Darci's blog

Welcome to my adventures. Happy reading!

To Go or Not To Go

Is that even a question?? Well, yes, sometimes it is. Here’s the backstory: September 6, 2020 I received an alert from Scott’s Cheap Flights that a plane ticket from DEN to Nairobi (yes, Africa…Kenya to be exact) was $490 round-trip, on United. Yep – sign me UP!! Of course, I just had to check it out and then I started playing around with dates, and what ifs – what if I did an open-jaw ticket (fly into Nairobi and fly out of Dar es Saalam…Tanzania, or Uganda, or Zimbabwe – the possibilities were endless.) I read-up on travel restrictions related to Covid and quickly decided I’d stick with Kenya and maybe Tanzania. Then, I thought about dates and checked the plane tickets I had with United for trips that were canceled. One of the tickets was for $650, and coincidentally that was the price for an open-jaw in July 2021. Doing a bit more researching, I narrowed down the flights I preferred, booked a stop-over stay in Zurich for 2 nights, and used that ticket for not a single penny more. It’s weird how somethings work out.

I reached out to some traveling friends to gauge their interest, but let’s be real – I WILL go by myself and I enjoy solo travel. I’d prefer to share this amazing experience with someone who desires to go here and can participate in the planning. One of my friends did, and she booked her ticket too. Same itinerary & schedule. Plane ticket booked, travel buddy secured, now to the planning. There’s nothing I love more aside from traveling than planning said travel. And boy do I love planning – spreadsheets, PowerPoints – I am ALL in on research and options. I set about the planning process with my friend and she shared her input… we made a tentative itinerary, but didn’t book anything non-refundable because these questions still remained: would we even be able to go? Will anything be open? Will we get vaccinated by then?

Fast-forward to January 2021 – vaccines are on the horizon (I got mine in Feb.), but Europe is still closed to US citizens, and that includes Zurich. United ended up canceling that portion of the flight, so I called the 1K desk to rebook through Frankfurt. That was easy enough, but my friend decided she no longer wished to go and canceled her ticket, getting a refund. Fine with me – it was full-speed ahead on planning.

Now it’s May and 2/3 of the trip is booked, including the non-refundable portions of the safari lodges. I’ve scheduled my yellow fever vaccination and appointment to secure my malaria pills. Things are rolling along but it feels like something is missing. I’m excited yet a bit perplexed by that “missing” feeling.

I’m questioning do I go? Do I not go? Of course I’ll go! But???

What happened to your legs???!!!

Panama, that’s what. Day 1 of Panama was blissful – hanging poolside, walking on the beach, catching sunrise and sunset from our balcony overlooking said pool & beach – idyllic. Then, Day 2 the nightmare of chitra bites began. For whatever reason my body thinks it needs to overreact to the bites of insects and it really doesn’t like these tiny fly bites. Instantly I was transported back to my 2004 trip to Costa Rica — same bugs, same bites, same miserable experience. But I completely forgot about that until Panama. Despite spraying myself with Deep Woods Off bug spray, wearing citronella bracelets/anklets, and not being on the beach past sundown… those suckers managed to attack my legs and arms. Luckily the pharmacy had a large bottle of clear calamine and allergy pills to calm my skin. I also bought 50% DEET spray and fogged the hotel room. Despite my best efforts, the bug bites & scars have lasted a few weeks post-vacation. Guess Panama is not where I will be retiring… yikes.

International Travel During Covid

Several friends have reached out to me asking about international travel during Covid. I read online forums and belong to travel groups on FB… so, I had a good grasp on travel requirements and what to expect. Here’s how it went down for our trip to get into Panama. I’ll update how (or if) we got home.

48 hours before arrival into Panama (so that’s Panama time) and no sooner – we had to get a Covid PCR test (antigen tests were not accepted and it did not matter that we were vaccinated.) So, that’s a bit tricky as my go-to location (local urgent care) was not open nor could they guarantee we’d have results before our flight departed the Denver airport. So, we found a service that comes to your house, conducts the test, and ensures results within 30 hours (thanks to the United 1K group on FB.) The nurse arrived at our home at 8PM on Saturday and we had our results by 2PM Sunday – plenty of time before our 5AM flight Monday. Those were printed out as advised by the Panama travel guidelines. (As an update, Panama now accepts antigen tests!)

Checking in for our flight – despite the itinerary (DEN –> IAH –> PTY) we could not check-in on the app or online. We had to check-in at DEN because the agent had to check our Covid test results. My husband found this confounding as he figured it only mattered for the international portion of our itinerary, but I had researched otherwise, particularly since our bags are checked through to Panama.

At IAH – we had to check-in with the gate agent, who verified our test results and asked for proof that we completed the entry form that Panama requires – we had print outs and screenshots of the entry form, but the gate agent barely glanced at it.

Upon arrival in Panama, we proceeded to immigration/customs, showed our test results to officials, and then queued up for immigration – which was a breeze (no questions, review of forms, or anything.)

Then we collected our baggage, went through customs, grabbed our rental car and were on our way.

Up, Up, & Away!

It’s true… finally 14 months after our last international trip… we are on the plane, on our way to Panama!!! YAY!! I cannot wait!

Peru – rebooked!

Today is such a happy day – we re-booked our girls trip to Peru! Well the flights at least…but YAY! We have 3 options for traveling throughout the country. So, we’ll select those and start booking hotels and transportation. This is going to be epic!!!