Recently I've been thinking about doing a month in Panama and thought a fun thread would be for us to share tips on travel for those looking to go abroad (or stateside) next year. I'll share some stuff about Panama since that's the most recent foreign travel I've done but I'll post about Japan sometime soon here too.

Panama

Anyway, my family has a house in Panama so if anyone else wants to go for a week or two they could stay there for free. Tickets for January are going for around $300-400 so you could have a pretty damned good time for cheap. Lemme know if you're interested.

What to do there
*Tour the Panama Canal*
It's a pretty impressive piece of engineering but you can do the canal locks on the Pacific side in a couple of hours. There are tours where you can ride through them but I wouldn't recommend going that far.

*Beaches*
Plenty of really nice beaches in Panama and they're not going to be nearly as crowded as popular Caribbean or stateside beaches. Most of them are about 1 or more hours outside of Panama city. Some of the new beach resorts are really nice and are all-inclusive so you can really live it up on the cheap.

*Surfing*
There's good beaches on each coast for surfing but I don't surf so don't ask me which ones. All I know is that you can do it if that's your thing.

*Snorkeling/Scuba Diving*
This is the big thing I want to do when I'm out there next. Most of the good diving is on the Atlantic/Caribbean side of Panama so you'll have to spend a few days on that side to get some good diving in.

Isla Coiba (Pacific side) is one of the most famous places in Panama to dive because it has a lot of deep ocean fish congregating around it (including sharks). Spearfishing is really good there.

*Jungle/Eco/Bird-Watching Tours*
Panama has over 900 species of birds so even if bird-watching is not your specific goal you'll see a lot of amazing birds if you do a jungle tour. The Smithsonian has several research facilities around that you can visit and see a lot of wildlife.

I never did any of the jungle hikes while I was out there but suffice it to say there's a lot of ground to cover and a lot of crazy stuff to see (poison arrow frogs, monkeys, snakes, toucans, caimans, sloths).

*Whitewater Rafting/Kayaking*
The main river to go rafting or kayaking on is the Chagres, which includes some class 5 rapids. Sea kayaking in some areas is also fairly popular. There's an archipelago of islands on the Caribbean side that would probably be the best place for sea kayaking.

*Nightlife*
As you'd expect, in Panama City there's a good amount of nightlife, replete with cheap alcohol and hot women. Taxis are stupid cheap there ($5-10 can get you basically across the city) so no worries about getting to or from the venue.

Best time to go

By far I'd recommend going during dry season, which runs from about late December to March. In the dry season it literally may only rain once every 3 or 4 weeks and the ground cracks from being so dry. So every day is a clear day and you have a lot of breeze to keep you cool, making days at the beach perfect.

Getting there
There's a direct flight from Washington-Dulles via Copa Airlines that leaves at about 5 am and arrives 4-5 hours later. I took this flight last time and it was perfect. You get up early, get on the plane, sleep, wake up and you have a full day to enjoy. You also avoid the hassle of Miami International.

Otherwise, Continental and America are typically the cheapest carriers.

Getting around
Taxis and buses are an easy way to get around in Panama City, but be prepared. A lot of the buses are seriously from the 50's.

Regional flights to remote regions can save you a ton of time. Driving to places like Bocas del Toro (gorgeous archipelago) might take 8 hours but it's a one-hour prop plane ride. You can also take a chopper ride to some of the islands from near Panama City.

There's a train that crosses the isthmus but I'd almost say it's easier to drive. But...

If you drive...
The drivers in Panama are very aggressive. People will often pull out in front of you forcing you to slow down to let them join traffic. You pretty much have to do the same to get out of side streets. The speed limit isn't really enforced so you've gotta be careful about getting t-boned from a car you didn't even see coming.

I'll have to see if I can find some good pics to post. Post up your vacation spots if you've got 'em.

I just bought what will be a future donor for a Spec Miata. It has all I need now and later. No leather, but it has the torsen diff., cruise, Bose and wind deflector. It also has the spoiler package. I think it was the rare Sport edition that Mazda sold (no leather). I need some nice looking wheels for old 15" RA1s that I will not be able to use next year.

Whatchagot?

