The trip that almost wasn't

June 23, 2010

Getting Ready for the Flight

Months of planning and packing and buying supplies came down to 20 minutes of trying to get 4 checked bags all under 50 lbs. If our bags would have weighed 1 pound over then we would have had to pay $50 per flight for an over-sized bag. No matter how much we tried and maneuvered and tossed items out we couldn't get the 4 bags to all come in under weight. Finally after deciding we could live without some of our supplies we were there! All 4 bags were under the requirements. Taking one final look around we realized we had forgotten our shoes! We gave up and decided to take a 5th small bag as a carry on that would contain our shoes.

Kansas City International Airport

Despite my worries we managed to get to the airport with plenty of time for the security and parking and having our bags checked. Yet, I decided to cut the goodbye with my parents short so that Michelle and I could get through the last security check before boarding the flight. 

Even with a delay at the security check we still had plenty of time before our flight. We sat down and waited for boarding to begin. Soon they started calling for our flight to board. First the priority passengers, then the ones with small children, first class and so on. We were in Group 6 for boarding, they called Groups 1-5 then there were no more announcements. We figured they were having issues with something and were delayed calling group 6. Next thing we hear them call a name and then Evans. We started walking toward the gate but Michelle thought they were not talking about us. But they were, they had just taken us off the flight list because we had not boarded! They quickly got us new boarding passes and had us run down to catch the plane. We were the very last people to board the plane.

Dallas/Ft Lauderdale/Panama City

The rest of the flights and customs were very uneventful. Leaving the US in Ft Lauderdale took like 20 minutes.  Apparently they don't care much when you are leaving the country. In Panama the process was very quick and easy, apparently they changed the law so now we can stay as tourist for 6 months at a time instead of 3.

24 June 2010 (Panama way to do dates) 2:00 am we are in Panama