I came to Vienna, Austria last Sunday (Nov.28th) to visit one of my best friends from back home who is studying abroad here. I was supposed to fly home on Wednesday (Dec.1st) early and take a bus back to Leeds so that I could get back to class for Thursday and Friday. Well, I showed up at the airport in Vienna and my flight was completely canceled because Gatwick was closed due to snow. I started to stress a little, but got rebooked on a flight for that evening. An hour later, I’m on the phone with Bertie in London who informs me that the BBC just announced Gatwick would be closed all day and not reopen until Thursday morning.

So I go back to the window and there was no line (no one else had heard yet) and I got rebooked onto a flight for this morning (Thursday). I had no way to reach my friend, no cash, and was slightly panicked. More than slightly. Until the airline says they’ll put me in a hotel for the night. So they took my to the Hilton Vienna (SO NICE) where I had a suite to myself. I called my parents, Bertie, and wrote on my friend’s Facebook wall from the lobby computer. I fell asleep for a bit from stress exhaustion and when I woke up my friend showed up at my room. I went back with her to her apartment to use free internet and phone.

Anyway, I check my emails, Facebook, etc. I email my groups for my classes to let them know I can’t make it back. Then I decide to check my flight time again. Turns out, it was CANCELLED. Again. I start freaking out, get Bertie on Skype, and try to reschedule to the flight later on, but there were no seats available until Saturday, at the earliest, and even then I couldn’t book because the website was crashing from traffic. My friend got one of her friends who is here in Vienna on her Skype and he found me a flight out of Bratislava for tomorrow morning to Luton Airport rather than Gatwick. He also found me a bus from Vienna to Bratislava. I leave, in theory, tomorrow on a bus at 6:50 to Slovakia (this would be more exciting under different circumstances) and my flight should leave, in theory, at 10:40am back to London.

I applied for my refund from EasyJet, and to buy the other ticket on RyanAir it cost me about 45 euros more than I’d be getting back from my refund, but at least I have a better chance of getting back to the UK? Maybe? For now, I’m staying in the spare bedroom at my friend’s flat and hoping.

In summary: I’m stuck in Vienna (3 canceled flights so  far) until further notice. At least I have a friend here.

Location: Vienna, Austria