10,000 Miles Later
Posted by Pixelpat on Aug 13, 2008
10,000 Miles Later……
It is probably more than that, but I’ll settle on 10,000 as it’s a nice even number.
First we drove through the USA and put 6,000 miles on our 1971 Monte Carlo.
What surprised us was that the Monte got a lot of attention and appreciation. The central states have snow in the winter and after the salt does its job on the vehicles, there just are not that many Monte Carlos in great condition. Over and over we heard comments of how people liked the vehicle.
Well, just a few observations this time….. as I’m a little pressed for time.
The Tica Bus:
On August 1st, we arrived in Panama City and needed to make our way to Costa Rica for an appointment. We thought we would catch a bus to David but after seeing the line up at the station for the ticket purchase, we lost hope of leaving anytime soon. It was soooo long! However there was no line up for the Tica Bus…. and we decided to give it a go. The thought of a 15 hour bus ride was not that thrilling but getting to Costa Rica in time was important to us.
We were pleasantly surprised. The bus was quite comfortable and the service was excellent. Initially we received a fruit drink and a snack once we set out on our journey. At lunch and dinner we received a warm meal and pop or coffee or tea. We got more to eat on the bus than we did on our flights to Panama City!
The ticket was $35.00 one way, all the food included.
The border crossing into Costa Rica took 2 hours- an hour on the Panamanian side and an hour on the Costa Rican side. I guess that is not unusual if there is a bus load of people to deal with.
There is a washroom on board, but bring your own TP- there may or may not be any on board. Also when you select your seat, don’t pick one too close the back. It can get a bit smelly back there or worse.
Payless Car Rental:
We have always had good service with Payless Car Rental and have had no reason to switch companies. This time, because I had no time to book ahead I was expecting to have to pay more than before. I checked all my usual discount suppliers but when I compared the price to the Payless website, the Payless website offered the best deal after we signed up for their perks program.
We discovered we paid even less by picking the car up in town, rather than at the airport. Apparently there was an approximately $40.00 dollar airport tax we managed to avoid! Definitely something I will keep in mind for the future.
Wireless Internet:
Wireless Internet is more prevalent than before, but not available at all the lodging locations. If you want a budget hotel, you might have to use an internet cafe, or wait until you have access to wireless. Even if there is wireless, they might not know how to make it work for you. Such is my experience at present. I will post this entry at my earliest convenience…….perhaps mañana?
