While some people grabbed their suitcases and hopped on a flight down to Florida, others picked up their bags and felt relieved to be at Boston's Logan Airport and out of Hurricane Dorian's path.
"It was a little nerve-wracking," Needham resident Melissa Bello said. "Our backup plan was we were going to drive to Atlanta and possibly try to take a flight out of Atlanta."
Bello and her family flew back from Florida Sunday morning.
"It was too hard to kind of switch the flights," she said.
They were able to fly out hours after Orlando International Airport, one of the nation's busiest travel hubs, reversed its original decision to shut down on Monday morning.
"We felt there was a good chance we would get out, which we did," Bello said.
But some people are headed there, like Heather Thomas. She flew to Boston to visit family, but now she's flying home to brace for the storm's impact.
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"My husband is there, so he's been prepping for over a week now to make sure that we are well-stocked and ready for this," Thomas said.
Dorian is now a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane with 185 mph winds and gusts soaring over 200 mph.
Living in Florida means Thomas is used to hurricanes, but that doesn't mean she isn't scared.
"It's intimidating," she said. "It's Mother Nature. You never know what it's going to do at the last minute. It could swerve, and it could go right over Orlando."
Orlando International Airport changed its mind about closing after the storm's track changed. But it still plans to closely monitor the hurricane in case it needs to shut down.
