I Spent the First Night of My Honeymoon Sleeping in an Empty Airport
Life will always throw curveballs, but it’s about how you pull through together
My wife and I got married at the end of May earlier this year, and as cliche, as it sounds, it was an awe-inspiring and heartfelt ceremony. I found it particularly special not only because a wedding is seen as a major milestone depicting a union, but because the two of us had spent the last four months planning every minute detail together.
Yes, that’s right, no one else was involved in the planning. No parents, no siblings or wedding planners — just the two of us. So you can imagine our sense of joy when we realised during the lead-up that her parents had gifted us a week-long honeymoon trip to Switzerland.
We were due to fly two days after the reception, and with everything already booked, we were excited. But what was supposed to be a smooth hour-long flight from London to Zurich ended up becoming a two-day excursion across Europe.
Trouble Begins to Brew
Our flight to Zurich was scheduled at 6.30 am, so my wife and I decided to get an early night. Of course, being newlyweds and still hyper from the wedding events, we had no intention of sleeping early.
As we were preparing to call it a night, however, an unexpected notification came through. Even marriage won’t erode old habits, and I quickly checked my phone with a look of horror. My wife instantly recognised the change in my demeanour, and with furrowed brows, we worriedly scanned through the email together.
Our flight had been cancelled!
Our initial shock deepened as we realised that every other alternative flight that day had been fully booked. After calling the airline’s customer service, they instructed us to continue to the airport as nothing could be done on their end.
Sleep was all but impossible at this point, but our eyes must have succumbed to sleep at some point. What felt like thirty seconds later, the alarm blared in our ears, signalling we had to grab all our luggage, get in the Uber and reach Heathrow by 3.30 am.
After arriving, we saw our departure flight on the screen with the dreaded words ‘CANCELLED’. Deflated, we approached the service desk, and the woman had a solemn face.
Much to our chagrin, we were told that there was nothing she could do and that we had to call customer service again. Almost immediately, and realising we were stuck in Heathrow at 3.30 am with no outbound flight, my wife began to cry. The woman at the service desk looked distraught as she knew we could not reach our honeymoon destination.
Seeing my wife’s tears filled me with a deep sadness. I hated seeing her cry, and I told myself I would do whatever it took to get the both of us out of the country.
And once again, our incredible bond held firm. With renewed vigour, my wife looked at possible routes out of London, including trains and coaches. Not just to Switzerland but to Germany, Austria and France.
Meanwhile, I called the service desk again, hoping for someone more empathetic to our plight. The woman on the other end understood our predicament and told us that we shouldn’t have come to the airport at all.
‘Is there anything you can do? Please check other destinations, other airports and even other carriers.’
After half an hour of searching and searching, she asked us if we could get to Manchester later that afternoon. She had booked a flight on another carrier that would take us to Geneva after a short stop at Munich.
Yes, yes, yes, it didn’t matter. We just had to leave the country any way we could. Manchester was three hours away, but we had ample time to get there. As soon as the confirmation for our rebooked flight came through, we were overjoyed once again.
We decided to book a last-minute train ticket and make our way directly from Euston. With a clear plan set, we had breakfast, gathered our luggage and made our way to the station. Yet, our chaotic journey was only just beginning.
From One Chaotic Journey to Another
As soon as we arrived, we were met by a horde of passengers, all vying for control over the last few chairs that were dotted around the station. Hard-pressed by what looked like a queue full of squabbling teenagers, we finally made our way to the train with my husband-traits already beginning to show by singlehandedly carrying all of our suitcases.
It’s funny how much more careful you are with these things when you’re travelling with another person. You worry more for their safety and do what you can to ensure they’re stress-free. If this is how husbands feel, I can’t imagine what it must be like for a father.
Nevertheless, we got to Manchester in one piece. But we did make a mistake. If you ever find yourself travelling long distances without breaks, always always make sure you bring water. We hadn’t, and as soon as we got to the airport, we ran to the nearest store, brought two large bottles and guzzled them down like a pair of dehydrated pelicans returning from a long migration.
