Not according to plan

The plan was to take the A subway line from our block in Hudson Heights (neé Washington Heights) in Manhattan to the brand-new "AirTrain" into JFK Airport. (The AirTrain is a modern replacement for the clunky shuttle bus betweem the Howard Beach subway stop and JFK.) Once at JFK -- so the plan went -- we would wait in line an hour or more to check our bags, make our way to the gate and board our Barcelona-bound (with connection in Amsterdam) KLM flight. Once in Amsterdam, we would have a relaxed two-hour layover, followed by a leisurely skip over to Barcelona.

So the plan went.

Rarely in travel does reality meet expectation, as we soon discovered! Things went as planned until we arrived at the airport: there was no check-in line whatsoever! We had counted on there being a line so that we could fill-out some nametags for our bags, but we were quite thrilled to not have to stand for an hour or more. A strange wrinkle did come to pass, though at the time it seemed innocent enough. Rather than place our bags on the usual conveyor belt, we were asked (as were all passengers) to haul them to a fancy new X-ray machine. Keep that in mind for later.

A quick bite to eat at MickeyD's followed, as did a refreshingly short walk to our gate. Boarding was easy as pie. We were sitting pretty.

Then things started to go wrong.

The captain made an announcement about some leaking cargo. This lead to several delays of "5-10 minutes" which in fact lasted nearly an hour and a half. The captain sure knew how to fly, though, as we arrived in Amsterdam only 45 minutes late. A number of passengers on our flight missed their connections, but we had plenty of time, right?

Wrong.

Amsterdam's airport in now one of our least favorite. As much as we like to walk, a half hour plus just to make a transfer is not an endearing quality: we arrived at the gate literally at the instant boarding for our connection began! We feared for our bags, thinking they might not make it on the plane with us.

As it turns out, we were half-right. In Barcelona, after a long wait at the bag collection area, Sharon's bag made an apearance. David's did not. A trip to the lost baggage desk ensued. While Sharon kept an eye on the one bag, David was told that the airport officials didn't even know if his bag had made it on the plane in NYC and should it make it to Barcelona, it would be delivered to our place in Spain. YIKES! Fortunately, he had the presence of mind to ask when the next flight from Amsterdam was to arrive (in an hour). Thank goodness we waited, because the second bag was in fact on that next flight!

The rest of that day went according to, ahem, the plan.