11/08/2026
Los Angeles to Buenos Aires—with a day exploring San Blas along the way.
A few weeks ago, a family planned their international itinerary around a 16-hour connection in Panama for a very specific reason. They wanted to experience San Blas without making a separate round-trip journey from Los Angeles just to visit Panama.
Their flight from LAX arrived at Tocumen International Airport at 6:30 a.m. Their onward flight to Buenos Aires was scheduled for 10:30 that evening.
That gave me quite a few moving pieces to coordinate.
I arranged a helicopter flight from Panama City to San Blas, followed by a private boat and Guna Yala guide for exploring the islands. They returned aboard a Kodiak aircraft from another small island airstrip, with time for showers, a change of clothes and dinner at a city hotel before heading back to Tocumen.
Behind the scenes were two aircraft, several ground movements, a private boat and guide, luggage management and careful coordination around two international flights. I also prepared a small day pack for each guest with a beach towel, snacks, water, sunscreen and a waterproof phone pouch.
Instead of adding another international trip to their travel plans, they transformed a carefully scheduled connection into a private San Blas expedition.
This is the kind of complex, highly personalized journey I love bringing together. In this case the journey between two flights becasme the most memorable part of their trip.
