Student Bloggers

One of the biggest factors encouraging me to study abroad was the idea of having a great adventure. Unfortunately, I was not prepared for the crazy journey about to happen as I left my house last Tuesday to leave for Dublin.

Originally, my travel plans were to fly out of Pittsburgh Tuesday evening to Boston then fly to Dublin departing at 9 PM EST arriving around 8:00 AM GMT.  This left me with only ten hours total traveling which seemed like nothing given the distance I was going.

With little difficulty I made it to Boston and to my next terminal just in time to sit down, have a granola bar for dinner, and take some more cold medicine to subdue the sinus infection I had contracted in a timely manner just days before.

As nearly 400 passengers boarded the Boeing jet my excitement began to build. I found my seat on the aisle and had my headphones in check ready to take off into the night. Soon, ten minutes passed the departure time, then 30, then an hour and so on. The frantic flight attendants kept reassuring everyone we were soon to depart, however there was a mechanical problem with the door and the engineers were working to fix it quickly.

Hopes were high until hour two passed and babies began to wail into the plane’s warm stale air. At midnight after three hours of waiting, the attendants announced the flight was canceled and I began to panic. I was far from home with somewhere even farther to be and had no idea what to do.

Fortunately, airlines are required to provid transportation and a hotel room for their passengers in situations like this. So after two more hours of waiting in a long line inside the airport, I was given vouchers for the Park Plaza in Boston and two taxi rides.

Let me tell you, the Park Plaza is a nice place. After so much stress and lack of sleep I was grateful to have a clean bed and a little more security. The next morning we had to rebook a flight to Dublin which luckily departed that day. So back west I flew to Toronto where I connected once again to a flight to Dublin.

I arrived at the Dublin Airport only 22 hours late at 5:30 AM GMT in one piece, made it through customs, to a cab, and then to the hotel where I was to meet my group. The only thing missing, however, was my luggage. After groggily hopping off the plane and to baggage claim I felt like the journey would never end as I sat on the ground watching each unrecognizable bag sail bye.

To add to the mix, I couldn’t give customer service a phone number to reach me by once my luggage was found since I was in a foreign country without my network. Yet at this point I refused to let the disappointment get to me. I gave them the information I could and continued on my way.

With the help of the Arcadia staff my luggage was delivered to me on Friday and I could finally feel a little more settled. I wanted an adventure, right?

In hindsight, the hiccups of traveling are irrelevant and only give means to pointless complaining. I’m so grateful to be in my new apartment, surrounded by new friends, in a new place looking forward to new and even greater adventures! Though I have concluded that it might be a while before I book a 22 hour flight to Australia.