Thanks to an approaching storm in the New York City area, Kim, Lucas and I have an extra day to spend in Oslo.

We were supposed to head home this morning but United cancelled our flight due to the upcoming weather conditions.

We’d been reading about the potential storm online so I decided to check our flight status last night. As of midnight (Oslo time) our flight was scheduled to arrive on-time, possibly getting in a bit early.

When I woke up at 6:22 AM the first thing I did was grab my phone and check our flight status once again. I headed on over to FlightAware, which offers live flight tracking to make sure that our flight was taking off on time.

I immediately saw the word Cancelled.

I then decided to turn on my laptop and head over to United.com. This re-confirmed that our flight would not be taking off  but there was no instructions on how to proceed.

Rather than head over to the airport which is a (approximately) $15 train ride each way, I called United through Skype.

After a brief hold, the news of our flight being cancelled was reconfirmed again. I was then asked if we could fly home the following day. I asked if there was any other options to fly home today and was told that there was not. I was then asked  again if we would fly home tomorrow and said sure, what other option do I have!

After another hold, we were confirmed to fly home the following day.

Our next issue to deal with was where to stay. Our current hotel, Comfort Hotel Xpress has been very good (location, comfort & price) and we didn’t want to change hotels. We had paid $97.22 per night and the rate to add one more night was now at $158.

We never pay $158 per night for a hotel but this time around we decided to bite the bullet and pay. There were a couple of reasons why.

1. Convenience: Travelling with a 2-year-old takes a bit more work and moving our stuff would be a bit of a pain.
2. Not any better options: Oslo is possibly the most expensive city in the world. Finding a cheap hotel is not so simple. Hostel seem to only be dorms which we don’t do and we couldn’t find anything worthwhile or much cheaper.

So now thanks to an approaching winter storm in NYC, our first trip of 2014 got a day longer and $158 pricier.

There were a few things that we didn’t get to do during our visit so now we’ll see even more of Oslo today! Not the worst thing in the world…

A quick recap of how to deal with a flight cancellation.

• Always check your flight status if weather might be a factor (at home or at your current destination).
• Stay calm, there isn’t much you can do about it
• Its better to call the airline first rather than head directly to the airport, you might save yourself some time, $$$ and a headache.
• Before booking your hotel, do some research. Check various sites, prices may vary. HotelTonight could be a good option.
• Weigh your options as price is not the only factor- packing, transport to new hotel can cost $$. You know what you already have at your current hotel.
• Make the best of your time and try to enjoy your day!