Stranded by the snow: ‘It took me 72 hours to travel from Jakarta to Rotterdam’

Due to heavy snowfall in the Netherlands, thousands of travelers were stranded over the past few days. International students returning to Rotterdam after the Christmas holidays also faced cancellations, rebookings, and long waiting times.

‘Four hours waiting on the plane and still didn’t reach Schiphol’

Student Haya set off on Sunday full of optimism toward Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana. That optimism quickly faded when she had to stand in queue at the check-in counter for four hours. “The departure time had already passed when we were told that our flight was cancelled because of snow in the Netherlands”, she says. “I begged to be put on another flight that same day, but they said that people with connecting flights at Schiphol had priority.”

She returned home, only to go back to the airport the next day. After some delay, her flight finally departed toward Schiphol. “But after seven hours in the air, we heard that we couldn’t land there. The plan was to fly to Brussels first, refuel there, and then continue on to Schiphol.”

Once in Brussels, the passengers had to wait another four hours on the plane. “Eventually, we didn’t go back to Schiphol at all. We had to leave the aircraft and get out of Brussels Airport as quickly as possible because it was far too crowded.”

That turned out to be easier said than done: Haya had to wait another four hours for her suitcase. “It was absolute chaos.” Fortunately, the train journey from Brussels went fairly smoothly. She left around 10:00 p.m. and arrived home around 12:30 a.m. A trip that normally takes 10 hours took her 24 hours this time. “I’m still annoyed that classes this week were cancelled or moved online. I could just as well have stayed longer in Accra and followed the classes from home. That would have saved me all that misery.”

‘The taxi ride cost as much as my plane ticket’

Housemates Kaiden and Helena flew back from different continents, but both were unlucky. Kaiden visited family in Washington, D.C., during the holidays, while Helena spent Christmas in Lisbon.

When Kaiden flew back to the Netherlands on Saturday, they received a message from the airline company that their direct flight had been cancelled. “I was offered an alternative with a transfer in Atlanta. I thought: better something than nothing, so I accepted it.”

After a two-hour delay, Kaiden departed from Atlanta toward Schiphol. There, they had to wait another hour and a half on the plane, followed by an hour at the luggage carousel. In total, their journey was delayed by about twelve hours. “It was one of the most terrible trips I’ve ever experienced. The delay itself might not have been that bad compared to others, but the uncertainty about whether you’d arrive at all was extremely stressful.”

Helena recognises that feeling. She was supposed to depart on Sunday, but was told by the airline company that her flight was cancelled due to bad weather in Amsterdam. On Monday, she was back at the airport. “My flight was supposed to leave at 12:55 p.m., but all the flights before mine had already been cancelled.”

At the gate, she was told that more information would only come an hour later. “I really started to get nervous. It was uncertain whether we would fly at all, but I had to get back. Classes had already started and I’d already missed classes on Monday.”

After an hour of waiting, her flight finally departed and landed on Monday evening at 8:00 p.m. She too had to remain on the plane for another hour and then wait an hour for her luggage.

In the meantime, she checked the Dutch Railways timetable. “Google Maps said the train was running.” But nothing could be further from the truth: outside the airport, not a single train was running. “I walked back and forth between the platforms and the terminal, but there was really nothing.” She tried ordering Uber and Bolt, without success. “Six times my ride was cancelled.” Eventually, she joined the queue for regular taxis. “The queue was extremely long and the ride was three times as expensive, but at least I was sure I’d get home.”

Two hours later, and 200 euros poorer, around midnight she arrived at her student house where Kaiden had arrived a day earlier. “The taxi ride cost as much as my return ticket to Lisbon”, Helena says with a laugh. “But I was mainly happy that I could finally sleep in my own bed.”

‘This was the first time I flew alone, I wasn’t prepared for this nightmare’

EM reporter and student Saskia wasn’t too worried on Monday evening in Jakarta when she heard that her flight was delayed by three hours. “I went to eat satay and chat with friends who brought me to the airport.” Panic only set in after arriving in Istanbul. “That’s where I heard there were no more flights to the Netherlands”, she says. “This was the first time I flew alone, I wasn’t prepared for this nightmare.”

From the staff she heard that the chances of flights to Schiphol in the coming days were slim. She was therefore given a flight to Düsseldorf the next day. “We were taken by car to a hotel to spend the night. I thought the hotel was nearby, but it was an hour’s drive away, in the middle of nowhere.”

The next morning, her flight departed at 8:00 a.m., which meant she had to be at the airport by 6:00 a.m. “I slept restlessly. I was so afraid of missing the shuttle that I was already waiting in the lobby at 3:30 a.m.”

Chaos reigned at Istanbul Airport. “We received contradictory information, there were no gate details, and all flights to the Netherlands were delayed.” After an hour’s delay and a three-hour flight, she finally landed in Düsseldorf.

“The next challenge was traveling by train to Rotterdam with more than 30 kilos of luggage”, she laughs. The train journey also went poorly. When she arrived in Eindhoven at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, she heard that the next train to Rotterdam Alexander wouldn’t leave until 4:00 p.m. “Well, then we just have to eat something again, right?”

At Rotterdam Alexander, it turned out there were no buses running to her home. “Eventually I took the metro to Oosterflank and walked a kilometer and a half home.” With two heavy suitcases. “A woman I met along the way felt so sorry for me that she helped carry them”, she says, laughing. She sighs: “Normally this trip takes 24 hours, but now it took me 72 hours to get from Jakarta to Rotterdam.”

‘The return journey will take another fifteen to eighteen hours’

Lila went home for the holidays, to Łódź in central Poland, for the first time since she started her International Bachelor Communication and Media studies last summer. “At the end of that period, I went to Prague with friends for a few days. Traveling back from there would be faster and cheaper.” That was the plan.

On Tuesday, she heard that her flight to Amsterdam the next day had been cancelled. “Fortunately, I knew a day in advance. That way I could drive six hours back home with friends, because since it was force majeure, KLM didn’t reimburse anything for a longer stay or food. KLM really wasn’t helpful at all – it was total chaos there, I think. Understandable with all those flights being cancelled, but still incredibly frustrating. I was also immediately very stressed about being able to follow my classes. Luckily, those were cancelled or continued online. I was really quite lucky in that respect too.”

Now Lila hopes she’ll have some luck on the return journey as well. She’s flying to Brussels on Thursday and hopes to catch a bus from there. “The return journey will take another fifteen to eighteen hours.”