Last week, flights coming in and out of Launceston Airport were delayed, cancelled, or diverted due to a thick fog blanketing the Northern Midlands.

The news reminded me of my first experience of having travel plans thwarted by fog.

When I was living abroad at 18, a friend and I decided to book tickets to spend a few days visiting Krakow, Poland.

What should have been a relatively painless two and a half hour flight from Manchester Airport turned into a nightlong adventure.

Everything was smoothly until about an hour into our flight, when announcements began coming in from the air crew. Too busy watching a movie, we didn't pay a whole lot of attention - but we got the jist there was going to be some kind of issue with our landing.

So we were a still a little surprised when, after landing, we entered the terminal to see on the signage that we had landed in the wrong city.

Unsurprisingly neither of us spoke Polish, so we weren't 100 per cent sure what was going on. However, we soon worked out that due to the extreme fog in Krakow, we instead landed in Wroclaw - about 270 kilometres away from our destination.

It was about midnight and -2 degrees while we stood outside the closed airport, tired and hungry, still largely unsure what was going on.

Eventually we were herded onto busses, and three hours later, we had arrived at Krakow's John Paul II International Airport.

The receptionist at our hostel wasn't pleased at our 4.30am arrival, but we were just glad to have arrived in one piece.

Though the delays and ensuing bus transfer was frustrating, we definitely understood when saw that the foggy conditions were extreme - we could hardly see in front of us, so it was understandable that the airline decided to land elsewhere.

Weather is not something airlines or airports can control, as much as I'm sure they wish they could.

Common conditions that can affect flights include low cloud, rain, thunderstorms and lightning - and of course, fog.

Wind, floods, and volcanic ash can also have major impacts.

The best thing to do if your flight is impacted by delays or cancellations is to be patient and get in touch with your airline.

After all, they just want to see you arrive at your destination safely.