I thought it would be neat to share this story! I get a kick out of it now, but it terrified me at the time.

The first time I (20F, 19 at the time) ever flew was to meet my boyfriend (19M, 18 at the time) for the first time. He lives in Nova Scotia, and we both had spring break at the same time, so it had seemed the stars aligned for us to meet!

Everything was going well and I had everything prepared - passport readily available, my medication that I was on at the time, extra money for food during travel, chargers, etc. I had just landed in Boston from Houston and it was really neat to see all of the snow and cold weather happening outside the windows. My next flight was to Halifax, and I was really eager to get there so I got through customs and security and went to my gate early.

Then, about 45 minutes or so before boarding, my flight got cancelled due to a blizzard that was affecting the Halifax area at the time.

Now, before I continue, all of this is stuff to keep in mind:

• I had never flown anywhere before by myself (and the last time I had gone anywhere by plane was when I was an infant).
• My boyfriend did not have a cell phone at the time, but I was in contact with his sister (he and his family were driving four hours to the airport to get me... that, and reception in that trip is very poor already).
• I had no idea what the weather was like over there (I just knew it was much colder than I was used to and that he had had a blizzard hit his area around the same time the year before).

So, naturally, I start freaking out and frantically trying to reach my boyfriend. After finally figuring out what I needed to do and getting in contact with my boyfriend, I got another ticket to Halifax booked from Boston, but I would be landing there around 2 AM local time instead of 8 PM like we had originally planned.

Then, a few minutes after I had gotten the new flight booked, that flight got cancelled too (I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was already upset and it had gotten worse). So, after another huge mess, I got my final rescheduling done - I was to fly to Montreal, then to Halifax.

I landed in Montreal very late at night/early in the morning (depending on how you see that sort of time) and I had planned on waiting in the airport until it was time for my outbound flight the next morning. Luckily, though, I found out that Air Canada had provided me with a free hotel stay nearby, as well as two meal vouchers that were worth up to ten dollars per voucher (I now know that this is something they are required to do for events like this, but at the time it was a blessing).

Unfortunately, however, I was only able to stay in the hotel for about two hours before I had to leave to get to the airport, check in, get through customs, and get to my gate. I ended up not sleeping during that time and just watched some videos on YouTube instead.

After all of this chaos and sleep deprivation, I boarded the plane to Halifax and got there around noon local time and met up with him... the visit went well and I got to see what an abundance of snow looked like for the first time, as well as build an actual snowman that was almost as tall as me (I'm 5'7")!

The flight back home went without a hitch, and if I had to do it all again, I would! I learned a lot during the whole experience, and it makes me keep in mind things like delays and long/short layovers when I travel now (not that I've done a lot since then, but still).

I'm visiting him again in about a month or so... hopefully a blizzard doesn't keep me from him this time!