Are We There Yet?

Yesterday made me never want to fly on a plane again. It may sound a bit dramatic but I had my reasons. I woke up at about 4:30 in the morning to get ready and finish my packing. I checked out of my flat and said my sad goodbyes to leave the university. A small group of us took a cab ride from Stirling to Edinburgh to catch our flights home. Upon my arrival I quickly found out that due to a fire at Heathrow Airport the day before, my flight to London had been cancelled. So, I waited in line for two hours at the customer service desk to rebook my whole itinerary. My new route was to Amsterdam and then on to Detroit. After a quick flight to Amsterdam, I wasted time in the airport to wait for my flight. When my three hour layover was complete I went to my gate only to find out that I had been bumped off the flight. I couldn't believe it, why had I been moved to a flight that was full? I stood in the middle of the Amsterdam Airport and cried. A little embarrassing now that I think about it but I was so stressed and so tired, I just wanted to get home. It didn't help that I was on my own. The airline worker told me that I would have to stay overnight in Amsterdam and fly out in the morning. They paid for my hotel room (a very nice one), my dinner and breakfast, my transportation to and from the airport and gave me 600 euros in compensation. After getting all of my paper work i went to the ATM to get all my money out since the card it was on wouldn't work in the US. As if things hadn't been stressful enough it took me a half an hour to get my money out of the machine because all the questions were in Dutch. The ladies working the bank couldn't help me because they apparently weren't allowed to leave their desk. I had to wander around the airport to find a worker that could help me get my money. I went to the hotel that night completely worn out. After a good meal, a long bath and a cup of chamomile tea I was calmed down and ready for bed. This morning while waiting once again in the airport I've never been so ready to get home. At the time I was completely stressed about the whole situation. Now, a day later and looking back, I can laugh at the situation a bit. This has been one interesting month and one very interesting trip home. I should know by now that things are bound to happen in air travel. At least I got an interesting story about it.