Dan and I spent a long weekend in Montreal, as we do almost every year, last May, but this May, our friends joined us from Virginia for a memorable birthday weekend! We had a wonderful time and great weather, enjoying fantastic meals, tasty drinks, and a bit of relaxation. This post details our 4-day itinerary for those looking for a Montreal itinerary focused on great food and drinks.
Montreal!
I have visited a The Lounge lounge a couple of times at San Juan Puerto Rico’s Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport. It’s not my favorite lounge. I was very surprised, and not at all excited, to find another The Lounge location when flying out of Panama Tocumen International earlier this year (after spending a lovely week in Panama). And I was even more surprised when writing this post that The Lounge is actually quite a large brand! The Lounge at PTY was a bit better than that in San Juan, and it was a decent spot to waste time before our flight back to the US. This post reviews The Lounge at PTY, Terminal 2 (there is also a The Lounge location in Terminal 1 at PTY, but I did not visit it). In sum, it was perfectly fine, but I would not arrive early to use the lounge.
Leaving Panama City en route to the airport. Unit next time, Panama!
The Lounge in Terminal 2 is located on the third floor of Terminal 2 in the Panama Tocumen International airport. Located post-security, flyers walk to door 204 and take the escalator to the 3rd floor. It’s not difficult to find. It is also not very far from the Copa Club, which we visited just before The Lounge (and only left the Copa Club because it closed for the evening).
Entrance to The Lounge at PTY Terminal 2.
On my visit to Panama City, Panama earlier this year, I spent an afternoon at the Panama Canal, which I was incredibly excited about. Specifically, the Miraflores Visitor Center. This post explains how you can visit the Panama Canal from Panama City.
The Panama Canal – you can see the locks closing.
Dan and I flew from New York’s JFK airport to Athens, Greece last month for a 10-day summer getaway (which I will be writing about soon). We arrived at the airport early in the hopes of visiting a lounge and we were super lucky – the JFK Capital One Lounge had just opened with in the week! Of course, we had to visit this brand new lounge. In sum, the JFK Capital One Lounge is a fantastic lounge, currently the best of the credit card lounges at JFK. The staff was attentive and nice, the food was plentiful and tasty, and the drinks were flowing and well-prepared. The lounge also screamed New York City and was just really fun to visit. Don’t miss it on your next visit to JFK Terminal 4!
The lovely bar in the JKF Capital One Lounge.
The JFK Capital One Lounge is located inside JFK Terminal 4, past security. Once you clear security, go downstairs and take a right (with your back toward security). The Capital One Lounge is located in the midst of numerous shopping outlets toward the B Gates, generally across from Le Grand Comptoir (a decent outlet if you lack lounge access). The lounge is very easy to find, although its not near most of the other JFK Terminal 4 credit card lounges (which are on the first floor to the left of security).
The brand new JFK Capital One Lounge entrance!
After spending Hogmanay in Edinburgh last year, we spent New Year’s Day and January 2nd (also a holiday in Scotland!) in Glasgow, Scotland. And while Glasgow may have somewhat of a “rough reputation”, especially compared to other Scottish destinations, we spent two nights here because (1) we needed to take the train from Glasgow to London to catch our flight home, (2) many things are closed in Scotland on January 2nd (in addition to the 1st!), and (3) our friend’s grandparents met in Glasgow, so he wanted to see a bit of the city. Glasgow surprised me in a good way in that it had much more to offer than I expected, and I wish that we’d had a more time (or more normal time when things weren’t closed for Hogmanay) to explore the city. This post highlights my favorite things that we did in Glasgow, in no particular order. It, however, excludes our a wonderful food tour that we took, which you can read about here!
The most interesting thing that I learned about Glasgow is that there is a very strong Irish presence there. In fact, I learned that my friend’s Irish grandparents met in Glasgow, despite being from Ireland (and no, not Northern Ireland), and we were in town for the show down between the local Celtics (Catholic/Irish) football team and the local Rangers (Protestant/Unionist) football team. That match was a big deal, with lots of police out and about to deter the inevitable bar fights. And, we visited an authentic Irish pub called Kitty O’Shea’s, which is right next to Glasgow Central station. Kitty O’Sheas is extremely Irish, and it pours a delicious Guinness. Our waitress was even from Ireland and provided some more background on Irish influence and culture in Glasgow. Super fascinating.
Kitty O’Shea’s Irish pub.
A great Guinness pour at Kitty O’Shea’s.
Lots of Irish snugs in Kitty O’Shea’s. Just like Ireland. This one was pretty funny.
Irish fans outside a pub watching football match.
Another fun thing about Glasgow is its infamous Duke of Wellington statute. The Duke of Wellington is a statute of the First Duke of Wellington on a horse outside Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art. Since the 1980s, the Duke always finds himself with an orange traffic cone on his head, compliments on drunk passers-by. The Duke is unofficially the mascot of Glasgow. You can find him on magnets, t-shirts, etc., LOL.
The Duke of Ellington, himself.
