Mixed feelings. That’s you get when you try a new experimental scratch beer at your favorite brewery, what you get when you eat one of those super sour/sweet candies, and what you get when you realize your flight home from France has been delayed for an entire day (and then some).
Of course I want an excuse to stay in France an extra day. But…. I kinda have work to do! It’s convenient that now we have time to see the Catacombs and the Louvre. But… that’s another precious vacation day I didn’t plan to spend. I’m excited that I’m going to get to climb to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and watch the Eiffel Tower light show one (or four) last time(s). But… ah nevermind, I can’t even be that upset about this.
My boyfriend can, because he was scheduled to work the next day and this delay caused a scheduling headache. But my out of office email looked a little like this “Stuck in France (poor me), will be in the office on Friday.” Poor, poor me 😉
The extra day was more like an extra day and a half because the flight had been rescheduled for 2 hours later than the original flight. This was actually awesome because we ended up having a lot of extra sightseeing time.
The really bizarre thing about this delay is that we received absolutely no notification that the flight time AND day were different. I simply received a new “Flight Confirmation” email with the date and time surreptitiously changed. It actually took me a while to figure out that I was not an idiot who bought plane tickets for the WRONG DAY.
How We Found Out
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Let me paint the scene…
We woke up at the crack of dawn after a long night out in Versailles at this wonderful wine bar. We hopped on the Metro (ever so slightly sleep deprived) in hopes of reaching the Catacombs in time to get in (this would be the 3rd time we stood in this line) before we had to head to the airport. On the 45-minute train ride, I pulled out my phone to check in for our flight.
Weird. There was no check-in email in my inbox. No worries, I’ll just go to the airline’s website to check in, or so I thought. (Yes, this was a budget airline, which may explain this issue). The airline’s website happily informs me that there are NO FLIGHTS heading from Paris Orly to New York that day. None. Zip. Zero.
I confusedly search google for this flight that we were supposed to be on. Gone. They don’t have any flights until tomorrow. Okay then… there must have been an email about the delay/cancellation that I missed. No… the only two emails I have from the airline is the flight confirmation… and another flight confirmation.
The newest flight confirmation says that indeed, our flight is leaving at 7:00 on Thursday. Then why did I have it written down that we were leaving at 5:00 on Wednesday? I dig up the old flight confirmation. That one says 5:00 on Wednesday. OK, so our flight got changed, and they didn’t tell us. Awesome.
No really, awesome! Once we got my boyfriend’s work situation squared away, we were able to go to the catacombs, the Louvre, and the top of the Arc du Triomphe. Since we had to stay an extra night, we booked a hotel using points (so it was free!), and had time for sightseeing the next morning too!
Travel Mishaps Happen
If there’s one thing that traveling has taught me, it’s that things don’t always go according to plan, so I’ve got to be flexible. I’ve been stuck in a security line out the door when my plane was taking off 20 minutes later, I’ve been delayed 3 hours due to a snow storm that I subsequently had to drive 3 hours in to get home, and I’ve arrived early enough to get put on a plane that was departing 5 minutes after I boarded (win!).
Sometimes things work in your favor, sometimes they don’t. I find it extremely important to be grateful, no matter how crazy the circumstance, that I have the opportunity to travel at all. And I always tell myself, I can’t complain if I get a bonus day on vacation.
Lesson learned: Always check-in prior to your flight so you can be sure that the date and time are still the same as when you purchased your ticket! 😉
Your Turn:
Do you have any crazy travel mishaps? Please comment below and tell me your story!
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