From RRW:

Freddie Spencer school shuts down, deposits not returned

Honda repos school bike fleet

And, from the Fast Freddie website:

Fast Freddie Wrote:Due to current economic conditions and drastically increasing costs, Freddie Spencer's High Performance Riding School has ceased operations for the time being. We intend to resume classes if and when that becomes viable. We want to thank all of our sponsors and students who have made this school a possibility.

Ok.

I never use this stuff. I've used it maybe 4 times since I've bought it.

What I've got is a basically new (set up and used a half dozen times) Motorola DCP501 receiver, a pair of JBL 800 bookshelf speakers, and a set of Sony satellite speakers (a center and 2 satellites) for the princely sum of $100 or best offer.

I know you guys are cheap bastards, so make me an offer and I'll consider it. This was a Jeff Approved® electronics price, but I'm flexible.

The receiver is pretty sweet. It sounds good, has a built-in DVD player, and if your cable company is not a total cockface, you can use this as a digital cable box, which is pretty flippin' sweet in and of itself.

The JBL 800 Bookshelfs are older, I will not lie, but they sound great, they aren't blown, and they weren't el-cheapo speakers when I bought them.

The sony satellites are a bit generic but they'll do the job.

I'm also including a pair of speaker stands I bought for the rl/rr speakers, they're from IKEA, and of course I have the manual, the original remote, the am and fm antennae, and a bunch of cables and wire. RCA, SVideo, TOSLINK, and a whole shit ton of speaker wire. If you want to set up a home theatre, this is everything you need but the subwoofer.

I'm selling it because I can't really set up a home theatre like I really want (see jeff's house and you'll know what I can't do because I live in an apartment) and I have better things I could tie my money up with.

Pictures:







PM me if you have any questions.

Price lowered to a benji or best offer?

Wheels off of my 94 R package with Falken Azenis mounted with about 1/3-1/2 tread remaining. Great trackday wheels/tires or STS2 autoX. Wheels have been painted gunmetal.
$250 OBO. Pickup in Falls Church please or meetup /delivery can be arranged

I need an m12x1.25 or whatever the thread pitch is on the flywheel bolts to the crank. Either VIP garage or Slowboy when they removed the flywheel bolts fucked up one of the threads in the crank, so I need this QUICKLY!! I Will pay, I will meet up, anything I need to buy or borrow this. You can call me at 703-674-9771, I am desperate as you can see, as ive been plagued with bullshit from this motor build and I just need this car DONE which I hope I can get done, barring any MORE bullshit that I see when getting this thing together.

So, is anyone interested in a wrench day anytime soon? I have a car jack and plenty of tools. If anyone wants to do an oil change, transmission flush, any regular maintenance or just tinker, post up, and we'll set a date. I actually need to fix a windshield washer fluid leak on my van right now, and we could make it a good time. If there is enough interest we'll set it up, and could possibly include some kind of grilled grub and beverages.

We need a 3rd roommate for our townhouse for next year

1101 Mt View (off Cantrell right beside Hardees)
3BR townhouse
Plenty of parking/wrenching space
**only 1/4 mile from campus** 10 minute walk to the quad/showker

Rent is $325 a person

We would like to have a fellow MMer live with us as we are both car guys. My roommate drives an Evo X and works full-time.

If anyone is interested please post up or PM me to come check out the place


Adam

Come to JMU for MM Alumni weekend November 15th and 16th!
On the 15th is the last regular season home football game...so we'll have a MM tailgate before the game, then that night we'll have a MM get together/cookout...then on Sunday we will be going karting at GForce!
This is a great time for the alumni to meet current students and vice versa!
Hope to see all the alumni and current students out there!
~MM Officers

Anyone on here playing it? I picked it up a few nights ago and am absolutely loving it. Sure there are issues with it, but they'll get improved on I'm sure.

It's a partial throwback to the SOCOM 2 days, except this version is 100% online, no single player mode at all.

They kept some of the classic maps, expanded on a few of the classic maps, and have added a few. I haven't played SOCOM in years so it's taking some getting used to, re-learning the maps, the controller configuration, as well as the gameplay.


Anyway if y'all are playing post up your PSN ID.

Drgnfiend is me.