Day 13 - Thursday, October 31, 2024 - Returning home

 We left the hotel for the airport at 7am in a car that had been reserved and got to the airport a little after 7:30.

Everything went smoothly at the airport and we enjoyed some time and breakfast in the Air Portugal lounge. The lines through security and passport control were very long and it was a very long walk to our gate - I got in over 3000 steps just at the airport.

We had a good flight which was a bit bumpy at times but not too bad. We got in an hour early (!) and fortunately a gate was available although the jetway wasn't working and it took over 10 minutes to get it to the plane. It was interesting using Global Entry. You just stand in front of a kiosk where it takes a photo and verifies that it is you. Then you go through another line with an immigration agent looking at a tablet who then looks at you and says "welcome David". Not even a need to show a passport.

We were in our car less than an hour after getting off the plane and home just two hours later. 84 degrees when we left Newark.

Everything was fine at home although we didn't have any rain in the two weeks we were gone.







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