But our nightmare had only just begun. Security at the airport took well over an hour and a half, and if there’s any test of a marriage, then it’s two people waiting in a line and trying to keep each other sane. That’s when it dawned on us that we would have to wait even longer than expected.
Due to the long queues at security, most flights were delaying their departure, and ours was not due to leave for another ninety minutes. We were panicking since we had paid for a hotel in Geneva, and we were at a real risk of missing our second flight from Munich. There wasn’t much we could do but pray that the connecting flight was also delayed.
After what seemed an eternity, we finally boarded the plane, only to hear the news that there would be further delays. But at last, the plane started moving. At this point, we were just happy to be leaving the country. Anywhere else was better than here. But, our crazy adventure was about to take a turn for the worst.
Stranded in Germany
As expected, our flight arrived ninety minutes late, giving us mere moments to sprint halfway across the terminal to catch the next one. We didn’t care that we were sweating and aching. We didn’t care that we hadn’t showered since we left to catch the train and had no change of clothes in our hand luggage. Who knew if our hold luggage would even arrive in Geneva. We just knew that we had to catch that next flight, no matter what.
Twenty incredibly long minutes later, we made it to the gate. But then, our eyes looked on in horror as we saw the plane sitting there with the gate firmly closed. The attendant informed us that he couldn’t let us on and that it was due to depart within the next few minutes.
‘We’re paying passengers. Can’t we just board now? Here’s our seat number.’ Yet, it was to no avail, and we saw the plane slowly leave before our very eyes.
Defeated, we walked back to the service desk, where we saw many other passengers. Couples and families on the same flight as us also looked on in confusion. Were we stranded in Munich?
Luckily for us, the attendant was welcoming and told us she could book a flight to Zurich for the following day. The downside was that we would need to find our own hotel for the night, as the airline could not do this on our behalf.
Feeling distraught, we decided to explore the airport campus, and after leaving the terminal, we made our way to the nearby Hilton hotel. But misfortune struck again as we were told there were no rooms available.
By now, it was almost midnight, all the restaurants had closed and with only a few hours until check-in, we didn’t see a point in travelling several miles in search of a hotel. We’d have to go back and stay inside the airport.
When we returned, we were given small pillows, a Mars Bar, some nuts and two bottles of water and told we could wait inside the terminal. If there was ever a low point in anyone’s life, it was this. Spending the first night of your honeymoon inside an airport with the bare essentials, surrounded by other snoring passengers.
As we wandered through the creepily eerie airport, searching for a place to settle for the night, we saw a few others sleeping on the hard chairs and under escalators. Eventually, we found a spot near some charging points, placed our blankets down and used the rather small pillows to protect ourselves from the cold hard floor.
After some initial conversations with our families and trying to make ourselves feel better by watching Netflix, we quickly fell into a deep slumber. Several hours passed, and it was a surprisingly restful sleep, but my wife was quickly awoken by the sound of burly German security officers walking toward the airport gates.
It was the second day of our honeymoon, and here we were, in sweaty clothes, with unkempt hair and unwashed faces. And yet, despite our awful situation, we were closer than ever. Building a life is not supposed to be easy, but if you’re with the right person you can make anything fun — then at least you can look back and laugh at the experience.
If we could get through this, then the rest would be nothing. As we watched the sunrise from our breakfast table, the feeling of tasting something that resembled real food after so long was luxurious. Even drinking a simple latte brought the colour back to our faces. At last, we could finally begin our honeymoon.
We reflected on how we had been there for each other through all those low moments. Many couples would’ve collapsed under the pressure. Some would blame their partners, and others would freeze and give up, but somehow we stuck through it and persevered.
Sure, we had lost a day and a half from our honeymoon, but the memories of the ordeal? They’ll stay with us for the rest of our lives. This was the start of our marriage, and going through that experience made us stronger than ever.
It showed that together, we could get through any hardship. We could trust each other, confide in, and support each other when the going got tough.
What more could you ask for in a partner? What more could you ask for in a wife?
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