Woman tries to board a plane to a Greek island for vacation, but ends up on a 72-hour sleep deprived Odyssey with stranded passengers instead

Sadija Gure (@sadija.g) from Oslo, Norway, looked forward to a vacation in Naxos, a Greek island renowned for its golden-sand beaches. Instead, she allegedly faced her own Odyssey after multiple flight delays and a subsequent cancellation.

“If you think you’ve had a bad travel experience, let me tell you about the worst travel experience of my life that happened to me recently,” Gure told TikTok. She explained that a friend invited her to stay with her in Naxos. However, because it was a last-minute flight, Sadija said no direct flights were available from Oslo. Determined to reach her destination, she said she booked three separate flights.

Gure left Oslo at 6:00 p.m. and made it to the plane. She explained that she had no choice but to wait six hours for her flight in Naxos from Athens, even though she was allegedly sleep-deprived. To make matters worse, Gure claimed she couldn’t sleep in public, whether on a bus or an airplane. She thought she could “thug it out” and sleep after the last flight.

After waiting six hours, Gure said they were called to board the plane. Then, Gure alleged that an undisclosed technical issue occurred, so they had to wait again. When they boarded a bus to their designated airplane, Gure said she saw people who worked on the plane arguing back and forth. Again, Gure alleged that she and the other passengers were sent back to the gate three times.

She unexpectedly embarked on her own Odyssey

She thought it was just a flight delay until they were denied boarding for a third time. Gure claimed their flight was canceled, leaving her stranded with other passengers. “I’m on day two of no sleep,” she said. Gure tried to find other flights, but she was allegedly told to take a ferry. Apparently, the other flights had been canceled due to bad weather. But with the ferry, Gure allegedly had to wait until 5:30 p.m. to board, and she would arrive in Naxos at midnight. Gure’s flight was canceled at 10:00 a.m., leaving her with ample time.

“The only thing they could offer me was a taxi,” Gure claimed. She didn’t know what to do to fill her time. Unlike this woman, who had her passport printed and booked a last-minute flight to Ibiza on the same day, time moved slowly for Gure. The cab driver, whom she praised as “nice,” took her to a local cafe. As soon as she walked in, Gure said she found a fellow passenger from her canceled flight. The man, originally from Naxos, allegedly began telling her stories about his life while they waited for the ferry.

“I ended up making a friend, and I was like, you know what? At least one good thing came out of this,” Gure said. However, she still begrudged having to sit on the ferry for another six hours to reach her destination. Thankfully, the ferry arrived at 4:00 p.m., earlier than scheduled. She waited to board with a few other stranded passengers from Greece, but didn’t depart until 5:30 p.m.

Finally starting the journey to Naxos

While on the ferry, Gure said she tried to nap but woke up ten minutes later, hearing conversations in Greek. Eventually, she gave up trying to sleep and passed the time with her newfound friend, two other men, and another Greek woman. In the group, only one of them spoke English. Gure said she even had to use Google Translate to communicate.

“This whole time, I was sad about the fact that I didn’t watch The Odyssey this summer, and I just never saw the movie. Little did I know that I would end up taking the same f****** journey Odysseus took,” Gure joked. Despite delays and cancellations on her trip, Gure said the Greeks made her feel cared for during her six-hour ferry ride. By the time they reached shore, it was already midnight. Although she was relieved to make land finally, Gure also said she felt sad to say goodbye to her fellow passengers, who stuck with her through the tedious journey. But while Gure had hours on end to catch different modes of transportation, this woman from London nearly had the boarding gates closed on her after her passport expired the day before her trip to Greece.

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