NOTE -> This trip occurred pre-COVID-19 and feels like 100 years ago

The alarms went off early and we we got right up to do the last minute packing and preparation for the trip home. The boys were reluctant to get up but it wasn’t too much of a struggle. They were excited to get home, too.

Checking Out

We gathered our luggage and double checked we had everything before heading down to checkout. The checkout process took longer than expected because for some reason they had a different credit card than expected. It was a card that didn’t match any one I had. We quickly updated it to my World of Hyatt Visa that I used when I checked in and that seemed to do the trick. Checking over the bill, things looked correct, though weeks later I would get a note from the manager that they had overcharged me for something and processed a refund for about $100.

While we were checking out the doorman had found us a taxi so it was ready when I was done. The family had also grabbed some of the free continental breakfast items while they waited for me so they had a snack to hold them over until we got to the airport.

Airport Experience

It was about 30 minutes to the airport with no traffic on this Sunday morning. They dropped us off at Terminal 2 and we found our way to the Norwegian Air ticket counter. I had checked in online, but we needed to check our bags.

There was a lengthy line and one agent at the desks, but she wasn’t serving anyone yet. It wasn’t until around 7:30am that she started taking customers. By that time, two other agents had arrived so the line started to move quickly.

We got our checked our luggage and got our boarding passes. We were told to head to terminal 1 to get to our gate. Since we were in the far end of terminal 2 it was a 15 minute walk to get to security for terminal 1. We used the family lane which looked shorter, but it ended up being slower than the regular security lines which were mostly empty. Oh well.

My youngest had his bag flagged (again!). Luckily the agent was good about it when they found a water bottle that was hidden there (not by him) during our time in Barcelona. The agent gave a thumbs up to the Real Madrid mini soccer ball he had in his backpack and a thumbs down to the Barcelona sweatshirt his brother was wearing. It was cute and definitely kept my youngest from feeling like he was in trouble.

Once through security we thought we were done, but realized we still had one more step. We needed to go through passport control before we were finally in Terminal 1. Fortunately, there wasn’t a line and we were through in a couple minutes once we realized where we needed to go. Phew!

I had checked on my phone and found there was a Priority Pass lounge in the terminal. We made our way directly there in hopes of getting a more substantial breakfast. There was a short line to get checked in but it only took a few minutes. Since our cards can only bring in two guests, my wife and I each used our card to get us all in.

The lounge was spacious and had plenty of open seats despite there being quite a few people there. There were mostly continental breakfast options along with a noodle station. There were also many coffee and drink options. They also had a good selection of fresh fruit and yogurts. We filled up and relaxed until it was getting close to our boarding time.

Down by the gate we realized how valuable the Priority Pass lounge access is. It was chaotic with a mass of people and not enough seats and space. Boarding had already started so we waited in line to get our passports checked and our boarding passes scanned with everyone else. It was unclear if there were different boarding groups.

The plane didn’t have seatback video so the boys were disappointed. We had downloaded some content for the train rides so they watched a little of that for the short flight to London Gatwick. The flight was less than 2 hours and I tried to catch up on a little sleep.

The Gatwick Experience

In Gatwick we eventually realized the time had changed back an hour. I had always thought London was on the same time zone as Western Europe. Oops!

It wasn’t quite noon but we were getting hungry. We had to make it through a few more security checkpoints before we could find some food, though. The first step was another passport check. Then we had to go through another security checkpoint to have our luggage scanned and go through the metal detectors.

My youngest had his bag flagged yet again! We know he didn’t add any water, but then he remembered it might be a snow globe he had gotten in Barcelona that he had packed. We let the security agent know and he was very good about the situation. He provided a plastic bag to put the globe in which allowed us to take it with us. My youngest was ecstatic he could keep it after all. Next trip we’ll have to empty his entire bag before traveling just to make sure!

We were finally through security and in the terminal at Gatwick. We had been in the terminal before on our trip to London nearly two years earlier. We knew there was a Priority Pass restaurant there and Tomatico was jazzed about visiting it again.

We quickly found it on the upper level and got seated at a table. With our two Priority Pass cards we had 18 pounds each for the cardholder and one guest so with both our cards we had 72 pounds total to work with. Since my wife and Tomatico both ordered off the kids menu we had enough credit left over to share two desserts. The food was excellent, though it was a bit on the expensive side if we had actually had to pay for it. Luckily with the card we didn’t have to! I also found myself responding to the waiter in Spanish…

We ate at a leisurely pace since we had a long layover and several hours until boarding of our flight back to Boston. After we finished eating we went to one of the two Priority Pass lounges in the terminal. When we went to check in the agent said they were full, but asked us to wait a second while he checked. He was able to find us a table so he let us in.

In this lounge there were a few food and snack options. The boys found a machine that made pancakes and they both had a few… just to test it out. My wife did some window shopping in the terminal stores while I relaxed in the lounge catching up on my work email.

Once our boarding time approached we headed down to the boards displaying flight information. We went to one of the stores to stock up on some last minute snacks since they would be cheaper than buying them on the plane. I had to use my physical credit card here because the contactless didn’t work. This was only the third time I’d used my physical card all trip. Twice on the subway in Madrid and here in the airport in Gatwick. That was a pretty good run of using only Apple Pay!

Right on the scheduled time the gate information was displayed on the board and we headed off to the gate with the other people who would be on the flight. It was almost a 10 minute walk to get to the gate. Even though they weren’t boarding yet, people were lining up. When they finally began the boarding process they did the priority group first (business class) and then proceeded to board by row number starting from the back of the plan. We were near the front so we didn’t board until the last group.

There were two lines checking passports and we, unfortunately, were in the wrong line. We didn’t find out until we were at the front that we needed certain stickers on our passports in order to go in that line so we had to switch to the other line. It only caused a few minutes of delay and we proceeded directly to get our boarding passes scanned once we got the stickers. I’m still not sure what they did to check the passports.

On the plan we found our seats and got settled in for the long flight home. I spent most of the flight trying to sleep, but ended up watching some movies on the second half of the flight. The headphone jack on my screen wasn’t working quite right as my headphones wouldn’t go all the way in. If I connected it just right I could get sound if I didn’t move too much. It worked well enough to pass the time.

The Boston Airport Experience

We landed about 30 minutes late due to headwinds, though fortunately it wasn’t a bumpy ride. When we landed we made our way through passport control by using the Mobile Passport lane and there was no line at all. The night before while in Madrid I had purchased (and then immediately canceled) a one month subscription to the app. The app used to be free but last year changed the business model to be a monthly or yearly subscription.

It had taken me 10 minutes to scan the passports and take everyone’s picture as required by the app. It was well worth the $4.99 for the one month subscription. I canceled it immediately after scanning so I wouldn’t forget to do it later as it automatically renews. Even though I canceled I was just cancelling the renewal so it was still good for the full month.

If we didn’t use mobile passport the line was quite long as several other flights landed at the same time. It was well worth the few dollars. Down in baggage claim there were several flights on the conveyor for our flight. Then our flight got moved to a less crowded conveyor without an announcement, or at least not one I could understand. There were several made that were unintelligible. It was a completely stereotypically poor experience, but we were just happy when our bags arrived.

With our bags in hand we made our way to the Lyft pickup area like relative zombies. Jet lag was definitely kicking in for the boys and my wife. They were asleep within minutes of getting in the ride. Once we made it home we all quickly went to bed, happy to be home but already looking forward to returning to Spain.