Sometimes trips go wrong. Mine go like this…
I’ve been making international trips since I started uni (college, for my fellow Americans) a year and a half ago. It’s always really anxiety-provoking, and I get super stressed out. It doesn’t help that something has gone wrong on every single one of my trips. Whether it be getting stranded in an airport for an extra half day, issues with the buses and trains, COVID testing dilemmas, rough landings, lost luggage, or pretty much anything else, something happens. God must be trying to teach me something…
My very first trip was no exception. My mom and I had booked a flight to where my uni offered international student pickups. The trip had two layovers: one in our state and the other in Paris (CDG airport). All the stuff I needed to bring for uni had to be packed in three suitcases (which then meant we had to lug them around). There was a lot of weighing them, sitting on them and praying the zippers closed, and puzzle piecing my things into them (household and kitchen goods had to be packed too, after all). When you’re making your first trip, I’d recommend packing further out than a day or two before your trip. Makes life so much easier.
The day came and my mom and I dragged our three jam-packed full suitcases to our local airport. We went through customs and security and boarded our flight on time. Other than being really emotional because I had just left my dad and brothers for the first time, things were going really well.
Yeah… that didn’t last much longer…
Once we were on the plane, the weather delays started. We sat on the runway for at least an hour waiting to take off. It took so long that Delta put us on a different flight to CDG because we wouldn’t make our original flight. Not exactly the start you want for your first trip abroad.
After what felt like an eternity, we were off. This section of the trip went well. We made it to our first stop without any more issues. My mom and I checked the screens to find our gate, and what do you know, our original flight hadn’t left yet! The two of us raced across the large airport to the gate, me in tears and my mom trying to calm me down while I was outrunning her. (I appreciate the effort, mom, but it probably wasn’t going to work.)
The flight attendants weren’t thrilled about letting us on so late, but they did. My mom and I were extremely relieved and ready to finally chill for our long flight. Nope. We got put on opposite ends of the plane. I was squished between two men I’d never met, my mom far out of sight. (To give you a better picture, I was a fairly small, extremely emotional teenage girl sitting between two grown men.)
To make things worse, the in-flight Wi-Fi that would’ve let us message each other barely worked. My texts to my mom got increasingly emotional as I tried to not cry too loudly between the two strangers, and her messages back wouldn’t go through to me.
I also have this weird thing where if I’m next to a stranger, I won’t move. Like, at all. Not to grab a book from my bag, not to get my phone charger, not to pick up something I’ve dropped, not to go to the bathroom. I won’t even move my arm(s) for fear of bumping the stranger next to me. I was statue still, trying to get in-flight Wi-Fi to work to message my mom, silently sobbing because my anxiety had gotten so bad for 9-10 hours. Thankfully, the guys next to me were helpful and understanding. They helped me explain to the flight attendant what was wrong so she could help me figure out the Wi-Fi, and the man in the aisle seat would ask every now and then if I needed to get past him to use the bathroom or get more tissues (apparently my crying wasn’t subtle enough).
Moving won’t make the people near you annoyed. If you need to grab something from your bag or go to the bathroom, do it.
My mom and I were finally reunited at the CDG airport. Neither of us knew what to do or where to go. We followed the crowd for long enough that my mom could find a bathroom (we didn’t realize at the time that the few minutes we spent there would cost us hours). CDG felt like a maze, but we found our way to security and another bag check we didn’t know we would have to go through. And CDG is a lot stricter than our home airport. We were chugging our waters and trying to hide our snacks, separating fluids and electronics while the staff’s already low patience got worse.
At CDG, they really appreciate if you speak French. We only spoke English, and the staff either repeatedly yelled at us in French or talked to us like children. It didn’t help that they were crazy busy and had way too much going on at one time. It was chaos and my shoes set off one of their sensors (tip: don’t wear hiking boots through airport security if you don’t have to).
After finally getting through that, we desperately searched for our flight, since it was bound to leave within the next half hour. Time was running out and anxiety was running high. At last, we saw our gate with our plane still sitting there. The man at the desk went to let us on, only for another member of staff to inform him that we were too late. The doors had just been closed and no one else could get on the flight. Had we not stopped at the bathroom, we might’ve made it in time.
Devastated, we were directed to a help desk where we were informed the next flight we could get on was in eleven hours. There was no earlier method of transportation. We were not thrilled, to say the least. This just added to an already stressful trip and ruined all of our plans after our arrival. We’d miss the airport pickup and probably have to arrange for other transportation to my university.
Now, you might be thinking, “Eleven hours must’ve given you a great chance to explore Paris!” Nope. This was during the COVID-19 pandemic. We couldn’t leave the airport. All we could do was pace, cry, try to sleep, and make new arrangements for when we arrived in the UK. Not a great time.
Eleven hours might as well have been a lifetime, and my mood didn’t improve even a little. That’s the great thing about anxiety, isn’t it? It’s so easy to stress out and so hard to feel better again.
We were finally able to make a flight and arrived in the UK without issues. It was late at night in a smaller airport, so it wasn’t busy and I was able to get help going through immigration. Everything was getting better, right? Wrong. Remember at the beginning Delta put us on a new flight? That meant one of our bags was put on the new flight. The other bags had been on our intended flight from CDG, meaning they’d arrived earlier that day, and we had some issues trying to get those from left luggage.
But there was a happy ending to the story. The rep from my university, who was staying in the city for the international student pickups, met us at the airport. In the middle of the night, she greeted us, offered to put us on the next student bus, gave me everything I would need at the university in case my mom and I decided to take a train, and even helped us bring our luggage to our nearby hotel. My mom and I were able to get some real rest and eat our leftover food from CDG (French food is good even if it comes from an airport). We returned to the airport the next morning and got to stay with the university rep to greet the other students who were arriving. Our missing bag arrived quickly, the students were all friendly, and the university rep had gotten extra food and secured our spots on the next bus.
Overall, it was a terrible trip. But as bad as it was, it taught me a lot. To pass some of that information on to you:
- Have a carry-on with organized and/or zippered pockets. My bag didn’t close properly and there weren’t pockets, so it was tricky for me to get anything I needed.
- NEVER plan a layover for less than 2-3 hours, especially if you’re going to a bigger airport. If there are any delays, or if you just can’t navigate the airport, you need that buffer.
- If you’re given a new flight because of delays, take the new flight. Don’t try to make your original flight. It just makes a mess of everything.
- Even if your local airport isn’t strict about separating fluids or electronics, it’s best to do it anyway. You might need to go through security again in another airport. Your liquids should go in a quart size bag, and any electronics larger than your phone should be easily accessible in case you need to separate them.
I’ve had plenty of rough trips like this (though, to be fair, this is one of the worst). Hopefully if you travel abroad, it won’t be so bad for you. Maybe you can learn from my mistakes and mishaps, and maybe it’ll be comforting in some way knowing that others have gone through stuff too. Most trips you take won’t be so dramatic, so please don’t let this discourage you. I can still recommend traveling and studying abroad after stories like this, so it’s definitely worth it. Just remember to breathe. God is in control even when everything is going wrong. You’re on your way to a great adventure, and though problems aren’t fun in the moment, they make great stories afterward.
