Travel Jitters

Sep 19 2009

Panamania -or- Panaphobia

Published by Llalan under Travel

Moon Handbook to Panama

I’m talking myself out of this with remarkable speed and brilliant rationalizations. It seemed like such a spectacular idea just a month ago: take a trip to somewhere exotic as a gift to myself for finishing grad school. This place would have to be relatively cheap, given the thousands of dollars in debt I now find myself in; this place must be warm to counter the frigid Boston winter; this place must not be covered in resorts or populated by be-cameraed and fanny-packed tourists; and this place must (preferably) have capybaras in its jungles. Panama seemed like the obvious choice.

So Panama it was. I bought the guide book, checked out plane fares (so cheap!), and began imagining what I could fit in my giant backpack. Then something slippery happened. The overly-anxious angel in my shirt pocket started whispering up things that will go wrong, that will ruin the trip.