Panama Update #62
October 6, 2008
Yesterday I was in Florida and Panama and today I have been in Panama and Texas. I told the taxi driver in Panama that I may not know what country I am in when I wake up tomorrow. We both laughed about it. The same driver is bringing me back and forth to the airport in Panama City 4 times this week for a total of $100. I tried to explain to him why I am going back and forth so much and I think he got it, even with the language difficulties. I purchased the Miami ticket because I couldn't find a cheap Houston ticket, where Nikki has her conference. I have to leave town for 72 hours every 90 days because of the tourist visa I have. The day after I made the non-refundable Miami reservation, Northwest Air had a promotion where I could trade my miles for a free trip to Houston, so I did that also. Both reservations were non-refundable and couldn't be changed, so I had couldn't go directly from Miami to Houston. Fortunately all the flights have been on time and going through customs on both ends has gone smoothly. the flight to Miami was a little over 2 hours and the flight to Houston was closer to 4 hours. I can see why Northwest had the special. The plane was only about 25% full. And I was the only person on the Express Bus from the airport in Houston to downtown. Very strange. The bus brought me to the light rail and I took that to meet Nikki at a Chipotle for dinner near our hotel. By that time it was dark, so I didn't see much of downtown. The bus driver talked a lot about the mess from the recent Hurricane Ike and that the coastal towns like Galveston are still recovering.
I think this is my first time in Texas since 1985. I lived here for 3 years ('82-'85) and worked for Dallas and Austin Public Schools. My teaching license here is still valid but have no plans to use it again unless Nikki gets a job here someday. Tomorrow I plan to go to the convention center to see the exhibits and Nikki's talk and who knows what else.
