Trip to Europe this Friday in the balance. Ash and all that!

[TLS Guy]

My wife and I and a couple who are very close friends of ours are scheduled to fly out of MSP this Friday evening. We have plans to spend the weekend in Kent, and the we are booked on Eurostar from Ebsfleet to Paris Monday coming back Friday, and then showing them a little of England the following week.

Obviously the Icelanders may have other ideas.

Delta will refund our fares. They will also let us rebook once before May 31. However if the next flight is canceled the ticket price will not be refunded. We will be out the Eurostar fares and the deposit on our Paris apartment.

I have started a blog on what information I have been able to get together.

 

[GO-NAD!]

My wife and I and a couple who are very close friends of ours are scheduled to fly out of MSP this Friday evening. We have plans to spend the weekend in Kent, and the we are booked on Eurostar from Ebsfleet to Paris Monday coming back Friday, and then showing them a little of England the following week.

Obviously the Icelanders may have other ideas.

Delta will refund our fares. They will also let us rebook once before May 31. However if the next flight is canceled the ticket price will not be refunded. We will be out the Eurostar fares and the deposit on our Paris apartment.

I have started a blog on what information I have been able to get together.

Hope you get to fly out on schedule. The airlines are taking a huge beating because of this. I always get insurance when I book a vacation. I've had to make use of it only once, but it just reinforced my personal practice of getting it every time.

 

[TLS Guy]

Hope you get to fly out on schedule. The airlines are taking a huge beating because of this. I always get insurance when I book a vacation. I've had to make use of it only once, but it just reinforced my personal practice of getting it every time.

I have travel insurance, but the Insurance companies are all trying to dodge the column, invoking the Act of God clause.

 

[GO-NAD!]

I have travel insurance, but the Insurance companies are all trying to dodge the column, invoking the Act of God clause.

Slimy b*****ds!

 

[Chu Gai]

It's the Icelander's fault. But maybe it'll reduce the global temperature a bit.

 

[highfigh]

I heard they're now seeing lava flowing, so that should mean the plume will diminish greatly. Hopefully.

 

[jamie2112]

We are hearing that it will affect our travel home on the 27th..

 

[lsiberian]

I think this is a classic overreaction. The one major incident this is based on was an Indonesian flight whose engines came on once the flight got below ash.

They were flying much closer to the islands than Europe is to Iceland.

Safety is necessary, but jobs are important too.

I'm not a vulcanologist, but by the end of May I'd think it will be safe to fly. Geologists have to say things might not improve. A good scientist is always conservative.

 

[TLS Guy]

I heard they're now seeing lava flowing, so that should mean the plume will diminish greatly. Hopefully.

I think the volcano will be on and off. Because of earth quakes there seems more concern today about Katla blowing its top.

The big issue is going to be changing winds, that I think will allow us to arrive in the UK this weekend.

The wind is already southerning. My brother was up at the families east coast location at Southwold this weekend and flew a kite yesterday. We make big ones that can go to high altitudes. He says the wind off the East Anglian Coast was due south yesterday. They are in for south westerlies with showery weather today.

Tomorrow a big gale with north westerly winds will arise over Iceland, Faeroes, Balley, Hebrides, Rockall and Malin. In the wake of the gale the usually prevailing south westerlies will return. If the airports open up we will get there.

The bigger issue is getting back. If Katla blows it will disrupt European air space and the air space on the East North American Seaboard for a couple of years likely. Newfoundland air space is closed toady.

So we may yet see another age of great ships. That would not bother me one bit.

 

[GO-NAD!]

I think the volcano will be on and off. Because of earth quakes there seems more concern today about Katla blowing its top.

The big issue is going to be changing winds, that I think will allow us to arrive in the UK this weekend.

The wind is already southerning. My brother was up at the families east coast location at Southwold this weekend and flew a kite yesterday. We make big ones that can go to high altitudes. He says the wind off the East Anglian Coast was due south yesterday. They are in for south westerlies with showery weather today.

Tomorrow a big gale with north westerly winds will arise over Iceland, Faeroes, Balley, Hebrides, Rockall and Malin. In the wake of the gale the usually prevailing south westerlies will return. If the airports open up we will get there.

