Visit Panama This Summer, 2007

Panama is a remarkable country that, in many ways, rivals the U.S. for privacy and security. In face, quite a few ex-patriots have made it their home for these and a host of other reasons. It also has a wonderful climate, with mountains in the central region and two coasts on both the Caribbean and the Pacific. The dollar is used as currency and property ownership by U.S. citizens is not difficult to manage. There is presently a building boom, and dozens of gated communities have been created, with safety measures and beautiful amenities. Food and the basic necessities are no problem here as there are plenty of shops and stores. Nor is the cost prohibitive. In fact many meals and other things in Panama will be surprisingly inexpensive when compared to their equivalents in the U.S. Maid service is amazingly cheap here as well. Most of the people speak at least broken English, while bankers and service people in Panama City all speak good, even excellent English.

Traveling by air to Panama is not going to be any cheaper if you wait. It will get a lot more expensive, in fact, so make plans, then make reservations for airfare and hotels this spring--the sooner the better. Travelocity, cheap tickets, and priceline.com are good places to start. Kayak.com and sidestep.com are also places on the web where information about cheap tickets is scooped up from all over the web and disseminated on their search engines. Travelzoo.com is another site that gleans information from all the other online travel sites and delivers it to you. Make sure that once the ticket is purchased you've read all the restrictions and rules and print out everything, then keep it all filed together in a safe place.

Online, it's possible now to hunt for hotels and accommodations once the ticket is purchased. Be very, very careful to make sure that you have confirmations in writing and some sort of assurance that your reservation and room rates will be honored. Priceline.com often bundles hotels and airline flights in a package that they say will save money for patrons but these days don't take anyone's word for anything. Check their deals against others. If, for instance, you find a deal on hotels.com that will give a much cheaper room rate for the same scheduled stay as priceline.com, you can bargain with priceline.com, I believe. There are any number of ways to do this. Also try the major hotel chains directly to check rates and availability--places like Hampton Inns or Sheridan or any other hotel chains that have a presence internationally.

Another web site that should be saved in all travel-lovers' favorites is escapeartist.com. They have tons of information about the Caribbean, about relocation, and specifically about travel to and from many countries. They have a marvelous house swap link where people from all over the world put ads for swapping their homes with others for a limited stay. It's really worth checking out. It you are in a desirable area, then it may be that arrangements can be made which will suit a contact and you. I'm in Memphis and know that people come from all over to see Graceland and all the Beale St. stuff. I would have a good chance of getting a trade with someone for this reason. But even people out in the country can have success here, because a free stay for a week in the country would save overseas vacationers thousands of dollars when rental, service fees, tips and taxes are all added into the cost of a hotel stay for a week or more. The main web site also has a link for vacation rentals worldwide. Some of these are homes regularly rented out. My search for rentals in Panama turned up 15 rentals available. The properties were wonderful looking, but see what you find.

Finally, go to the find-our-community web site I've included to read all about Panama from all sorts of sources (both from official government sites and others) about the weather, government, tourism information and news. It will be an invaluable resource in any decision about whether to travel there and what to expect when arriving. They even have maps and links for different regions and their features. This site is also worth saving permanently to refer to about any travel plans you may have coming up in the future.