Princess
Panama Canal Cruise
Jan 23 - Feb 6 2013
This travel adventure started with a flight to LAX from
YOW. Sounds pretty simple - right. We it wasn't as simple as it could have been
due to simple but explainable circumstances.
Having access to reduced rates of travel by way of our daughter's
profession is a wonderful benefit for sure.
As a result we had booked our flight from YOW/LAX about 3 days before we
left. It was an early morning flight
that would get us into LA at about 1 PM.
That would allow us a day and a half to roam about the LA area and wind
down before we embarked on our cruise on Wednesday Jan 23. Great plan.....
In reality, after the fact it turned out to be a pretty full
day of travel with some stress associated with extra airports and the concern
of availability of seats as standby employee parents. The change in plan was self- induced as the
day before as I actually screwed up on Sunday when I photocopied our passports and
placed the copies in a convenient place for Tara-Lee should she need
them. I simply forgot to put the passports in their “spot” in my knapsack
and we set off for a very busy day in Ottawa on Sunday. At the airport at
4:15 am this day I discovered this and we arranged for a later flight so I
could take a taxi to the condo, drive to Lake Bernard, pick up the passports
(and a couple of things we had discovered that we had forgotten but believed
were “purchasable”), drive back to the condo, taxi to airport and then talk to
the folks at the check-in once again. I had noticed that we could
re-route earlier through Vancouver but that required me contacting ticketing
and making arrangements for any extra charges before I could check-in.
There were waits for service but we finally got that done and confirmed the $4
difference in the tickets. So we went to YOW/ YYZ/YVR/LAX and we got
there 5 hours later than we planned. This made for a long day and several
hours of self flagellation for being such an idiot. However, we did manage to get to the LAX on
schedule according to the flights even with a delay in YOW of an hour and a
further delay in YOW. The flight from
YVR was on time and we made it regardless of the other delays in the system.
Upon arrival in LA we gathered our bags and boarded the bus
to the car rental. I am always impressed
by the size of LAX and the numbers that actually move through the airport each
day. Somehow they accommodate the huge
flock of travelers and discharge their duties without fuss. At the Avis stall we were identified as being
in slot Y02 so we ventured out to that area only to be presented with a bunch
of high end vehicles - which I had not ordered - so we inquired and Avis had
chosen to upgrade us to a new Charger with a HEMI and very masculine throaty
exhaust that made one feel the need to get to a drag strip. Once acclimatized we drove the very short
distance to our Marriott hotel for the night.
It was the airport Marriott so it was busy all the time with business
travelers and convention types. One
company had 600 people in for a sales conference. We settled into our room and then went
downstairs for a beer and some sports bar fare to bring the day to an end. We ended up having wings and tenders with a
beer and wine. It was perfect after a
long day of travel and sitting about on airplanes.
Tuesday, Jan 22 - LA
- Day 2
Early in the day I managed to wander to the lobby for a
Starbucks and some computer time. I had
a backlog of business related things in my e-mail that have been nagging at
me. These were all simple things that
required follow-up of various natures but they were, at that time, undone. I poked about with that until Freddi joined
me a couple of hours later. We had a
nice breakfast in the hotel and then ventured out to the big city. Freddi had plotted a course in the bar the
evening before so I was equipped with my instructions - "just
drive". I was Ok with that and off
we went to visit Venice Beach as the day started there. It is a unique place in the world where the
homeless and beggars and the rich folks all seem to work in harmony and they
basically leave each other alone. Our
initial encounter was a load disagreement between a couple of tough black
ladies, one on a bicycle and the other walking as they hurled insults and
serious name calling about something that had happened. The bike lady was clearly in the lead role as
she had two bike safety guard guys with her all the while. I finally pulled myself away from the
spectacle only to ahve to catch up to Freddi who abandoned the voyeuristic
aspects on my behaviour pretty quickly.
As we walked the promenade, the shops and vendor stations
were in various degrees of opening up.
Some of the vendors were polite and said good morning and others ignored
everybody altogether. Some were funny
and joyous as they tried to secure funding for their daily food intake and some
were very serious. In the centre area
there was a spot where a good deal of these folks had placed their belongings
for some sort of group safety while they went about their business. Nearby was a wonderfully bright homeless lady
who encouraged us to take her picture because she and her do were feeling
particularly beautiful that day. She
made the comment that she does not have a camera herself but is happy to be in
the albums of many families across the country.
 |
| Just plain happy! |
We then took to the Freeway and I learned a bit about the
power and handling of this rental vehicle.
Very nice highway car and I had to be careful about acceleration as it
was a specialty of the vehicle. We drove
well south to Corona del Mar and then turned off to Hwy 1 along the coast. We continued south to Laguna Beach where we
parked for a period to seek out food and do some shopping on the main
streets. We sat in a small restaurant
overlooking the beach area that I frequented some 40 years before on a daily
basis. With some non-descript food in
our bellies, we walked the streets and picked up some small things to wear or
remind us of Laguna. Once we were tired of that walking we returned to the car
to head north on Hwy 1 back to our hotel.
 |
| Lunch in Laguna |
On the way we went through areas where all of the cars were
somewhere between BMW's and
Ferraris and all with single drivers in
them to an area farther north where all of the vehicles were beat up GM
products or old Toyota Corollas grinding out their last few miles. That is the difference between Newport Beach
and Long Beach. Once beyond Long Beach
we found a Ralph's to buy some wine for the ship and of course there was
factory outlet that welcomed Freddi as she purchased some designer clothes and
shoes of course. From there we continued
north to get to the hotel in a rather
circuitous route.
Once back in the hotel we went for a drink in the Sports Bar
and then to JRs Steakhouse for dinner.
There we met a very gregarious waiter who introduced us to their
selection of fine beef and a fine selection of wine. We enjoyed a good meal and each had a glass
of our selected wines before we retired for the night.
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