We left the hotel early to catch the flight to Madrid and then JFK to spend the next week with Dan's family before going back home. There were a few tense moments trying to make our tight connection in Madrid, but we ended up on time with reasonably good seats. The flight had more bumps that usual, and it rained when we drove to Dan's house, but it was otherwise uneventful AND our luggage arrived with us. After the delay getting it Bilbao with another short connection on the same airline, I had no faith that it would arrive with us this time.
The only blot on the day was the horrendous time to get through passport control. Apparently 4 or 5 flights landed about the same time and there were only 15 electronic kiosks available for hundreds of US citizens and legal residents. It took at least 45 minutes to get our turn at the kiosk and lots of folks, presumably with tight connections, were led to the front ahead of us. It was very disappointing compared to our experiences in every other international airport except Johannesburg, where we waited over an hour each time.
The drive out of JFK was slow and the initial part was confusing -- I think I made the same navigational mistake two years ago, the first time we flew into JFK and drove to New Jersey. Now we get to enjoy the kids and grandkids for a week before heading home.
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