Maybe you've heard Murphy's Law - "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." I never really understood how this saying came about though. And as my plane was about to take off on 21 March, I sat there thinking about how everything that could've gone wrong, didn't.
I was originally planning on staying in London all throughout summer; I had no plans to return home for at least a year. Even as more and more of my friends decided to go home with the whole escalation of the coronavirus, it still never crossed my mind that going home was an option for me. That was until my parents convinced me on 14 March it would be a good idea to go home.
After I made the decision to go home, the stressful process of trying to find a flight commenced. I really would have preferred a direct flight as soon as possible, but there were none for the next couple of weeks. I ended up buying a Finnair ticket for 21 March transferring in Helsinki and Bangkok, and when the online transaction was completed, I breathed a sigh of relief.
All too soon.
Just 2 days later, I saw my friend posting on her story that her Finnair flight was cancelled. My heart fell as I thought about how my flight could be cancelled as well. I went onto the Finnair website and looked at the travel updates. They were significantly reducing their flights, and they said that contacting customers would take some time as they had to go through the system.
I had not yet received a message from them saying that my flight would be cancelled, but I figured it would only be a matter of time until they contacted me. (Since my friend was only notified 2 days prior to departure as well.) So my parents decided to book me onto another flight, which was such a stressful process. Every time I refreshed the page, the available flights displayed would be different. When a direct flight popped up and I finished filling in the first page of personal details, the system would retaliate with an error message. And when I tried to click into the flight again, it would say that no more seats were available. I ended up booking a flight transferring in Frankfurt for 22 March.
A couple of days later, I woke up to see a text saying that another friend's flight to Hong Kong transferring somewhere in Europe was cancelled. I went online to check my booking, and guess what... my Frankfurt transfer flight was cancelled as well:/ (But thankfully I was able to get a refund.)
After that, we decided that the safest bet would be to book a direct flight with Cathay Pacific, but at that point, so many Hong Kong students in London were trying to go home, and the only direct flight we were able to find was on 27 March.
I then prepared myself for having to stay in London for another 5 days. It was not fun. Apart from the uncertainty of how my assessments would be changed, I was hearing news about how rapidly the situation was changing, in the UK and worldwide. I'd hear about countries locking down and airports introducing new restrictions and airlines deciding not to fly. I told my friends how I used to perceive flight bookings as something set in stone once completed, but now I had absolutely know clue if my booked flight would even happen.
On top of that, I was stressed out about the flight given that it could happen. Just being stuck in such a tight space with so many people for hours and hours did not sound appealing at all, especially with this whole virus thing going around. Like many others, I began to formulate my plan for how to stay the most protected in such a high risk environment.
So I went on with my social distancing life, staying at home and trying to study, but really mostly worrying about going home. I listened to a lot of worship music throughout this time, and I prayed a lot. It really calmed me down, but I guess I still had doubts. I was listening to Cody Carnes' Nothing Else, which is a song about asking for Jesus presence. It says "More than anything that you can do, I just want you." (You'll see how this becomes important later.)
19 March rolled around and I realized that my 21 March flight had not been cancelled after all. (To be honest, I did not really expect that.) So I quickly finished up my preparation to leave. At this point, you're probably thinking I've just been worrying about nothing. But it wasn't that simple.
It hit me that though I had prepared for a direct flight, I now have to plan for a non-direct flight involving a 9 hour layover in Bangkok. How was I supposed to keep up my vigilance for such a long time?
I was experiencing a very odd mix of emotions. Sad to have to leave London, which was looking gorgeous the day I had to leave. Excited to go home and to see family. Surprised by how much I'm saddened to have to leave, realizing that London really has become so homey to me over short time. Worried about sick people that may infect me on my journey. Apprehensive about whether or not my flight would even be happening, careful not to get my hopes up too soon.
So I went to the airport to check in, and when I made it to the counter 4 hours before my flight, it did seem like everything was going well. But then the guy at the counter looked at me and said, "Are you aware of the new Thailand travel regulations that were put in place last night?"
"No..."
"You need a medical certificate from the Thai embassy to transfer in Thailand. You cannot land there with out one."
"So the only place I can get a medical certificate is at the embassy?! That's all the way downtown!"
"Yes, I suggest you ring up Finnair and see if they can re-route you."
I was not excited about having to contact customer service. Last time, I waited over an hour for someone to pick up. I did not want to be standing in the airport for an hour waiting for customer service.
So I called up my parents, told them the bad news. It looked like I would have to trek all the way back to my place in London, and wait for the flight on 27 March.
I still decided to ring up Finnair anyway, to see if there was anything. But the chances looked slim.
I had prepared so much for a flight that didn't even end up happening.
But then suddenly I get this call from my dad, telling me that he found 1 seat left for a direct flight leaving 1 hour later than my original flight! He immediately booked me on and I checked in, went through customs, and finally, finally boarded my flight. This was the earliest direct flight to Hong Kong, which is super ideal.
Remember me thinking about everything that could have gone wrong?
If I was able to transfer in Thailand, it would have been 26 hours of trying to stay vigilant, whereas now it was only 11. I would have had to transfer twice, getting on and off of planes, coming into contact with many more people, being severely sleep deprived...
If I had checked the Thailand travel regulations the night before, I would not have went to the airport that morning and I probably would not have made the direct flight.
If either Hong Kong or London imposed travel bans at that point I would not have been able to go home.
Honestly just the very fact that my dad was able to find 1 seat left at the very moment I needed it was a miracle. I wondered why he would even think to check for a direct flight at that point, because every other time we checked, no flights were available. Who would've thought there would be 1 seat available at the last minute?
I later learned from my mom that the reason he thought of checking was because she received a message from another parent that direct flights were available later that night on British Airways. So then my dad decides to go check.
Imagine if there were no additional flights. Imagine if my mom's friend didn't check to see other flights were available. Imagine if my mom didn't decide to converse with her about my canceled flight. Then we would not have known!
And you know what else? On the flight, there was barely anyone within a 2 feet radius of me. I was in an aisle seat towards the back of the plane. The rest of the plane had rows of 3-4-3 seats, but the section where I was sitting had 3-3-3. This means that the aisle to the right of me had extra space the width of one seat! There was no one sitting on my left, there was no one sitting behind me, no one left-backwards, and no one left forwards. It was literally only one person sitting in front of me, and since they had their back towards me, the chances of them infecting me (if they were carrying anything) was very very low. So I honestly had quite a pleasant flight.
I thought about how sooooo many things were out of my control, but they some how just happened in the exact way that they needed to. It really was God answering my prayers.
And you remember that prayer I mentioned praying about Jesus' presence? As I sat in my flight I really reflected on how Jesus is the Prince of Peace. We often think about peace as the sense of harmony between different people or different groups of people, but this time I really experienced how Jesus gives inner peace.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ~ Philippians 4:7
I normally am quite a panicky person under stressful circumstances. My hearts starts beating like crazy, I lose focus and I end up doing something stupid. But even when the guy at the counter told me that I would not be able to fly through Thailand, I had absolutely no idea why I did not panic at all. Like honestly.
I would have expected my face to start flushing. I probably would have tried to do something useful but end up running around aimlessly.
But somehow, somehow I was calm.
Even though everything seemed to be crashing down at the very moment that the past week was building up to, my heart rate was normal. And I sat on the plane listening to Do It Again by Elevation Worship, thinking about all the mountains that were moved.
(Sorry if this post was kind of chaotic :P But to be fair, it's just a reflection of how chaotic the past couple of weeks have been for me.)