On Hold

No one said that traveling across the world could be easy, but there was no way I was expecting what it would take to make it to South Africa. It all started Wednesday night, three days before I was supposed to leave for Johannesburg, South Africa to begin my first study abroad experience. My brother Andrew asked us if there was something bad happening in Florida because he had heard about something online. My mother decided to check her phone to see what it was. What she found was something she was not expecting. The top story on CNN was a huge snow storm that was developing on the east coast. This storm was expected to hit Washington D.C. the whole weekend and it was going to hit hard. Predictions were suggesting that it could be the most snow ever recorded in D.C. Needless to say, we began to freak out. I was supposed to be flying out of Washington D.C. on Saturday afternoon.

Side note: The bad “thing” happening in Florida was that Donald Trump was visiting the state.

So this began the saga of the disappearing flight. Thursday morning we found out that our group was planning to reschedule our group flight to Monday. I called in to United Airlines to set up my connecting flight from Chicago and all seemed well.

The storm hit Washington D.C. hard and they got two feet of snow! All of D.C. was shut down Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday. During this time, I drove back to school to pick up Maddie and bring her home. I celebrated my travels with my family and had one of what would become the first of many “last suppers”. We played games together. Of course we had to play Ticket to Ride Africa.

Going out to eat with my family before I flew out

Sunday came and with it, I began to say my goodbyes. I went out to breakfast with Maddie and we said our goodbyes. Later that day, my family went out for another “last supper” and as we headed out for the meal I tried to check in for my flight on my phone to find that it had been canceled! I immediately started trying to call United Airlines and STA travel to figure out a solution. The problem was that everyone was trying to call in due to cancellations so I was put on hold for almost an hour! At one point I was asked to check my ticket from an automated service. It kept asking me for my last name and then it would pause and say… “Is your name… K…I…M?” No, I don’t think my name is Kim. “Oh lets try again”, it would say. “Is your name…W…A…L…A…B…A…L…O?” My name is als not Walabalo. Eventually it worked out so that I would fly out Tuesday morning instead and would now have to catch the Tuesday afternoon flight to South Africa instead.

But this was not the end of the story. Monday morning I once again tried to check in to my flight to find that it too was canceled! So I had to call United Airlines… Again. This time, I was stuck on hold for almost two hours and let me tell you… I now know why people can go crazy and it is because of hold music. Eventually I worked it out to fly another airline at the same time on Tuesday.

About to fly out

The first flight went smoothly out of Chicago to Detroit and I said my goodbyes with my family. I then landed in Detroit and met another student named Taylor who is going to be traveling with me to South Africa.

Flying out of Chicago

So you’d think this would be the end of the story… but it’s not. A few minutes after boarding our plane we were told we would have to deplane due to a major issue with the plane’s systems. We got off the plane and waited for information on the repairs. Eventually we were sent to a new gate and were met by a new plane. The problem, however, was that this plane was also broken! At this point it had already been a few hours past our original departure time. The clock continued to wind and the departure time slowly turned farther and farther back. At this point, the five-hour cushion had shrunk to less than two hours and we were beginning to get restless. Just when I was about to request a different flight, they finally allowed us to board and take off.

From that point on it was smooth sailing. Taylor and I arrived in D.C. and picked up our bags making sure to pet any dog we got the chance to along the way. We then checked our bags and trekked through security where we eventually were able to meet up with the four other members of our group flying out that day.

Finally meeting the group!

Our flight has been problem free so far and we’ve gotten the chance to get to know one another. All in all, I’m excited to finally get to Johannesburg and jump right into the adventure that is ahead of me. After all the speed bumps this trip has already taken, I’m ready for whatever can get thrown my way. I’m not going to wait on hold any longer! Let’s go!

Layover in Ghana