My Travel Nightmare. Can I Wake Up Yet?

Readers, prepare for a long post. Sorry for the length, but some things just need to be said!

Spring Break sure was a rollercoaster of emotions for myself and my Texas Hillel group. We traveled all the way to Budapest, Hungary to volunteer and promote goodwill for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Commitee.

This trip brought two completely opposing experiences to my life: the most enriching trip I have ever been on and the worst travel nightmare of my life.

As a firm believer in venting the bad to get to the good, let's start with these past three days of my life.

Well really, it all started on March 13 on my way to Budapest. The flight took off from Houston and everything went smoothly all the way to London(minus the fact that I got a drink spilled on my lap).

First sign of trouble: we miss our connecting flight and have to spend six more hours in the London airport at the British Airways terminal. In all honesty, this part was not so bad because it was the start of the trip so everyone was just excited and ready to get to Budapest. Additionally, British Airways hooked us up with some food vouchers. Everyone knows that free food makes happy people. So, what was an extra six hours when you have free food?! It just was not a huge issue.

BA 747 courtesy of Flickr.

Now, fast forward to the next Sunday.

The group wakes up at 5:30 a.m. to get to the Budapest airport for our flight. We catch the flight and arrive at around 9:45 a.m. in London. First leg of the journey: perfection.

We already knew we had a 4-hour layover so the waiting had begun. Not leaving until 2:20 p.m., my friends and I grabbed some breakfast and relaxed in the comfiest chairs we could find. Everything is going great.

Then, 1:45 p.m. rolls around and the departure board informs of our impending delay. Really London airport? Really?! I have certainly gotten used to waiting on the transit system by then. So some more waiting goes on and we take off around 5 p.m. Everything is perfect now. A little waiting was bad but what more could go wrong? We are already in the air! I felt great. See you in 9 hours America!

NOT!

Suddenly the pilot gets on the speaker and announces that he smelled gas in the cockpit and we were reverting back to London because he did not feel comfortable crossing the Atlantic. Oy Vey!

Now, I know it is frustrating to be delayed and even more frustrating to have to turn around, but I was alright with this. After all, I would much rather be heading back to London than sinking into the ocean. Wouldn't you? Oh yes, one other minor detail. He had to drop fuel from the plane! I freaked out when he said this. It was scary! But all in all, once we landed back in London I felt safe again.

This is when the real trouble begins. We had to work on re-booking flights for 25 people which is no easy feat to accomplish. The British Airways people were no help and basically gave us our hotel vouchers and sent us on our way.

Left to deal with this alone, our group went back to the airport at 5:30 a.m. to solve this. After 4 hours of talking and waiting and more talking and waiting, everyone was heading back to America. Some to Dallas, some to Chicago, and some to Raleigh. At least we were heading back, right? Wrong.

I was placed on the flight to Raleigh which was in a different terminal and was leaving shortly. So my small group ran to the terminal, checked our bags, rushed through security, and ran to the gate only to find that this flight was delayed for THREE HOURS! Oh yeah, and this time we were on American Airlines.

This delay assured us of one thing: we were not getting back to Houston on Monday because this delay would make us miss the last flight out of Raleigh to Houston. Our only hope was a small window of opportunity. There was a flight from Raleigh to Charlotte, North Carolina that continued on to Houston and landed at midnight. The trouble was that we had exactly one hour to make it to that flight after we landed in Raleigh.

I'll let you take a wild guess. Do you think we made it? Of course not. Looked like another hotel for the night. But wait, American Airlines put us in a hotel with no rooms left! Yet again, we were left to fend for ourselves and find our own hotel. Oy vey again!

After the hotel hunt was finished and the Hilton Raleigh-Durham Airport at Research Triangle Park took our poor souls in for the night, our ordeal was nearly finished. All we had left on our journey was a flight at 6 a.m. back to Houston and then a 2-hour drive to Austin.

Finally something went right! We even landed in Houston EARLY and after some pleading with my parents they even let me stay home for a few hours, get some sleep and do some laundry(did I mention EVERYONE in Budapest smokes?!).

All there is left to do after retelling this story is to breathe a sigh of relief. I am back in Austin(granted I am extremely behind on work), and have my health, safety and peace of mind. What more can I ask for?

This took so much our of me it's like I didn't even go to Budapest! Look to my next post for the details on the most inspiring and enriching week of my life.

So bloggers, what are your travel horror stories?