On Dec. 23, 2022, storms and power outages struck Massachusetts, resulting in numerous delayed and canceled flights across the state. For some Wayland High School students who were planning to travel over break, the storm and flight cancellations caused distress, as well as the possibility of having to rearrange plans.

At the beginning of winter break, junior Mariam Gayed traveled to Chicago for a convention. The storm caused a three hour delay in her flight to Chicago, however, the real trouble began on her trip home.

“The airline we took was Southwest Airlines, and I guess they were having difficulties before our flight,” Gayed said. “Two days before our flight home, we found out that our flight to Massachusetts was canceled.”

Gayed and her family had to adapt to the sudden change, resulting in several irritating inconveniences.

“We had to rent a car in Chicago and drive back to Massachusetts, which was a 14 hour drive,” Gayed said. “We finally arrived home in the middle of the night, around 3 a.m.”

While some students’ flights were canceled like Gayed’s was, others, like sophomore Finley Knapp, were lucky enough to only face minimal changes to their flights. On Dec. 23, 2022, Knapp and her family planned to travel to Mexico. While there were complications regarding the flight to Mexico, she and her family were still able to get to their destination on the same day.

“Our flight was just delayed a few hours because of the storm, so we ended up leaving at 11:30 a.m. instead of 7:30 a.m.,” Knapp said. “We had to find different transportation since we landed later. We also lost more beach time the day we got there.”

For some students, like sophomore Maya Noyes, the storm completely changed gears for their family’s planned vacation.

“Our destination was supposed to be Minnesota, however, [our flight] was at the height of the storm,” Noyes said. “[At the] last minute, we changed our flight and ended up going to the Dominican Republic instead. However, once we decided to book the flight to the Dominican Republic, it was still delayed for three hours.”

Although some students’ original plans for winter break were altered, several families, like the Noyes family, were still able to plan an exciting vacation.

“By the time we went home on Dec. 30, our trip home went according to plan and smoothly,” Noyes said. “Fortunately, the storm was finally done by then.”