Day 1 — Friday, 1/30/2026 — The Trip That Did Not Want to Start

I always imagined my journey to Montpellier beginning with excitement — suitcase rolling behind me, passport in hand, ready for adventure. Instead, it started with chaos. My plane was canceled, and what should’ve been a smooth travel day turned into a two-day delay and nearly 18 hours of planes, airports, stairs, and borderline emotional collapse.

But let’s go back to the beginning.

The Airport Guessing Game

I arrived at the airport feeling organized and calm… for about three minutes. There were two lines for bag drop — one for domestic flights, one for international — but absolutely no signs. Travelers were basically playing a game of “pick a line and hope for the best.” Naturally, I chose wrong.

The counter agent redirected me and insisted I needed to check in at the kiosk, even though I had already checked in online. So off I went, checking in again and printing my bag tags like a good little traveler.

I returned to the international line, which was inching forward painfully slow because only one person was working. When I was almost at the counter, I overheard another traveler talking about a canceled flight — and of course, it was mine.

Still, I stayed in line because the airline representative looked just as confused as the passengers. Eventually, they told us we had to call customer service to rebook for the next day.

The next morning, I woke up, checked the app… and saw my flight was canceled again. Six hours on the phone later, I finally got rebooked — terrible middle seats, but by that point I would’ve taken a cargo hold.

Two days after my original flight, I was back at the airport.