France. A beautiful country that I was fortunate enough to spend nine days in. I traveled all over northern France and did all of the fun touristy things. I saw the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, walked on the D-Day beaches, and visited many beautiful churches. 16 other Green High School students and I enjoyed this once-in-a-lifetime trip along with two other schools.
On the last day of our trip, we got on the bus and headed to Charles de-Gaulle Airport in Paris. We were flying through Air Canada, which put us on a layover in Montreal. After Montreal, we would go to Newark and then Cleveland. However, that didn’t happen.
The first issue, our flight from Paris-CDG to Montreal got delayed. When we landed, we knew we were short on time. We were told that our flight from Montreal to Newark was being held until all 19 of us got on it. Unlike before, we had to go through customs in order to get on our connecting flight.
Once we got all 19 of us through customs, we sprinted to our gate. The plane was there on the runway, but the ticketing system was closed; therefore, we weren’t allowed on the plane. We were stuck in Canada.
Day one; we sat in the airport for most of the day while we tried to figure out where we were going. No flights were available until July 1, even then we weren’t sure if all 19 of us would make that flight. Fortunately, we ended up getting a hotel for the night but transportation to the hotel wasn’t easy. The airport did provide cabs; however, there wasn’t enough room in one cab for all of us. We ended up splitting up into four groups. Since I was one of the older students and spoke some French, I was in charge of one group. I tried to keep my composure, but in line, for the cab, I lost it. I just wanted to go home and hug my mom. After our night in the hotel, we proceeded to go back to the airport in the morning to get a flight.
Day two; still no flights so, we sat in the airport once again, trying to figure out what we were doing. We played card games, got Tim Hortons, and I attempted to study for the ACT. While it seemed impossible, we still held out hope that there would be a flight to get us home. Teacher and chaperone Brandi Keplinger waited in line for over four hours to get us a flight home, but we realized we needed to find another option. One of the parents came up with the idea of us taking a bus. The bus idea seemed to be the best option, but once again we ran into an issue. Buses can’t cross the border, so we had to get creative. Since we were so desperate to get back home, I came up with the idea of parents driving to Toronto, which is about three hours from Green. Katie Isaacson, the other teacher with us, sent a message to the parents and we got the details lined up. It was decided that we were going home the next day.
The last and final day of our trip was spent in an Airbnb. We got breakfast at a cafe in the middle of Montreal; being a caffeine addict, this calmed me down a little bit. After a five-hour bus ride, we finally were reunited with our parents and made the car ride back to the states.
Even though my three days in Canada were not planned, or as exciting as my nine days in France, I look back on the experience now and laugh. Unfortunately, the Air Canada curse followed me back to the States. With all the tragedy I faced that week, I would do it all over again to go back to France.