Beach Hopping in Bocas del Toro, Panama

Okay, enough with the city parts of Panama that you read here and here in my first posts about Panama City and on to the real reason you visit...the rainforest and the beach!  Since there are not many resorts in Bocas del Toro, every single beach in the islands is still lined by plush rainforest.  The scenery is stunning and truly unlike anything I've ever seen in my travels!  

What makes the beaches of Bocas del Toro even better is that they each give off their own vibe so that no two days of the trip are exactly the same...Cayo Zapatilla was the most remote and serene, Red Frog Beach had massive waves and some funky beachside restaurants and Playa de las Estrellas, clad with hundreds of starfish, was a pure daydream.  Can you just take me back already?

Panama, Part 2: Panama City & Bocas Del Toro

Good Morning.

After a delightful, much-needed slumber in the ultra-plush sheets of the Hard Rock Megapolis Hotel, we were ready to explore Panama City for a few hours before our flight to Bocas del Toro.  You know me, always up before sunrise...Howie thinks I'm a freak of nature.  Maybe I am.  But hey, rolling over in bed and seeing first light behind the skyscrapers and distant mountains is any architects fantasy.  And did I mention we got upgraded to a suite??  Thanks Hard Rock, you rock! Now on to Day 2 of our adventure!  Let's just say we were beyond thrilled to see the sun shining after being in a permanent splash zone the day before!

No Place Like Home...Panama, Part 1: Panama City

Howie and I officially scratched Central America off of our travel bucket list last week during a wild and adventurous trip to Panama.  After having the opportunity to visit a cosmopolitan finance capital, a quiet beach town, the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, the rainforest and a gorgeous Spanish Colonial Old Town - all in a single trip - I can most certainly promise that this won't be my last time visiting Central America.  There's no doubt in my mind that the most spectacular part about traveling to Panama was that it still felt like a secret.  I was at some of the most astonishingly beautiful places I had ever been in my life, but knew that only a handful of other people had laid eyes on the landscape or stepped on the terrain.

Welcome to Panama, the "land of 1,000 fishes"...and perpetual bad hair days.

How to Find Cheap Flights to Exotic Places

Cayos Zapatilla, Bocas del Toro, Panama

Howie and I are getting so excited for our big adventure to Panama on Sunday!  One of the first questions people ask when I tell them where we're going is, "What made you choose Panama?"  Hmmmm, hard to say.  It might be that we're too hipster for mainstream Costa Rica...or that we couldn't decide whether we wanted to see the Caribbean, the Pacific, the rainforest, a cosmopolitan international finance capital or a European style old town (seriously though, I'm SO excited)...or that I found an absolutely amazing price for our flight on The Flight Deal, a website that is almost too good to be true.

Trending on NPLH, No. 1

A few of my (currently) favorite things:

1. "Cecilia and the Satellite" by Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness >> Remember those days you spent baking in the sun at the Warped Tour in the early to mid-2000s?  Yeah, me too.  Anyway, the lead singer of Jack's Mannequin has gone solo and his music couldn't be better. Listen!

2. Outfit Goals >> Seriously, who looks this good while biking?  Just an FYI, Julia Engel of Gal Meets Glam is my favorite fashion blogger because of her classic looks that are totally my style.  Unfortunately, they've slowly but surely gone out of my price range as her fame has grown.

3. The Incredibly Simple Guide to Getting Totally Free Flights and Hotels >> In case you didn't know, I have a permanent travel bug that won't go away no matter how many weekend trips I take (which are all the time).  So Howie and I booked an exotic trip to Panama City and Bocas del Toro in September, more on that later.  But I'm thinking I need to invest in an airline credit card soon so I can get at least 1 or 2 domestic flights for free each year.  Here's how.

4. Origins GinZing Refreshing Eye Cream >> I really don't sleep that much, especially in the summer.  And also especially because I've been fighting insomnia this year (a battle I'm winning, might I add).  But this eye cream does wonders for dark circles.  No joke.  Invest now.

5. Breakfast Hash with Kale, Squash and Peppers >> I'm going to be brunchin' with this over the weekend, for sure.  And it's healthy?  Yes please.

6. Where Are the Jobs? >> So this is the total architecture/urban design nerd in me coming out, but I think it's fascinating to study where different types of jobs are located to better address the infrastructure, retail and activity needs of the area.  Find your town on the interactive map!