Holidays are the time for traveling and visiting family, whether it’s by car or plane. Every year for me is always the same, I fly alone to another state. My flights are constantly delayed, and this sucks because I always have a layover before reaching my destination. 

This year though was very different. My flight over to Kansas went smoothly with only one delay of a few minutes. I arrived in Kansas at the time I was supposed to and my week of visitation began. 

But a week turned into two thanks to Southwest Airlines. I woke up 24 hrs before my flight to check in only to see that my flight was no longer a flight, and to text messages from my dad saying my flight had been canceled and they weren’t sure when the next one would be. That’s when I started freaking out. My parents spent 3 hours on the phone that day with Southwest Airlines getting nowhere. 

I went 2 days not knowing when I would be able to come home. It took about 3 flights getting canceled before I finally found one that could get me home as soon as possible. 

Me being a minor flying alone made it even more difficult because every flight had a layover and they didn’t want me to end up stuck in a random state.

Although I stayed in Kansas longer than I wanted, I’m lucky to have not already been on a flight during all the cancellations. I got the benefit of having the flights canceled before I even arrived at the airport. Many people were stranded at airports and many people lost their luggage. I was lucky enough to avoid all of this. 

After a 9 hour flight, I made it back to Modesto where I was finally able to sleep in my own bed.