I'm glad I'm not flying anywhere!

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

We went into town today and stopped at the main train station in München and all hell seemed to have broken loose because of the airline shutdowns due to the Icelandic volcano that is erupting. There were people lined up trying to buy train tickets to get home, people sleeping on the floor, police everywhere. I'll probably get the flu from being around so many people but it was kind of exciting.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear theNotoriousP.I.G.!

Hey, I'm glad you're not flying anywhere either, sweetie!

It's nuts in the Friendly Skies!

Crowds can indeed be exciting...

:hug:

[pokerfan]

2. Oddly enough Reykjavík Airport is clear!

Very cool animation of the ash cloud:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-4TB47N3_Y

[Flaxbee]

3. a good friend has a much-anticipated vacation to Spain this

week -- I hope she can get there!

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

18. I'll keep my fingers crossed for her Flaxbee!

Not a good time for travel but who wouldn't want to vacation in Spain, volcanic ash or not?

[Flaxbee]

24. thanks, P.I.G.!

she's also supposed to go to Tangier and Fez; I'm armchair-traveling with her b/c I've ALWAYS wanted to visit those places!

Looks like she might get to go ... I think if all of her friends and well-wishers like you keep our fingers crossed, she'll make it :D

:hug:

[cwydro]

4. It is totally fucking up non-rev flying too

hoping to head back to Europe this summer and the repercussions of this are going to be felt at least a month, maybe longer...

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

5. I hope it doesn't increase the price of tickets!

I'm expecting a few visitors this summer who don't work for an airline (wink wink) and they can't afford expensive tickets. By the way, my therapist canceled our Wednesday appt. she's stuck in South Africa!

[cwydro]

9. I'm sure they'll find some way to stick it to the passengers...

but I hope to get over this summer sometime. I want a beer outside at a Gasthaus...

[MissHoneychurch]

10. Biergarten

the word you are looking for is Biergarten :)

[cwydro]

14. Oops.

Yes, that would be the word Miss Honeychurch.

I stand corrected, lol!

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

11. Screw the Gasthaus

We're going to Biergartens. I don't know about MissHoneychurch's town but here in München, there is a Biergarten for every man, woman and child within walking distance!

[tango-tee]

13. Woohoo, don't forget about our trip to the Englischer Garten

in a couple of weeks!

Oh, BTW, if you thought my voice sounded a little raspy on the phone yesterday evening, today it sounds like I gargle with rusty nails and follow up with a shot of sulphuric acid; and I just KNOW that by tomorrow I'll sqeak like Minnie Mouse. It never fails. And the guys at work are already snickering in anticipation. People are cruel like that.

:silly:

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

17. I'm looking forward to it!

There are Biergartens in the Englischer Garten. One is for tourists and the other is for schicky micky types. I like to go to the Chinese Tower and pick out the American tourists by their shoes styles but we can always go mock the beautiful people at See Haus. Can't wait to see you tango and I know a few Maß will fix up your Minnie Mouse voice. That and some NORMAL cigarettes! :silly:

[tango-tee]

28. I'm buying one of this little machines today, I swear.

Squeak!!!!

[trof]

22. Non-rev has been fucked long before this.

I get retiree passes.
I haven't even tried in years.
All flights full.
And forget about upgrading to first.
:-(

[Haole Girl]

23. Hey cwydro-

A co-worker of mine flew to Frankfurt last week. Thought he was going to come back this week. Haven't heard how he will get back yet! eek.

[MissHoneychurch]

6. I will be flying in less than two weeks

I really really hope the ash cloud vanished till then. Normally I love the weather we are having at the moment - sunny and warm - but I wouldn't mind rain at all right now :crazy:

A plea to the weather gods : PLEASE LET IT RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

7. Oh no!

I didn't realize you were going so soon! I'll say a prayer to the rain Gods for you MissHoneychurch! :hi: :hug: :loveya:

[MissHoneychurch]

8. We are flying May 1st

and right now I admit I kinda start to get worried as the volcano is still spitting and the cloud isn't moving at all just getting bigger. I would hate if we had to cancel that trip.

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

12. Lufthansa

has lifted the ban as of this afternoon, for flights coming from the East, Africa and Great Britain...keep your fingers crossed.

[cwydro]

15. Yeah, I hope something changes soon...

this is really going to jam up the summer schedules.

Fingers crossed Miss H!

[tango-tee]

16. I hope things clear up enough for our company to start flying again.

Management is on red alert. Found out this morning.

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

19. I suppose that means some of the bozo's upstairs will lose their jobs?

HA HA HA....:sarcasm:

[tango-tee]

26. I think they'll start with us poor slobs downstairs...

Deep sigh.

[pitohui]

20. i was in a blizzard where we all slept on the floor, more than once, actually

i didn't get the flu

i must say the place to be stranded is germany, they are very kind and give free food/drinks!!! fancy sparkling bottled waters!!!!

i'm an old hand at sleeping on the floor and police everywhere, much safer in MUC methinks than in some random rainforest in the americas but whatev

if you travel be ready for everything that's half the fun

for those who haven't yet booked their trips maybe book them thru africa hubs instead of AMS and FRA but to be honest, i believe those hubs will be open soon, i just look for any excuse to check out africa :=)

[Haole Girl]

21. You should be!

It's crazy. I'm not sure air travel will resume even as quickly as after 9/11. They have canceled any day off request through 30April for us. :-(

[MorningGlow]

25. Not even the rich and famous have an advantage

A great account of Jeremy Clarkson's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day trying to get back to England:

Hounded by the ash cloud on my escape from Colditz to Blighty

On Thursday morning I woke up in Colditz castle, drove to Poland and found that I couldn’t fly back to England as planned because all of northern Europe was shrouded in a cloud of ash that was thick enough to bring down a jetliner. But, mysteriously, not so thick that it was actually visible.

Brussels, then. That would be the answer. We’d drive at 180mph on the limit-free autobahns to Berlin, fly to Belgium and catch the Eurostar to London.

This, however, turned out to be ambitious, because the only vehicle we could lay our hands on was a knackered Volkswagen van that had a top speed of four. So Prague, then. That was nearer. Yes. We’d start from there instead.

Unfortunately, the index of our map was broken down into countries. And we didn't actually know which country we were in. We’d see a sign for Lückendorf, so I’d look it up in the index. But would it be filed under Germany, Poland or the Czech Republic? And how would it be spelt? The Germans may call it Lückendorf but the Poles might call it something entirely different. In much the same way that people in India call Bombay “Bombay”. But the BBC insists on calling it “Mumbai”.

By the time I’d decided Lückendorf doesn’t really exist, we’d found a sign for Bogatynia and that doesn’t seem to exist, either. The confusion meant that pretty soon we were on a farm track, our path blocked by a tractor that seemed to be scooping mud from a field and putting it onto the road. This encouraged us, since it seemed like a very un-German thing to do and all the Poles are in my bathroom at the moment. We had, therefore, to be near Praha, as the BBC doesn’t call it. But should.

cont.: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/jeremy_clarkson/article7100772.ece

[av8rdave]

27. I am. Fortunately,

My next trip takes me south to Central America.