Freakin' Volcano (language warning)

[AccountingDrone]

I shot a nastygram at the idiot that does the weather on WFSB here in Connecticut ... He was blathering on about how wonderful it would be to be stranded in paradise [referring to someone who was stranded in Paris France]

I pointed out to him that they were running up their credit cards well beyond their budget and perhaps even being in danger of losing their jobs for not returning from vacation, and that some people without resources were in danger of being jailed for vagrancy.

Oddly enough, I never got any response from the station ...

[PepperElf]

so my predictions were accurate

that there would be assholes who assumed this "minor ash incident" shouldn't be allowed to affect their plans and that the companies and workers are all to blame.


it suck being right about crap like that

[Titi]

that you did not actually start that volcano!

I realize that - thanks.

Those are not the people I'm complaining about. I think I was pretty clear about the types of people who treated me and my co workers badly.

When I heard about the eruption I thought immediately of you and when you posted years ago that some guy (whose flight was canceled due to volcano erupting.) basically accusing you or someone at the airline pushing some magic button to make it erupt and cancel what plans he had. At least you didn't get that this time.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I shot a nastygram at the idiot that does the weather on WFSB here in Connecticut ... He was blathering on about how wonderful it would be to be stranded in paradise [referring to someone who was stranded in Paris France]

According to my sister, Paris is hardly "paradise."

[Mikkel]

In the news this morning they said that the wind is changing to south and that European airspace should be free from ash tomorrow. I wonder where the ash will go next? On a globe the distance between Iceland and Vermont looks more or less equal to the distance between Iceland and Italy...

[Chrismor]

As a western Europe based travel person, I am glad that it has all blown over, mainly because we have all our staff back now.

I discovered travel skills I never knew I had over the past week, including how to get clients to fork out €12,000 for a bus from Lisbon to the French coast.*

I have great respect for travel professionals who had to put up with the suckyness caused by it (which we had no control over).

C.

* One of the clients on this group, a former Eurovision Song Contest winner, was interviewed on the radio about this. He commented that the group was in good spirits. (Truth from the inside: Of the 2 halves of the group, Dublin & Cork, they were at each others throats over the possibility of one group getting to fly home. They all ended up on the bus)

[cinema guy]

Which there are probably a lot of, because I've heard the hotels and restaurants in Europe have started jacking up their prices to gouge people take advantage of the fact people are now stranded there.

European airlines are required to cover reasonable hotel and meal costs when passengers get stranded, so it will be the airlines who end up footing many of these bills. Of course the airlines are now complaining bitterly about these rules, now many passengers have been stranded for so long.

[ottid]

Also why they were telling travelers TO Europe from down here not to get onto a plane until airspace cleared, mainly because these passangers would then be stranded (as well as the other thousands) in LA, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, actually, pick any large airport between NZ and Europe...

[Chromatix]

I've got one of the local rags here which has, as the main headline, "Hours-long queues for railway tickets!"

Apparently, the local railway company has, in the past couple of years, started selling tickets for trains and ferries going through Western Europe. Because this is a recent and (normally) low-volume thing, they only have a couple of specialist clerks who can do it efficiently. But while the airports were closed, demand went through the roof... and because the railways were overburdened, only the specialists were able to cope.

The paper quoted a railway spokesperson as recommending using Deutsche Bahn's website to order train tickets within Europe, and to contact the ferry companies directly for tickets to get there.

Extra trains were also laid on for the main North-South route in Finland, which is normally traversed by air. I suspect there wasn't so much of a problem selling tickets for these.

[Juggler]

On the other hand, a few of the teachers at the school I am based at at the moment were on holiday over there during the school holidays here. They were supposed to be back to teach on the Monday just passed, not sure when they will be back

I'm wondering, since New Zealand and England are pretty much antipodes of each other, which way do people go when traveling between the two?

[Peppergirl]

I'm wondering, since New Zealand and England are pretty much antipodes of each other, which way do people go when traveling between the two?

Looks like both. Air NewZealand goes from London (Heathrow) to Auckland, through Los Angeles.

British Airways goes through Hong Kong, and Korean goes through Seoul.

Been doing this 20 years (US based travel agent) and I can't recall ever booking someone between the two, come to think of it.

[ottid]

I'm wondering, since New Zealand and England are pretty much antipodes of each other, which way do people go when traveling between the two?

Yup, what Peppergirl said. You can go either way, depending on who you book with and if you can be bothered with the hassle of traveling through USA, there is ALWAYS a stopover somewhere though, and the stopovers can vary in time from a couple of hours to an over night (you can always choose to have a longer stay of course). Never been anywhere though, so can't really say much more, though you can gain (or lose) a day if you travel the same way around the world (ie Auckland - LA - London, London - Hong Kong - Auckland, just don't ask me which way around that will get you, gain or lose).

ETA: Oh yea, the teacher that was stuck was back to teach today

[Chromatix]

If you travel westerly, you travel with the Sun, so you get longer days but one less of them.

If you travel easterly, you travel against the Sun (but usually with the wind), so you get one more day but each one is shorter.

Easterly is the direction that Phileas Fogg and Passepartout travelled, mostly due to the wind advantage - but it meant they had the extra day they hadn't planned on (having read all the timetables in local time) but needed to win the bet (since the unmoving Club was running on Greenwich time all along).

[Jamesroe]

Just thought I'd post a tribute to how well the victims of this disaster did. Not the travellers; but the travel agents, airport staff, airline customer service, hotels and rental car agencies.

These are the real victims of the eruption.

[Peppergirl]

Just thought I'd post a tribute to how well the victims of this disaster did. Not the travellers; but the travel agents, airport staff, airline customer service, hotels and rental car agencies.

These are the real victims of the eruption.

Thank you.