Woke up and had my free breakfast once again, before heading over to the Rosita and saying goodbye to Doug and Ole. Just before checking out, I hit the roof top pool for one more chill down, then I packed my bags and Ubered out to the airport.
I had tried earlier to do the web check in, but for some reason Copa air wouldn’t let me do it, so at the airport I had to line up for the regular check in. The line moved well, until 2 groups before me, some dude is trying to bring a bin full of live crabs in his luggage. Lots of arguing back and forth, and then 15 minutes later he storms off with his little crab buddies and leaves his wife and kids at the counter to hold his spot while he’s gone. Another 10 minutes goes by and he returns with his live crabs now shrink wrapped. (Not sure how alive they are now). Somehow, this seems to be acceptable though, and after a large fee, the crabs get to fly. His time at the counter was well over 30 minutes. Next people in front of me maybe 30 seconds. I’m done in a minute too.
I cleared security in a breeze too and went off the find the lounge. Another awesome stop with free sandwiches, peanuts, drinks and football on the TV. I stayed upstairs by the bar, but the lower level was a nice, quiet area with couches and showers. Could easily nap there (and a few people were).
Now for my big mistake. A couple comes in to the lounge with their baby. Baby starts crying away. I text Carolyn, and in my new found “status” I comment on “why would they bring a baby into the VIP lounge”. She warns me that that crying baby could be on my plane. A few minutes later the lady says to her husband how nice and quiet it was downstairs, so they haul crying baby down to the nice. Quiet are where people are already sleeping… well, not anymore.
Boarding the plane, I settle in to my business class luxury. A few moments later, a flight attendant asks me to switch seats and I oblige, thinking it must be for good reason she asked. Turns out, it was a training flight and the 2 extra attendants want to sit together. Strike one for Andy.
The couple with the baby settle in to their seats across the aisle. Strike 2. Finally, the young dude who has the seat next to me approaches. Soaked in so much cologne that he smells like the perfume section of the Bay department store, I am gasping for air. Strike 3. Shouldn’t have brought up the baby.
I have a quick layover in Panama City. In 5 short years the airport has expanded from a run down, wreck of a place to a spectacular, giant mall like complex. Long walk to my connecting flight and on to Medellin.
This time, because I kept to myself and didn’t comment on anything, my flight was fantastic. Decent food, no baby, and the seat next to me was empty. I arrive in Medellin at 11pm and make my way through about an hour of customs. Chris lands about 40 minutes behind me, and goes through customs a little faster. We finally connect at the exits at a little after midnight. As Chris approached, his luggage makes an alarm chirp. He tells me that his motorcycle cable lock has somehow armed itself and is going off constantly. But he also zip tied his luggage for security and, since knives aren’t allowed on planes, didn’t have anything to cut it with. Not having much of a choice, we packed our bags in the Uber and laughed the entire 30 minute drive in to the city about the siren/alarm.
Arriving at our hotel, we unload and go to check in. Chris leaves his back outside and borrows scissors from the front desk, unpacks the alarm and disables it. At about this moment, he realizes that he has left his iPhone in the Uber, which has pulled away.
We finish checking in, and contact Uber hoping that his phone can be returned, but since you cant contact the driver directly, we are at their mercy.
Now, about 2 am, we settle in and try to sleep. Chris though, distraught about his phone, is kinda like what you would expect a young teenager to be without their phone.
Colombia Motorcycle Ride 