Every great adventure has to start somewhere—but we were hoping ours wouldn’t begin with a scramble.

Just a few hours before our scheduled flight to DFW, where we were set to connect to London for our cruise to Norway and Iceland, we got the dreaded notification: flight delayed. Cue the stress. With tight international connections, every minute counts.

We quickly got on the phone with American Airlines and, to their credit, they helped us switch to an earlier flight. Crisis averted—or so we thought.

Bags checked, security cleared, and just as we were catching our breath, another alert popped up: the new flight was delayed too.

Back to the ticket counter we went, where a very patient agent walked us through our dwindling options. After some back-and-forth, the best plan emerged: reroute through Chicago, spend the night there, and catch a 5:40 p.m. flight to London the next day.

We made it to Chicago without a hitch, and American Airlines kindly put us up at the Hyatt Regency for the night. Not exactly the start we imagined, but we’re rolling with it.

If all goes well, we’ll land in London with enough time to board the Emerald Princess before it departs at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 17. Fingers crossed for smooth skies and calm seas from here on out!