Travel Complications

It was May 9, the day had finally come for me to leave for my study abroad program in France. I was so excited as this was my fist time out of the country. I had decided to fly to France alone because unlike the majority of people in my program, I live about four hours from the Atlanta airport. Because I didn’t want to travel all the way to Atlanta to catch a flight, I decided to leave from the much closer to home Savannah airport. My flight itinerary was as follows: Savannah to New York JFK, JFK to London, and London to Toulouse, my final destination. As I said goodbye to my parents I headed towards security to start my adventure. I had no idea what was in store for me. My flight from Savannah to JFK was absolutely perfect. When I landed in JFK I had to collect my bags and head to the international terminal to check-in for my flight to London. When I got to the desk and told the man that I was headed to London, he pointed me to a long line of people. Immediately I could feel that something was not right. There was a family of three behind me that seemed concerned so I turned around and asked them if they knew what was going on. They informed me that the flight had been cancelled. When I finally got to the desk the lady gave me a number to contact in order to get my flight rescheduled. At this point it was about 11:00pm. I called the number the woman at the desk gave me and sat on hold for about two hours. When I finally got through they informed me that they did not have anymore flights to London until May 12, two days later. My heart sank; I had no idea what I was going to do. After about an hour on the phone crying with my parents, they pushed me to call the airline again and try to figure out the fastest way to Europe. After a combined total of four hours on hold and many more tears later, I was able to book a flight to Barcelona the following night. Although I had to spend the night in JFK alone, I was finally able to get to Toulouse where I had an unbelievably amazing study abroad experience. My advice if this ever happens to you is not to worry and try to stay positive. It may seem like the end of the world at the time, but if you can get through it you will laugh about it in the future.