I've never had a good time travelling on planes. Most of the time, I thought it was just turbulence that made the experience uncomfortable. There have been two exceptions thus far that are beyond ridiculous. This is the story of the second one.

I'd been planning to study abroad for a while, so as soon as I got the date, I booked my ticket to England. A couple of months later, my college informed me that I would be leaving a day early. They did not tell me the date had changed. They told me that I was going to get there a day early and they wouldn't be able to give me housing. I was naturally very upset but couldn't find the paper that would prove me right so I had to change my ticket. Did you know that if you want to change your plane ticket to the exact same flight the next day, it costs $200? I didn't.

Skip ahead to the flight and everything starts fine. Getting through security was alright. Apparently, hair blocks the big metal detector that they have you stand in, so I had to get a pat down but that was nothing. I've dealt with worse.

So I got there early and I'm waiting for the plane. Since I was traveling by myself, I was scouting the area for people my age to sit next to. Safety in numbers, you know. While I was doing that, I heard the stewardess calling out names of people who had yet to check in. I finally locked eyes with a girl my age when the stewardess called for Edward Butt. We both started giggling and I moved over to sit next to her and her friend but we didn't speak.

A couple hours passed and it was getting close to boarding time, when there was another announcement that said that due to a mechanical issue, the plane would be delayed for 45 minutes or longer. I was heartbroken but not all that surprised. I have a history of bad airport experiences and was expecting something like this. I had to be at my college in England between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. and my flight was originally expected to land 6:30 a.m. Then, about 20 minutes later, another announcement came on. The plane was canceled and we had to exit the terminal to get re-booked. Luckily, my stuff was all together, so I walked as quickly as I could to the place where I could buy a ticket. Side note: Edward Butt never showed up. They kept calling for him every 15 minutes and me and the other girl just kept giggling.

Now there was a plane full of disgruntled people all waiting in line to take a new flight to England and there were only two people working at the desk. I managed to get relatively close to the front of the line. People around me started talking about how terrible it was and we all got to know each other over the hour and twenty minutes we were in line. Two of them were a middle-aged couple who were going to Paris through London. One lady was using this as a connecting flight to get to Greece. A boy, about my age, was using this to connect to a flight that would take him to Italy, so he could take a test the following day. At one point the boy called his mom to let her know what was happening and started speaking to her in Italian. Using my Spanish and limited French, I managed to understand that he was trying to calm her down and tell her to just go to sleep for the night. After he ended the conversation, I comforted him and let him know that it was just a mom thing and that my mom wasn't going to be sleeping either. After that, he turned on his charm and started flirting. Eventually, we all ended up on the same flight that was supposed to leave in about hour and half. At this point, I realized that I would be late to to my college.

The flight we were on was a different airline, so I had to re-check my luggage. I was going to live in England for five months, so I had opted to check an extra suitcase to take my clothes. But when I got a new plane ticket that didn't transfer, I had to pay extra and was it was now a total of $ 300 that I didn't plan for. So I get everything taken care of and have to go through security again. My hair still blocked the metal detector and it was the same lady doing the pat down. She said, "Haven't I already given you a pat down?" to which I sadly responded "Yes, you did." And I would have launched into a brief re-telling of the story at this point, but she waved me through.

Everything was going fine, and I was even sitting next to the middle-aged couple on the plane, when about 30 minutes in, a woman goes to the bathroom and starts to throw up.

I tried to ignore the terrible smell as I was engrossed in Hotel Transylvania 2. Then, over the plane's speakers came a request for a doctor or nurse. If you've ever had your headphones on when there's an announcement, you know how painful that is.

There is a nurse back in the bathroom with the woman for about two hours. I get to finish the movie and we're right off the coast of Canada when we find out that the plane has to turn around and go back to Philadelphia. I was so done. I couldn't even contact anyone to inform them because we were in the air. At this point, a boy on the other side of the aisle starts talking to me about all of his travels because apparently his whole job is just traveling to places. I was wearing a Wicked shirt, which prompted a conversation about musicals and writing music at which point he started flirting. It was a weird two-hour conversation.

So we land in Philadelphia and it's 1:00 am. We have to wait for about an hour because the plane needs to refuel and get some more supplies. After that, it was smooth flying all the way to England. I finally went through customs. When the officer was looking at my passport, ticket and all my papers, he told me that I was arriving late. So I told him the entire tale. He corrected me and pointed out that my papers said that my program started the day before. He found the paper that proved me right so many months ago! I was elated but was also feeling so many other emotions.

I managed to hail a taxi to get me to London to the only address I had for my college in the desperate hope that someone would be there because otherwise I was stranded in a foreign city. Luckily there was. So I finally got to London nine hours later and $300 poorer than I planned.

And I repeat, this was not my worst experience.