Europe faces prolonged air chaos

[Solitaire]

It was channel 6, I think. There was another guy asking for an interview a little later,I told him I had already done one, but turns out he was there for a different channel. I decided one interview was quite enough

i can understand that, you wouldn't want to risk becoming a minor celebrity in france, you'd have sarko jumping your bones within days

Yeah, its going to be a long phone call in the morning, methinks

Ohh, and I always imagined Eurostar to be really nice, all swish.WEll its not. My Transpennine train is nicer!

no, eurostar can be pretty scuzzy, it sometimes depends what time of day it is, sometimes the really early morning trains are better, sometimes they're not - the worst ones are the mid-afternoon ones which are always rammed and far too hot (they like to keep the heating on apparently and the windows don't open and it's horrible). hell, polish and russian trains are (significantly) nicer than eurostar! i think it must be down to the british involvement as french national trains are actually quite nice, and y'know british trains are horrible so i'm guessing there was more influence from our side of la manche than from theirs!

it is nice and quick tho! when i went to Lille, i got from my front door in south london to my hotel in Lille (via st pancras, which is around a 45 min journey from my house in itself) in less than 2.5 hours! bingo

Yeah, I didn't want to risk over-exposure on the French news stations :lol:

Phoned insurance, got straight through! Told me to send a form in, so much for wanting advice over the phone

Eurostar was absolutely packed, what with everyone in a panic to get back. At £229 a single ticket they have been making a mint with this air restriction! I did go on the French TGV as part of my earlier trip (We went to a friends wedding in North East France and then on to Barcelona afterwards) That train was really nice. Unfortunately the French train workers were on strike further down the line for our connection! All in all not the greatest experience of travelling in France

 

[Ducky]

I wonder, if wind would turn to east, would it blow the ash over North America?

We have our airspace open for 6h today and two airports are open the same time. New, thicker ashcloud will arrive today. *le sigh*

 

[talkingtocactus]

^ oh dear.... i hope this doesn't go on too long.....

Phoned insurance, got straight through! Told me to send a form in, so much for wanting advice over the phone

result!

Eurostar was absolutely packed, what with everyone in a panic to get back. At £229 a single ticket they have been making a mint with this air restriction!

229? bloody hell. yeah that's the problem with last minute bookings anyway and i guess especially in a panic situation. that really is crazy. i don't think i've ever paid more than 80. but then i've never been last minute so....

I did go on the French TGV as part of my earlier trip (We went to a friends wedding in North East France and then on to Barcelona afterwards) That train was really nice. Unfortunately the French train workers were on strike further down the line for our connection! All in all not the greatest experience of travelling in France

oh yeah, someone's always on strike in france. i kind of approve of it generally, they're very good about labour unionism there. i think the right to strike is very very important.

that said it does get in the way quite a lot:lol: i've never had any problem with french trains though, they're fast, clean, spacious etc. it always boggles my mind that they can travel bigger distances than us in half the time at half the cost. the exact statistic escapes me right now but it's something like paris to marseilles is just about twice the distance as london to edinburgh, the journey time is half, and the cost about half as well. uk train services are probably the worst in the western world

 

[Ducky]

oh yeah, someone's always on strike in france. i kind of approve of it generally, they're very good about labour unionism there. i think the right to strike is very very important.

also in Finland someone's is always on strike One of the worst was a decade ago when doctors were on strike for some 10 weeks
last week there was those who work in stores (such as supermarkets etc) and next week those, who work in foodindustry, bakeries and stuff (yay, we are once again out of bread)

Anywas...

Facebook has lots of groups to help people to get accommondation or info about how to get out. At least there is Stuck in Helsinki group.

Then there's also http://www.stuckineurope.com

 

[cathwillows]

Although flying is still officially not allowed, several German airports are open. Planes have been arriving all day. They're on what they call "Sichtflüge" (sight flights?).