We finished packing our bags, took them to the reception area and then went to have our last breakfast aboard Silver Explorer. We said our goodbyes to many of the other passengers who were either staying on the ship for the next cruise down to Lima, or were ending the cruise like us and heading home.
We left the ship at 7.30am and waited on the quay for the taxi that we had pre-arranged to take us to the airport. After about twenty minutes, we discovered it was being held outside the port gates and so we were driven to the taxi by one of the port employees, in his own car.
The drive to Juan Santamaria airport, San Jose, was almost exactly an hour along a reasonable highway. We drove through lovely green countryside with rolling wooded hills. We didn't manage to take many photos from the back of the taxi, but this one of a church tower against the clouds, I rather liked.
We reached the airport at 9am, three hours before our American Airlines flight, first to Miami and then on to Los Angeles. We met several of the other cruise passengers, who were also flying to Miami. The plane left on time and we reached Miami after a flight of just over two and a half hours.
We then had the nightmare of clearing US Immigration, which took us nearly an hour. When we were finally through, we had to collect our bags and check in for our flight to Los Angeles.The flight lasted a little over five hours and we arrived at 10.15pm. Edward and Kate were there to pick us up and we got to our house at about 11.30pm.
We now have a week in Malibu before we return to London. It's been a great trip and I am really pleased that I have been able to 'tick the box' of going through the Panama Canal, truly one of Man's great civil engineering achievements.
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