Yes it is awesome and quite breathtakingly beautiful, but…
It has also screwed up the travel plans of thousands of people, including my friends Teuchter and her husband J, who should have arrived in Spain last Saturday. For months they’ve been planning their tour of Andalucía, which would’ve also included a couple of days in Sevilla. We’ve been emailing back and forth with different plans and ideas. It was all very exciting because the last time T&J were here was five years ago and we were so looking forward to getting together again. Bum.
Been following the stories on Twitter, of people who are either stranded elsewhere or stuck at home. It really is unprecidented and in a way quite fascinating. But what a mess.
Anyone you know get stuck or stranded?
casa azahar 
Glad I am not traveling in Europe right now. I do hope this is over soon. A friend of mine is trying to plan a trip to Spain this summer. Planning is next to impossible.
LikeLike
Your friend should check out the Slow Travel forum. Lots of great people there and lots of good advice. And of course, if she needs any info about Sevilla or Andalucia I’m happy to help.
LikeLike
There is a lot to be said for the trans-atlantic crossing by ship. Been there, done that, want to do it again. The best part is when you get to where you are going, you Do NOT have jet lag.
LikeLike
LuckyStar / Beatrice was stuck in London – don’t know if she made it home yet, she was setting off today on an epic type journey.
My in-laws were due to go on a long-haul flight today – they were visiting us yesterday to say ta-ra for now on the off chance the flight would proceed. Boy, was it awkward when they discovered it wasn’t going, while they were still here. I felt like I needed to apologise.
Meh.
LikeLike
I just saw a tweet from her saying she’d just got home after a 16 hour coach and ferry trip.
I read that John Cleese took a 3,500 euro taxi ride to his destination. 🙂
LikeLike
I honestly don’t understand why they can’t re-route some of this air traffic south to somewhere where the ash cloud is not an issue.
Don’t know anybody that is stranded. Most everybody I know is at home because they don’t have the extra money to travel anywhere. Going to Europe is not a real priority for the inhabitants of The Havens right now, as we are trying to make ends meet with our rental house unoccupied for the present. Most everybody else around here has the same issues, which is why money is tight here. massage is not high on the list of things you have to pay for when what you are concerned about is paying your power bill and mortgage (or rent).
LikeLike
Yesterday 17 airports in Spain were closed so rerouting south wasn’t actually an option, and clearly wouldn’t help people travelling to/from the UK.
I don’t reckon that most people on holiday could actually afford to stay away an extra week, and I feel for those who have maybe planned their one holiday of the year and have had it taken away. Imagine if your recent trip to Costa Rica had been cancelled at the last minute, or you got stuck out there and ended up losing a week’s work as a result.
LikeLike
You are right, of course. I guess I wan’t being very sensible or sensitive. We are not being made aware of exactly how far that ash cloud has advanced over here in the hinterlands.
Actually, Costa Rica is not a fair comparison because I was staying with friends and the cost of living there is very very low. If I had had to stay another week it would have been inconvenient but not that costly, especially since I don’t actually have that much work to lose here. (unfortnunately) But if I was stuck in Amsterdam, say, or London, and had to spring for a hotel and meals out, plus I was losing a week of work in my investment firm and I didn’t have any leave saved up, then it would be a financial trauma. I will say, however, that if your budget is so thin that you absolutely can’t afford an extra week someplace, that this sort of inconvenience is a “financial disaster”, perhaps you should be going on vacation somewhere that it is less likely you will be stranded. Perhaps.
LikeLike
I just want to add that if something like this had happened when Jim and I were in Spain and Portugal, we would have come home to a bit larger credit card bill than we had planned, but we would not have described this as a “disaster.” I suspect that a lot of the angst that people are feeling about the unexpected extension of their vacations or business trips is because they already have maxed out their credit cards on the planned portion of their trip and now they have no reserve for emergencies.
I know this may sound cruel and heartless, but there is a reason to try to arrange your life so that you have reserves available for emergencies. Neither of my credit cards are maxed out, in fact both of them are paid up in full. That is no accident, either.
Right now we have our own little version of the volcano exploding going on here, with a tenant who has promised to “be out” of the house he is renting from us by May 1. This promise was made when he paid his March rent. We have received no rent for April, and he has left us with an entire household full of furniture including a home office with a huge computer desk and all the electronic gear needed to furnish it, a sewing room with two sewing machines and all the accoutrements thereto, an entire kitchen equipped with ever little electrical gadget known to man. We will not have a new tenant in there before June, will have to deal with this pile of stuff and clean the entire three bedroom house plus pay the mortgage on the place for the months it is empty without any income to offset it. Is this a strain on our resources? You bet. A financial disaster? No.
LikeLike
Well, several of our staff were supposed to be flying into London on Friday to attend this week’s London Book Fair – sadly, they’re all stuck here, as are our sales reps and the clients they were all due to meet. So, we’ll probably be one of the businesses which loses money as a result of the Norse gods renewed volcanic activity. 😦
LikeLike
Read so many stories like that on Twitter. People who had business conferences to attend, or who had planned conferences, some of which took months of planning and are unlikely to be rescheduled. I imagine for some it was just a minor inconvencience, but for others it may have meant financial ruin.
LikeLike
If one conference not happening means financial ruin, I would say that company is very close to not viable anyway. Over here in the Midwest there are organizations who have stopped sending people to conferences and meetings at all. They have found video conferencing and things like Skype to fit the bill completely, and a lot less expensive.
Of course, there is something to be said for being in the same room, sharing food and wine, and being able to sit or stand shoulder to shoulder to look at the same document. Some things just don’t translate to the electronic sphere very well.
LikeLike
One work colleague ‘trapped’ in Murcia – the horror, the horror. One work colleague trapped in this country who should be in Egypt. One of the European contingent from the Blues Board trapped in London. Sara has work colleagues trapped in India and Africa.
On the other hand maybe it’s a good reminder that there are things more powerful than us on the planet.
LikeLike
True. And apparently CO emissions went down considerably due to no aircraft flying around, in spite of what the volcano was spewing out.
LikeLike
Our penchant for flying at high altitudes has been a major factor in air pollution. Jim thinks this may be a factor in reviving the cruise industry. We have gotten awfully used to the idea that we can be someplace in hours, rather than days or weeks.
LikeLike
Flippant though it may sound, money is just money. It’s the diabetics and the epileptics and the heart patients and the bone marrow recipients and the organ recipients that I am concerned with..
LikeLike
You make an excellent point, ismarah.
LikeLike