a Mae-West figure, busting out all over shall I say; a curdling southern accent and she thought she was just sex on legs. 'Honey', 'sweetie-pie' 'sugar' was how passengers were addressed, men and women.

I know in Oz, FAs have to stop talking, hands on knees and be attentive during take-off roll and take-off. Not her. Couldn't see her, but could hear her discussing boyfriends with the other FA. Fair dinkum, just a stream of squealing laughter, clapping of her hands in excitement, the whole bit, from start of roll until well into the climb.

It was a 9pm departure, so no dinner (warm nuts - accepted and a cookie - declined), but I was at first pleased that they had a sav blanc rather than the standard chardonnay, but it was undrinkable. Of course AA domestic First isn't First, but this wasn't even acceptable J. Not that this came as a surprise - I've travelled enough in the US to know what to expect, but I thought if this was branded F it might be a bit of a cut above. Nah.

Arrived DFW terminal C at 12:30am, 30 mins late; bags eventually arrived but inter-terminal shuttle had stopped running, so you had to call them (no courtesy phone). Eventually into Grand Hyatt at T4 about 1:15am.

Nice enough room.



MIA - avoid it if you possibly can.

 

[ausfox]

This is an excellent TR. Thank you for your efforts.
I visited PTY last year and was told on the canal tour that the cost to ship through the canal is around AUD 8 per tonne. The new canal paid for itself in 2 years.
Think of the income when the larger boats through the new canal are around 100,000 tonnes.

So its hola from Panama City. Mandatory bit of history, lifted from Wikipedia.

Panama was inhabited by several indigenous tribes prior to settlement by the Spanish in the 16th century. Panama broke away from Spain in 1821 and joined a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela named the Republic of Gran Colombia. When Gran Colombia dissolved in 1831, Panama and Nueva Granada remained joined, eventually becoming the Republic of Colombia. With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the construction of the Panama Canal to be completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. In 1977 an agreement was signed for the transfer of the Canal from the United States to Panama by the end of the 20th century, which culminated on December 31, 1999.

Just here for a day, and like New York I arrived without having planned much.

The tour desk in the Wyndham Hotel was pretty hopeless, but through them I did get in touch with a tour guy who spoke reasonable English and gave me a classic 'City tour' - the canal, 'Causeway' and the old town, which was pretty much what I wanted. I have his number if anyone wants a tour guy while here; good clean car, careful driving and good knowledge.

The Wyndham is on the west side of the city, so it was only about 15 mins to the car park of the Panama Canal visitors centre. US$15 admission fee, with all the other visitors kicks nicely into the government coffers. You get the viewing platforms, a decent museum on the canal over 4 levels and there is an IMAX under construction.

In front of you from the viewing platforms are two pairs of locks, each with two sets of 700 tonne gates at each end. In this panorama is a pair of locks emptying upstream to the right, and their lower gates to the left. The brown embankment in the background running parallel is the new canal, finished only a few years ago ( hello, @JessicaTam ). Can take much bigger vessels.

View attachment 123015

View attachment 123016

The locks are fed by gravity. The country's high rainfall flows into the lakes in the centre of the complex, and this water is fed out to re-fill the locks every time, generating electricity as it goes (50% of the country's power, I was told).

Looking well upstream, there was a cruiser going up the next set of locks, and there is also the Puente Centenario, finished in 2004 and which takes the Trans America Highway.

View attachment 123017

The viewing platforms; I'm visiting at the end of the main tourist season. While we were there, the large ship on the right rose majestically, but slowly, in the background, on the new canal.

View attachment 123018

I was told that to visit the new canal its a hour drive, so we didn't do it, but if you go, this may be worth planning. They can of course predict when a ship will be transiting the locks. Its not continuous throughout the day. Transits from the Pacific are from about 3am to 10am, then they stop. The guide explained the system, but I didn't follow. I think after 10am they allow ships in from the Atlantic end for a period, and then they take urns exiting their respective other ends.

I would just loved to have seen the ship below left transit while we were there - this is the Pacific off the mouth of the canal, and this 3-master was charging in.

View attachment 123019

The average toll is about US$50,000 per transit. The Panamanians earn a big chunk of their GDP from the canal, which is why the Chineese have a concession to look at a rival canal in Guatemala.

 

[RooFlyer]

Writing this from my overnight transit in Doha, and after a sleep at the Hyatt at DFW and a decent sleep on the plane coming over to DOH, I'm happy to say I've lost the crankiness again.

Last night's Grand Hyatt at terminal D (American, many OW and also LH). Its a pretty good choice, but there is no buffet breakfast - only a la carte and I didn't bother enquiring how much that would cost!

