StarwoodGuy: A week in Panama on a points run! Day 10 Dallas to Vancouver to Seattle

I was up early for a quick workout at the Element DFW before a quick shower. The hotel offers complimentary breakfast in the lobby from 6:30 am on and I had planned to take the complimentary shuttle bust at 7:00 am after breakfast, but it was fully booked, so I had to take the 6:30 am bus, so if you can, call and book in advance. Arriving at the terminal I went through the D gates PRE check and to the American Express Centurion Lounge. I had breakfast there and worked. My flight was scheduled to leave from D gates but was switched to A so I took the Skylink train over there.

My American Airlines 737-800 flight back to Vancouver was easy, I changed seats in the second row of Business to allow other passengers to sit together, the breakfast was good, and it was the same flight crew that I had on my way down. On arrival in Vancouver, the airport greets you with beautiful First Nations/Native American artwork. I was through the Nexus customs area in under a minute and I went right to the Fairmont Vancouver Airport hotel located right at the exit from Immigration. For $18.00 Canadian or around $15.00 US you get use of the gym, pool, hot tubs and the sauna and shower/change room. I stayed for around 3 hours before taking the Canada Line train for $9.00 Canadian downtown to the Waterfront station, then transferred to the Expo Line and got off right at Vancouver's Pacific Station. I had a quick snack there before clearing customs and Immigration and boarded the Cascades trip back to Seattle. We were a little delayed, arriving at 10:30 pm, so it was a 5 hour train trip in total, but the sunset views from the train were beautiful.

All in all it was an amazing trip, Panama was definitely not what I expected, with plenty to see both modern and historic. The American Airlines experience was overall very good, with great staff and good food. The small aircraft changes were a little annoying but pretty minor, and with the exception of one flight crew, they were some of the best and friendliest attendants I had seen domestically in years. As always the Starwood hotels often exceeded my expectations, with the only issue being the pool closures and no notification of this at two properties, but otherwise some great hotels, beautiful rooms and suites, and top notch staff.