Panama

Last night was the trickiest flying situation I've been in. I arrived at Phoenix airport to check in for my 23:55 flight to JFK, only to find that my name wasn't on the passenger list. The tickets for my flights had been booked by the university that I'm visiting, and I was told by the check-in staff to contact them - at 01:00 their time! I soon decided that I needed to buy my own ticket, but couldn't get one for the flight I was due to take, and couldn't get to JFK in the morning in time for my second flight - and I wasn't on the list for that anyway. So I spent £440 on a ticket to travel today, and told my hosts. 

Hence I had four hours of sleep back in the apartment I'd rented in Phoenix, thankful again that I'd booked the extra night before knowing of the travel arrangements for my next journey. 

Up at 04:00, I picked my way past the street sleepers and headed off to the airport. Before getting the bus, I passed this (over 40m high) "installation" that looks odd in daylight, but rather cool at night. 

A 07:00 flight to Houston, led to a 15:00 flight to Panama City, with a gradual increase in the Spanish atmosphere of my surroundings. Indeed, in ordering my meal here, I've made use of some of the few Spanish phrases that I know!

In a hour I have my third flight of the day. I don't think I've ever done this before, and it's not been fun, but I've saved a bit of CO2 by not going in two hops via JFK