Going to the airport was a breeze. He took a bus that went straight there. When he arrived, Joseph had hours more to spare, so, he picked a good spot in front of a flight schedule monitor and relaxed.
He took out some reading materials about Thailand and studied the places he should go around Krabi, his destination. He looked up the beaches, the islands, the tourist spots, just about everything he needed to fully enjoy his stay.
The time on his phone displayed that it was 10 in the morning, exactly 2 hours before departure. The check-in should be open now. His eyes scanned for his flight on the monitor to see which counter he should drop his luggage. He found the flight number, his eyes followed carefully to make sure he doesn't misread the check-in counter.
"Oh no…" he blurted. His heart faltered. "This can't be happening…" Joseph ran to the information counter with his luggage.
"Hi ma'am, excuse me. Can you help me out with something?" he said as he showed his online flight details to the receptionist without waiting for her to respond. "May I know the status of this flight?"
The receptionist took a loom at the flight number and tapped it on her computer. She apologized, saying that the flight was cancelled indefinitely.
The flight was not delayed, it was cancelled. Outright cancelled. The receptionist explained the procedures on how to get refunds and stuff, but his mind was elsewhere.
Joseph was panicking. He cut her off as she was explaining, asking on where he could get new tickets. Joseph ran off immediately after she pointed it to him. A second wasted might be a seat filled up. There was not a moment to lose.
Fortunately, there were still seats available on a different flight to Krabi. He let out a sigh of relief, he was still going to Thailand. He would have sat there on the floor crying if he had to cancel the whole trip. Gratitude flooded over him like a metaphoric wave. He was grateful that he could still get to experience actual waves on the beaches of Krabi.
Bad news was, he had to buy a new, last minute ticket which was very costly. His expenses needed to be recalculated but that was okay in his opinion. At least he was going there. Not a perfect trip, but still manageable.