Apparently no sooner had I left the states, an Iceland volcano errupted for the second time in a month, grounding air traffic all over the .eu. I’m been killing time at the airport in .nl after my flight into Bristol was cancelled with no indication when flights will resume. About 8 hours in, they shut down the entire airport, and apparently all air traffic in the european regeion now.
Given my budget, and no refund being offered, I’m sticking it out here for at least a day to see if the smoke clears and I can catch another flight. Was thinking about training into town since I’m stuck here anyway, and will decide about that after I get some food and a nap and let a little time pass to assess the situation. There were hundreds if not thousands of people stranded here, clogging up the transit and hotels. I’ll bet it’ll be easier to find lodging or even a ride into the city tomorrow morning.
As for the actual trip, for a 10+ hour flight in a middle seat on a plane that was peppered with little kids, it was remarkably uneventful and went along quickly. I am very glad I packed benedryl and have a tolerance for bad movies on planes (It’s Complicated, and Sherlock Holmes – both solidy mediocre). And now I know why were were an hour late even though we left on time…
I had a moment with the ticketing lady as I was getting my boarding pass in Seattle – “GOOD Girl!” was her response to my refusing to check any baggage. I’m feeling pretty deserving of that praise, about now. In fact, I’m rather unphased about all of this in general – My spontaneous trip to Italy didn’t work out, so I got one in Amsterdam instead. Thanks, Universe!
I had to turn the light on over my computer so I could see and not miss spell my thoughts – COOL!