Off to Panama!
Panama Travelog #1
SJC Airport - Sat, 21 Dec 2024. 10pm.
We're leaving for Panama this evening. In a sense we've left already. We've left home. Though we're only ~10 miles away from home so far, at the airport in San Jose.
We arrived early at the airport this evening, just before 8pm for a flight that doesn't leave until 10:55. We allowed extra time to deal with passport checks (required before getting a boarding pass to Panama) and we wanted to make sure SJC didn't close up the TSA PreCheck line at 8pm or somesuch.
Well, they had kinda closed the PreCheck line by 8pm. We were shunted into one line with all passengers. We got pass cards that allowed us to walk through magnetometers with our shoes on instead of removing shoes and raising our arms in a surrender sign in the millimeter wave scanner. But bag scanner line was slow because of all the non-PreCheck customers having to strip things off and empty their pockets. If nothing else it was an interesting reminder of why PreCheck is worth it. I just wish it wasn't an aggravatingly slow reminder.
Once we got into the concourse I was happy we'd chosen to eat dinner at home. Most of the eateries in SJC Terminal A are walled off and undergoing reservation.
We've been sitting in the gate area, mostly bored, now for almost two hours. Hooray for laptops, handheld devices, and ubiquitous wifi/cell service otherwise this wait would be intolerable. By 2024 standards it'd be intolerable. Well, at least our aircraft is here already and it looks like we'll be able to board & leave on time.
SJC Airport - Sat, 21 Dec 2024. 10pm.
We're leaving for Panama this evening. In a sense we've left already. We've left home. Though we're only ~10 miles away from home so far, at the airport in San Jose.
We arrived early at the airport this evening, just before 8pm for a flight that doesn't leave until 10:55. We allowed extra time to deal with passport checks (required before getting a boarding pass to Panama) and we wanted to make sure SJC didn't close up the TSA PreCheck line at 8pm or somesuch.
Well, they had kinda closed the PreCheck line by 8pm. We were shunted into one line with all passengers. We got pass cards that allowed us to walk through magnetometers with our shoes on instead of removing shoes and raising our arms in a surrender sign in the millimeter wave scanner. But bag scanner line was slow because of all the non-PreCheck customers having to strip things off and empty their pockets. If nothing else it was an interesting reminder of why PreCheck is worth it. I just wish it wasn't an aggravatingly slow reminder.
Once we got into the concourse I was happy we'd chosen to eat dinner at home. Most of the eateries in SJC Terminal A are walled off and undergoing reservation.
We've been sitting in the gate area, mostly bored, now for almost two hours. Hooray for laptops, handheld devices, and ubiquitous wifi/cell service otherwise this wait would be intolerable. By 2024 standards it'd be intolerable. Well, at least our aircraft is here already and it looks like we'll be able to board & leave on time.