Not Your Everyday Excuse

Wednesday morning my roommates and I were packing for our departure to Dublin, Ireland when suddenly all of our email accounts Buzzed simultaneously with an update from Ryanair concerning the status of our pending flights across the English Channel. They had been canceled. Earlier in the day, a volcano in Iceland erupted spewing gas, ash, and debris as far as Germany causing the E.U. to close all airspace affected by the dangerous conditions. This is my second attempt to visit Ireland, but yet again my efforts were thwarted by circumstances outside my control.

I've heard some seriously far fetched and creative excuses before. Heck, I myself have even daringly chanced a few personally constructed tails, but never before have I heard anything about a volcano disrupting a person's plans. It sounds ridiculous honestly, however scientists predict that the volcanic activity could disrupt flight patterns for up to several weeks.

What does this mean for myself and my fellow study abroad comrades?

Well many of my classmates are currently scattered throughout the E.U. without a means of transportation back to Brussels or back to the states for that matter. All non emergency air traffic has been grounded which has resulted in clogged bus and railway systems. I have been unsuccessfully trying to book train passage to Spain and ultimately Italy for the past 4 days to no avail. The train stations are so overflown with stranded passengers that services for future bookings are not even being currently offered. With no reliable prediction as to when air traffic will resume, prospects are not looking good for those of us who still have travel arrangements to be made.

Could I be stuck in Europe for a longer duration than planned?

While I sure as heck hope not...its starting to look like a possibility at this point. Only time will tell.

All good; all the time (except if I spend my summer stuck here)

Thomas