I had planned a 2/3 day out in Dallas, going to the George W Bush Presidential Library, after helpful suggestions in this thread. However after the late arrival I decided to have a bit of a lie-in and decided only to go to the Grapevine Mills Mall. Nothing bought . $15 one way, $10 the other in a Uber.

QR check in was already open when I turned up 3hrs before take-off. Check-in agent looked me up in the system and just stood and stared, and then tap, tap, tap. Stare some more. "Is there a problem?' I ask. 'No' she said 'You have so many flights!'

Got an invitation to the lounge, which is part of a small group of airline lounges called 'The Club' on concourse D. Qantas, LH and BA are here too, at least. I don't know why QF would have a lounge - surely they would use the Admiral's Club or Flagship lounge? I peeked in the QF lounge and it was much the same as the QR one - not really that good.



What you might call a 'typical' contract lounge. Food and bev OK-ish, but nothing to write home about.



When I say OK, I'm not counting the Yellowtail Riesling



I went hunting for a pharmac_ to buy some sleeping aids like I bought last time. No pharmac_. Damn.

I arrived at the gate just before boarding, to see the flight deck crew waiting there, and the cabin crew straggling in. Obviously there was a delay, but of course no-one told the pax, so the entire plane load (B777) milled about.

The was some sort of security effort going n. Four burly police /security types went in, and about 15 mins later, re-appeared just beyond the scanning point. They looked out at us and we looked in at them. I didn't think a photo would be a good idea.

Anyway, we boarded about 20 mins late. I was really disappointed not to get the QR Skysuites on this 14+hr flight in a B777, QR 730. Just their standard 2-2-2 layout in J, which some will criticise for not all having aisle access, but there is so much legroom, if you are on the window its easy to step across. Never-the-less I chose my customary seat on the aisle in the inside block.



I like these seats - heaps of storage (including a natty water bottle and other stuff storage area accessed through the centre armrests).

Good cabin crew, of course. My area got looked after by the CSM, who was obviously very experienced. Had my name when she came up to me to introduce herself (none of that embarrassing pause where they stand by you and peer at the manifest) and took all orders by memory.

Menu. It was a 6pm departure, so dinner and breakfast.



While we were settling down, I chatted to my seat-mate who was a former United pilot, and then we heard the chooks. Underneath us was, for some reason, a consignment of chickens and they were crowing non stop! Obvious jokes about how the chicken biryani would be fresh.

In spite of the delay in boarding, we pushed back only a few minutes late.

 

[RooFlyer]

Its dine-on-demand at QR, which is an excellent concept. I asked to eat about an hour after they would have normally served it, as I wanted to get some laptop work in before sleepiness/booze settled in.

Three types of bread with an appetiser of coughtail shrimps. I chose the Arabic Mezze for entrée and way too much for that. Very nice.



Main course of steak was presented well, and was very tender. I enjoyed it very much. Dessert of mixed berries with rosewater. A really good business class meal.




Here are the wines:




I had a G&T on the go when they brought dinner, so moved straight to the Luigi Bosca de Sangre - a cab sav dominated blend - from Mendoza (their vineyards are spread around the region). I didn't see the need to waiver from it!

IFE was extensive, as you'd expect; bed was fully flat with a seat cover thing and quite a thick blanket. I asked for and got a second pillow , totally without a grimace you sometime get on asking for such.

Got some sleep, then asked for breakfast about 3 hours out of Doha, which would be about lunch-time there.



I was a bit reticent at ordering the omelette, but I trusted QR and was not let down. A really, really nice cheese omelette, with accompaniments. Some OJ and a latte and croissant and I was set. A really good business breakfast.

I had turned the IFE on by this time and looked at the map. I was surprised to discover the track we had taken, which I've copied from Flightradar24/7 for clarity. The Great Circle route would have taken us up over Greenland and Iceland, but looking at past flights, this seems the typical path. Note also the track down eastern Iraq. Again, surprising for me, as Iran, slightly east, is an ally of Qatar and QR usually over-flies it on its way to Europe. Maybe Iraq is soaking Qatar for over-flight costs, taking advantage of the Arab 'blockade' of Qatar??

But I'd prefer not to have my plane anywhere near Iraq, thank-you, whether we are out of reach of ground-to-air missiles, or not.

 

[docjames]

Enjoying the TR. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

Re: routing, don't forget to factor in winds - there are published "tracks" across the atlantic to make the most of it. The "shortest" may not be fastest/most economical.

Think similar to QF63/64 where 64 often tracks much further north to take advantage of the winds.

 

[ellen10]

Great trip report. I am thinking of adding QR to my booking later this year, never flown with them before.

 

[JohnM]

Did the chicken crowing stop once airborne?

 

[JohnM]

Did the chicken crowing stop once airborne?

Answered elsewhere, I see.