We woke up a bit after 04:00 this morning, then finished getting ready, and then headed out the door just before 05:00.  Thankfully, as hoped, a taxi driver was waiting out front for us.  Not surprisingly, at that time of the morning, there was no traffic, and it took only about 30 minutes to arrive at the airport.  When we arrived, the security line already had quite a few people in it.  Part of the reason for the line might have been because literally half of the people set off the metal detector with various watches, coins, shoes, belts, etc.  We didn’t set anything off, but Crystal got randomly selected for additional screening nonetheless.

We had booked first class tickets for the first time ever, since Iberia had lie-flat seats and the price wasn’t too much more than if we had booked economy.  Because of this, we got to use the lounge at the TFN airport for the first time.  We got there right when it opened at 05:45.  We had some cava and embutidos, and just chilled out until a few minutes before boarding.  There were no problems boarding the plane, but it took off about 10 minutes late because of some issue with runways at Madrid and increased traffic because of that.

Close to Madrid we hovered over Toledo for a bit, and then landed maybe 20 minutes late.  So instead of an hour, we had only 35 minutes to switch terminals and clear immigration.  We hoofed it to the other terminal, along with one other family that was seemingly doing the same thing as us.  We basically ran to the gate, and got there just before boarding.  But then no one boarded.  Eventually they told us that there were technical issues, and that they’d give us an update in 25 minutes.  But we didn’t feel comfortable going anywhere, so that meant the lounge was out.  Best as we could tell, they were re-arranging large pallets in the cargo hold.  There was also a ladder near the front wheel.  All the while, the pilots were in the cockpit, so that was seemingly positive.

As we waited, though, we realized our dinner and cocktails were probably not going to work out for Bogotá tonight.  After maybe 25-30 minutes, we did start boarding.  We were right next to one another in two pods in the middle (the plane had a 1-2-1 configuration).  Before takeoff we enjoyed some glasses of cava, and eventually decided it was best to cancel our dinner reservations - we just moved them to Saturday night, when we’d be back in Bogotá.  We took off maybe 45 minutes late.

Onboard, we tried to get our money’s worth out of the “free” stuff in First Class.  We had some really good red wine - Finca Sobreño Selección Especial 2019 D.O. Toro.  For our meal, Crystal got the hake, and Justin got some short ribs.  For our after-meal drinks, Justin got Ron Zacapa 23 and Crystal got some Johnny Walker Blue.  Right around then, unfortunately, Justin realized he wasn’t feeling very well at all, seemingly with food poisoning.  Based on the timing, his best guess is that it may have been caused by the embutidos at breakfast.

So for the rest of the flight, he tried to sleep and stay as stationary as possible.  Meanwhile Crystal read, played games, and had one more meal shortly before we landed.  We got into Bogotá in the late afternoon, just as it was getting dark.  At immigration we got a bit flustered by all the questions about our trip, especially Crystal, who didn’t have a lot of the details and was at a separate desk than Justin.  Once we got through that, we walked right through baggage claim, as we had no checked bags.  At customs, the guy asked where we lived, and when we said España he just waved us on - maybe because we had only backpacks.

In the meeting area we were greeted by Julio, who seemed surprised we were so early and that we had no checked bags.  Perhaps because we arrived earlier than expected, we had to wait maybe 5-10 minutes for our driver, Eduardo.  It was cool outside, probably in the mid-60s (maybe 18-19 Celsius).  In the vehicle, there was lots of traffic, and it was exacerbated when it started raining.  Julio told us that this was the first real rain in a while, and that so far this had been the driest rainy season in 40 years.  We got to the hotel (The Bogotá Marriott) around 18:00, and Julio helped us go to an ATM around the corner after we checked in.  Once in the room, we didn’t leave, as Justin went straight to sleep while Crystal checked her email, getting some good news that one of her friends who was also seeking Hungarian citizenship was able to obtain it.  Hopefully Crystal will have a similar result sometime soon.