<p>Sorry to hear about everyone’s trips. This incident reminded me to buy trip cancellation insurance (for any reason) for our upcoming summer trip to Europe.</p>
<p>Oh, and I had plans on being productive this weekend without DH underfoot! :)</p>
<p>LOL, CountingDown!</p>
<p>Our school district’s trip to France has been postponed. I know a couple of teachers who were planning on going. I don’t know if they’ve had to cancel it or not.</p>
<p>For those of you who have the time and can get a flight into Europe somewhere, a good alternative is to use EuroRail. Unlike train travel in the U.S., it is very reasonable and reliable. Some of the trips are relatively short, and the schedules are fairly frequent. </p>
<p>But you have to either get to Europe first, or be there already.</p>
<p>Well, we didn’t buy any trip insurance and are hoping things calm down so we will be able to get to Europe & back home again. We’re also hoping we’ll be able to breathe OK there (ironic because we turned down trips to China because of the poor air quality)! We pre-paid for several hotels AND non-refundable plane tickets! Oh well, we shall see what we shall see!</p>
<p>My husband emailed me and said the Munich airport was now closed, and they were allowing people with tickets prior to April 20 to reschedule at no charge. He is due to leave on Apr 23, so he is hoping it will be clear by then. </p>
<p>He said trains are packed. Everyone is trying to go south to find open airports.</p>
<p>My husband flew home thru Iceland the day before the first eruption…this morning on NBC they were talking about all of the disruptions to travel , and I also read that the last time this volcano erupted, it lasted for over a year…and also killed thousands of people with the toxic cloud !
Yikes !
But it is fascinating to me, the power of it all</p>
<p>We needed a specific piece of paper certified in London. We sent it over with a friend who was traveling on business and he was able to get it done last week and returned home before the eruption. Whew!</p>
<p>Now it just all has to clear up before my son travels to the UK in July for the World Lacrosse Championships … and we are all planning on going as well.</p>
<p>We have plans to go to Spain in early June. Didn’t buy trip insurance. Our only cost so far is the flight as we are staying in a private home. If people can’t go on flights due to this situation the airlines are refunding the plane tickets aren’t they?</p>
<p>This volcano has a big sister, which could cause even more problems. Poor Iceland, first their economy collapses, now the volcanoes.</p>
<p>[Icelandic</a> volcanologists carefully watching Eyjafjallajokull’s big sister - Times Online](<a href=“http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/earth-environment/article7099200.ece]Icelandic”>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/earth-environment/article7099200.ece)</p>
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<p>I already bought tickets to Turkey this summer. I might have to get some trip insurance, since they are nonrefundable… I wonder if it is too late?</p>
<p>Not sure trip insurance covers this… it’s considered an Act of God. Plus if your flight is cancelled, the airline usually will refund your fare, or worst case give you a credit to fly for the next 12 months.</p>
<p>I probably just threw away $400 but I consider it an insurance policy. S is studying abroad in Barcelona, his semester ends 4/29. He wanted to tour Munich when his semester was done, so he has a flight back to the US that leaves on 5/4 from Munich with a connection in London. Now they’re saying they have no idea how long the ash problem will last, so this morning I booked him what I think of as an “insurance ticket.” If the ash problem is still around in Germany and/or England on 4/29, then on 4/30 he’s now got a reservation on a USAirways direct flight from Barcelona to Philadelphia, then changing to get home. (It was only $400 if he came home on 4/30, but beginning 5/1 the fare jumped to $2400!) If the ash cloud has moved, then he can go to Munich and I’ll cancel the USAirways flight and eat the $400. I’m probably overly cautious and just wasted $400, but I’ll sleep better knowing that he has an alternative way to get home if this ash persists. </p>
<p>ebeeeee, so far Spain has been in the clear. Do you have a direct flight there, or did you have to change somewhere else in Europe?</p>
<p>Son is studying in Rome this semester and like Lafalum his semester is due to end 4/29. He has a flight from Rome direct to Chicago on May 2, so I am not really worried about him, BUT all year he has being trying to talk me into letting him “work” his way home on a freighter. He found Turkish and Ethiopian freighters that will hire him on for a one way trip. I’m thinking he will use as the newest reason he should hire on with the Ethiopians!</p>
<p>Lafalum, I think piece of mind is worth the $400. My son’s term in Barcelona ends 4/23 and, luckily, he has a nonstop flight on Continental to Newark next Saturday, 4/24. Luckily, that is, so long as the winds don’t shove the ash cloud further south between now and then! I checked his flight home to see if there were any seats left and there were quite a few, BUT they were $2400 a piece. $400 is a bargain.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone who has a student affected by this natural disaster.</p>
<p>And. Just to add insult to injury after S’s cancelled trip, we get the new National Geographic today, and what’s on the cover? Mount St. Helen’s. Blowing a big plume of ash into the sky.</p>
<p>Harumph. Just though I’d add that.</p>
<p>You don’t need to worry about air quality unless you are actually in Iceland or Shetland/Faroe where the ash has been falling. There is no ash on the ground anywhere else. It’s all up in the air. Very vivid sunsets because of this! Other than that, life on the ground goes on as normal, with quiet skies.</p>
<p>1st May is a national holiday in most European countries, hence very expensive travel on and around that date.</p>
<p>My daughter is in charge of a meeting in Africa that is to be attended by people from all over the world. Several of the presenters are Europeans, and she’s supposed to be coordinating their arrival/departure times. Yikes!</p>
<p>So. We met with our travel agent today to see if there was anyway that we can salvage our trip to Italy this week. We had insurance on all of our original bookings. The flight is fully refundable regardless of insurance and the rest will be refunded because we did insure it. The volcano is covered by the insurance. However, any new bookings or rescheduled flights or hotels are not insurable. The travel agent called the insurance company and they said that they will not cover new bookings for cancellations due to volcanic ash (that sounds so surreal, i can’t believe I’m on my couch typing this instead of sipping espresso in Rome) because, at this point, it is a pre-existing situation.</p>
<p>So, everyone, be very careful if you are considering rebooking or altering plans. The volcano is still erupting and the cloud is shifting. This morning they closed airports in Venice and Milan. There are no guarantees about anything. i had to call my daughter in Florence and explain why we can’t see her this week. That was the worst part.</p>
<p>My H had gone over to spend my daughter’s last week in the UK (after a term at Oxford) with her and were supposed to return home today…sigh. Now they’re booked to come back on Tuesday…my H will go nuts being away from the office this long. It’s hard to imagine it continuing indefinitely.</p>
<p>Any creative ideas out there about how to get back to the US??? I started contemplating an ocean voyage…hot air balloon…???</p>
<p>CNN reported that American soldiers wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq this week, needing evacuation and treatment, were all rerouted due to the Icelandic situation.</p>
<p>Normally, following evacuation from the Mideast, soldiers are treated enroute to Germany where they pause for some hospital treatment, then if necessary continue on to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. to complete treatment. </p>
<p>This week, all had to re-route. All were flown non-stop, using a route south of EUrope basically, and directly to D.C./Walter Reed, no Germany stop. The military was scrambling to provide all necessary treatment on planes, and families were kept informed of whereabouts. </p>
<p>The spokespeople said it was very challenging, “kept us on our toes…” but a do-able challenge. Yeesh. Imagine.</p>