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.

Welcome to New York

As many of you know, I absolutely love travel in any shape or form.  I'm not sure if it's a last ditch effort to see as much of the world as I can before I eventually have to get responsible and settle down one day, or if I have an innate travel bug that will probably never disappear completely.  Either way, seeing the world  makes me feel creatively, physically and emotionally inspired, so I take advantage of as many trips each year as I can, big or small.

For these reasons, I decided to launch a travel section for No Place Like (O)Home.  Even though I absolutely adore my hometown of Cleveland, OH, there is a whole world out there for me to explore, and in turn, share with you.  To be honest, I have no idea what type of content I'll be regularly posting in this section - it's sort of like this past spring when I found a $400 round trip ticket to Panama and bought it on a whim without a game plan.  I have a tendency to dive into things head first and never look back.  But that itinerary is looking amazing, so I'm crossing fingers that this travel section will be equally successful.  Looks like a glimpse into my trip to Manhattan through photos will be the first topic...

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!