Our plane from Madeira landed in Porto in the morning, and we had the whole day to spend in Porto before flying out to Morocco that evening. We planned to take the metro into the city and explore before coming back to the airport. As we figured out where the metro was, the power flickered off. Thinking nothing of it, we made our way to the station.

Buying a ticket from the machines, we stepped onto the platform only to realise that the trains weren’t running because there was still no power. Waiting for 10 minutes, we eventually gave up and went back into the airport. So much for a trip into Porto!

Back inside we settled down to wait, expecting the power to come back on in an hour or two. But still there was no power, and because of that the internet was down as well. Luckily Mum managed to get a brief period to look up what had happened. Then we discovered how serious this was.

With the entirety of Spain and Portugal affected by a massive grid failure, we were in for a treat. This wasn’t just a local fault. But planes were still flying, and our flight was still hours away.

Bagging a power charger seat, we settled down to wait. We’d already explored the airport a million times. Eventually our flight came onto the board and only a few other flights had been cancelled. Hopes were high.

Our plane was delayed 30 minutes. No big deal. Then every minute that passed it went back up a minute. But then no planes could be seen landing or taking off, and that was worrying. By now it was about 8pm.

We waited 2 more hours at the gate, luckily sat down, and then a miracle happened – power was restored. Wheels seemed to be in motion, and there was a chance we might get out of this.

But one miracle would not be enough. After waiting even longer (but luckily the free arcade games were now working!), we were moved to another gate. Then we actually began to queue. But then apparently the crew’s safe number of flight hours expired and our flight had to be cancelled. So after nearly 12 hours of waiting, we still hadn’t boarded a plane.

We were sent through a boarding ramp, only to divert down, and back into the airport, where we had to pass through border control again. We went to the flight desk to ask for information, along with hundreds of others. Then just as we were about to get to the head of the massive queue, they simply rolled down the shutters and went home.

So, for some reason, even though airlines have to ‘supply the customer with food, accommodation and water’, they apparently don’t really have to. Giving up, we tried booking accommodation for the night, as the vacant slots rapidly disappeared. Luckily we managed to find something and walked down to the taxis.

But the fun wasn’t done yet. Arriving, we saw a long line of people waiting to get taxis and rideshares, which had steadily increasing prices. Somehow we managed to get a rideshare after a few minutes. He’d already arrived and we didn’t know where he was. We had a minute before being charged a waiting fee. Dashing along the long terminal we somehow found him in time.

Soon we were in the comfort of the hotel and, exhausted, we slept soundly.