The bigger issue is getting back. If Katla blows it will disrupt European air space and the air space on the East North American Seaboard for a couple of years likely. Newfoundland air space is closed toady.

So we may yet see another age of great ships. That would not bother me one bit.

Actually, the authorities didn't close Newfoundland airspace; the airlines made their own decisions to cancel some flights out of St. John's. The latest news I've read states that the ash is several hundred miles away from NFLD, and the probability of it reaching that airspace is low.

My cynical side suspects some airline tom foolery - perhaps cancelling flights that aren't fully booked, then blaming the ash?

The bigger problem there is fog. Despite London's reputation, St. John's is the foggiest city on the planet.

 

[haraldo]

Wow TLS, this is very not good......

I am more worried about Katla than Eyjafjallajökull....

I have been fighting for a year to get a course that's gonna be held in Copenhagen in start of May.... if Katla goes off in this timeframe we can possibly forget about any kind of travelling by planes in this region, so let's just hope it's not gonna happen now....

And I'm sure insurance companies will hold back as much as they can now, force majoeurs +++ Insurance is good, until you need it

 

[TLS Guy]

Wow TLS, this is very not good......

I am more worried about Katla than Eyjafjallajökull....

I have been fighting for a year to get a course that's gonna be held in Copenhagen in start of May.... if Katla goes off in this timeframe we can forget about any kind of travelling by planes anywhere, so let's just hope it's not gonna happen now....

And I'm sure insurance companies will hold back as much as they can now, force majoeurs +++ Insurance is good, until you need it

No it isn't good. I will blog some more later. But the wind is shifting and sending the cloud more in your direction. I think it will be entirely your way by weeks end. That will get me to Heathrow, but it won't help you.

The Icelanders seem to think a blow up at Katla is imminent. If they are right it will really be interesting.

The President of Iceland said on the Today Show this morning, that people will have to get used to trains and ships again.

 

[haraldo]

The Icelanders seem to think a blow up at Katla is imminent. If they are right it will really be interesting.

Well, not sure it will be so interesting, but it will certainly impact us a lot if so should happen

I don't think it's exceedingly likely that Katla will go off but what we're hearing is that the likelihood increases for an eruption within a few months to a year after this event.....

 

[markw]

None of this looks good.

Mrs W is supposed to be flying to Oslo to play in a volleyball tournament the second week of May. I certainly hope this stuff has dissipated by then.

 

[haraldo]

Mrs W is supposed to be flying to Oslo to play in a volleyball tournament the second week of May. I certainly hope this stuff has dissipated by then.

Well, right now domestic flights are opening again here in Norway ... by tomorrow.... and there are flights to all the biggest cities, Stavanger, Oslo, Bergen.... anyway, you can go to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Sandefjord, Rygge, Malmø.... all relatively close to Oslo

Most likely she will be fine but this show how strong these forces of nature is....

I live relatively close to airport and this morning I could hear an airplane for the first time since Thursday.... didn't know the sound of an airplane could be so nice, but it's still few flights

 

[TLS Guy]

No it isn't good. I will blog some more later. But the wind is shifting and sending the cloud more in your direction. I think it will be entirely your way by weeks end. That will get me to Heathrow, but it won't help you.

The Icelanders seem to think a blow up at Katla is imminent. If they are right it will really be interesting.

The President of Iceland said on the Today Show this morning, that people will have to get used to trains and ships again.

The Volcano has gone into the larval stage and producing less ash that is well below the cruising altitude of planes. Most of the ash will go into the sea.

Also after the gale in the Portpatrick Atlantic sector, the wind did southern.

So flights have now resumed at Heathrow. So we should be good to go Friday.

Jamie should be good to come back 04/27 also.

The French rail union took it upon themselves to add to the misery by interfering with SNCF rail, to add to the misery of all those trying to get to the Normandy pots from all parts of Europe and Asia Minor.

If they upset our travel plans on Eurostar to Paris on Monday, that will be another thing I will hold against them.

 

[mtrycrafts]

.... But maybe it'll reduce the global temperature a bit.

If that happens, it will be very small and not long lasting.