not in Russia
My flights to Moscow for Saturday were canceled (due to the volcanic ash), so I’m still in Dublin. This is actually a great relief since I wasn’t as prepared for my presentations as I wanted to be and since I now have more time to work on the projects I am trying to complete for the DHO.
However, I’m starting to wonder about getting back to the US in case the volcano continues to erupt for the next year or two (like in the 1820s). The cheapest cabin on the Queen Mary 2 costs about €500 one way, and I doubt that includes food or anything. Maybe if I agree to wash dishes for whole seven-day journey, I could travel in steerage for free. I could probably hang out with hard-drinking Irish immigrants playing the accordion and fiddle on their way to the New World. It’d be just like in Titantic! … only hopefully without the bad ending.
Anyway, the weather here has been fantastic, without any ash in sight. Since I’ve been working way too much preparing for presentations, I’m trying to get out this weekend and not spend more time in front of a computer. I do, however, owe some of my great photos from my trip to Galway last weekend. Stay tuned …
April 18th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
Man, I hope you are joking about two years!!!
April 19th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Ummmm you might want to buy that boat ticket now…
http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/Katla2009/stodvaplott.html
April 19th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
Nope, not joking.
April 21st, 2010 at 10:34 am
Lots of planes have been flying these days despite the ash (notably V.V. Putin to attend Kacinski’s funeral, and the conductor V. Gergiev to some concert in Europe, on a Gazprom plane:). Nothing bad happened to them. I think if the ash situation continues the flights will resume anyway but the prices will go up due to increased insurance fees.
April 21st, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Since travel insurance policies often don’t cover acts of God (and other forces majeurs), we’ll instead end up paying more for the airline companies’ insurance on their aircraft or to help airlines cover the losses they’ve experienced over the past week.
It’s not just a few Russian planes that flew successfully this past week. Even commercial airlines have run some test flights and discovered little or no damage to aircraft engines. While they’ve been blaming governments for closing airspace, it’s completely disingenuous for them to do so. First of all, if a plane crashed because volcanic ash destroyed the engines, the government would be blamed by the airline and citizens for allowing flights. Second, airlines have resisted providing information to governments in the past for fear of their own liability.
While I’m complaining, let me add that while it would have been good for EU transport ministers to manage to have a videoconference sooner than they did, and while the UK’s naval “rescue” was poorly planned, people’s expectations for personal assistance from their embassies and governments has also been unreasonable. While it’s unfortunate that people get stuck overseas, you can only expect to be evacuated to your home country at your government’s expense if your life is in danger, not because your travel plans get messed up.
April 21st, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Yeah, I’ve been reading stories about stranded travelers and the sense of entitlement is nothing short of astounding. Act of God, people. Just be glad there isn’t a volcano erupting in your back yard. And, you know, flooding your entire village with glacial melt water.
Anyone doubting the risks of flying through a volcanic ash plume can read this:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/pdf/88751main_H-2511.pdf
April 21st, 2010 at 5:48 pm
Certainly it doesn’t seem like anybody had any clear plan of what to do in a situation like this – neither governments nor airlines. They should be prepared better than this
Air travel is becoming less safe and reliable by the year… If I lived in Western Europe I’d go everywhere by train!
April 21st, 2010 at 6:54 pm
Do you really think air travel is not as safe as it used to be? While the threat from airborne terrorism has grown (or at least become more widely know), we now have better methods of detecting and dealing with mechanical problems. It’s often said that air travel is statistically much safer than travel by car. As for reliability, it’s true that fewer flights are on time than used to be the case since airports are overcrowded and airlines save money by creating incredibly tight schedules where minor delays affect many people.
That said, I agree that when traveling to a nearby city, it’s better to take a train even if it costs a bit more.