She took a plane, a train and a coach, but Bridget Waters still missed her brother's wedding.

The travel nightmare began when she was caught up in the New York power cut while on her way home from ten weeks of teaching kids at a summer camp in Pennsylvania.

The 21-year-old art and design student was delayed for 21 hours at JFK airport as it ground to a standstill during the blackout.

Six hours passed as staff manually searched people boarding the plane because X-ray machines were not working.

She said: "We arrived at 4pm and two minutes later everything went dead. We waited around until about 8pm and then we were told we had no chance of boarding the flight that night.

"At 9pm they told us to go to a hotel but we didn't have any money and there was no transport in New York. Everything had just stopped.

"The traffic lights weren't working and people were just leaving their cars and walking."

Abandoning hope of getting airborne that night, Bridget slept fitfully on the floor of the airport, having been offered no food, water or accommodation.

Meanwhile mum Marie Johnston, of Wilbury Villas, Hove, had caught a coach to Heathrow at 5am to meet her daughter's 7.10am flight.

As the day wore on she grew more and more anxious.

She said: "I was just being a worried mother, but thoughts of a terrorist attack were flicking through my head."

Finally at 11.30pm Bridget arrived at Heathrow.

She snatched some sleep at her mum's before continuing her journey to Liverpool.

After buying her ticket at Brighton station she was dismayed when the driver announced engineering works prevented them going any further, so she travelled into London to find a train that did. There was none.

"If they had told me there were no trains when I bought the ticket I would have taken the coach," she said.

Eventually Bridget used her last cash to secure a place on a coach going north.

She arrived in Liverpool in the early hours of Sunday morning, exhausted and jet lagged.

And she had missed her brother's wedding.

Bridget said: "I was incredibly upset that I missed it, especially after spending so long trying to get home. I was so drained I felt like I would collapse because I hadn't eaten, drunk or slept properly for three days."

The final straw came when Bridget tried to claim her money back for the train and noticed a £5 administration charge and £12.40 for going into London.

A spokesman for Southern Central trains said: "Our apologies for the difficulties the lady has experienced on her journey.

"If she would like to send the ticket back to our customer services department we will refund the difference."