Panama Trip Part 1 - Airplanes and Airports

I don't really enjoy plane rides anymore. In the past, I wasn't bothered one bit about being so high up in the air. Now , it makes me kind of weak in the knees. I couldn't not be open with my fears though because I had to be strong for Sabi who was a bit nervous at first. As it turns out, I did ok on the plane. The take offs were a bit shaky for me but after the initial nervousness, I got over it. I did have one moment of stress somewhere over Mexico though. I was in line for the bathroom and happened to glance out of the window. We were WAY above the clouds and all I could see was blue sky. There was nothing natural to me about standing up that high in the sky and I almost lost it on the plane!

What I hated about the plane trip
All of the rude idiots who pushed their seats back on me during the trip. I was so squished and have bruised knees from being banged up by their chairs. I also hated the dude sittting across the aisle from me who for about 2 hours or so ate sunflower seeds and spit the shells into an empty coke bottle. GROSS!

Flight Attendant Observations:
Oakland to Houston - 1 man and 3 women all young, chipper and cute in their 20's or so.
Houston to Panama - 2 men and 2 women, athletic looking and in their 30's.
Panama to Houston - 4 men in their 30's. They provided the BEST service of all.
(Oh yeah, they were cuties!)
Houston to Panama - 3 women. 3 large, loud and none under 45 years age. NO JOKE. They were cracking me up with comments like "Thank you for flying Continental, if Oakland is not your final destination, it is NOW!" (as we
were taking off) These ladies didn't mess around either. They snapped at
people who didn't put thier seats or trays up on time etc. (I was a bit scared of them!)

Here is a list of some observations Sabi and I made about the airplane rides and airports.

1) Sabina REALLY thought that it was cool that Pizza Hut is in the Oakland airport and that they serve cinnamon rolls at 5:30 am.

2) We learned that you might not want to bring your bottled water into the bathroom stall with you as it might fall in the toilet and ruin your desire to finish up what is left in the bottle.

3) It is better to just sit and wait for your plane seat to be called when boarding a plane than hovering around the line. (especially if you have heavy backpacks!)

4) Planes that don't show movies are boring. (flight from Oakland to Houston)

5) Planes that show boring movies are boring too! (flight from Houston to Panama)

6) Planes that show 2 movies are VERY cool. (Houston to Oakland - Ice Age 2 and The Pink Panther!)

7) Plane food is hit or miss.

8) We don't recommend that you play card games such as Skip-Bo or Uno on the plane. It is too messy as there is not enough space to spread out. The people behind you might not enjoy retrieving your cards either!

9) If you bring a portable DVD player, make sure to plug in your headphones before you turn it on. Other people may not like it.

10) If you get bored waiting in the airport, take funny pictures of yourself to make the wait go faster.

11) There are too many lines and stops to get through customs.

12) Not everyone in Texas (Houston) says "y'all" (Sabina was REALLY sure that all Texans spoke with accents!) :-)

13) The best landing is the last one when you are back home.