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Aviation experts have warned that a cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland, drifting across Europe, will continue to cause disruption well into the weekend. The European air traffic agency said that about sixty percent of European flights had been canceled on Friday, together with half of all transatlantic flights. Marco Werman talks with The World’s Clark Boyd who is stuck in London.
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MARCO WERMAN: The World’s Clark Boyd is also in London, but really doesn’t want to be. He’s one of the thousands of travelers stranded by the volcanic cloud. Clark you really need to get back here right?
CLARK BOYD: Yeah. There are worse places, obviously, in the world t be stuck than London, but I am moving house on Wednesday. And not only moving house, but supposed to be moving to Brussels, Belgium on Wednesday so I really do need to get home.
WERMAN: So you got to get back to Boston and back to Europe? Is it tough right now, because who can you be angry at? Not at the airline companies.
BOYD: What you see is a lot of people on TV who are somehow angry at Iceland, they are angry at a volcano, none of that makes much sense to me. There’s nothing that can be done about it and quite frankly based on what I’m hearing about flying a plane through this volcanic ash, I wouldn’t to be on a plane flying through it. All we can do right now is just wait it out.
WERMAN: And if you don’t get out I imagine your wife might end up having to do all the packing. What have you heard from other travelers? Is anyone coming up with creative solutions to getting from here to there. Options are limited, but I’ve come across some creative ways around it. Simon Calder, who is a travel writer, was stuck in Norway. He was on a skiing vacation there and his flight was canceled, so he actually booked a berth on a cargo ship. Here’s him talking about it.
SIMON CALDER: Many long distance trains and ferries are booked up because of the aviation chaos so the only way I could guarantee getting back to Britain was one of the last three berths on this cargo ship which left Norway in the early hours of the morning.
BOYD: So there you go. If you can stand being on a cargo ship, that’s one way to go. The other interesting one that I found was one of my favorite comedians in the world, John Cleese, of the Monty Python group, he was stuck in Oslo. He just hired a cab. He just got a cab driver, paid him over $5,000.00 to make the 930 mile drive with him in the car to Brussels. He was hoping to get on a train. I hate to tell him that there may not be a train available for him when he gets there.
WERMAN: Right. Unfortunately there’s no taxi for you from London to Boston and even if there were, I’m not sure accounting would pick up the tab.
BOYD: No, I doubt it.
WERMAN: The World’s Clark Boyd stuck in London by the volcanic ash storm. Thanks and the best of luck Clark, getting back.
BOYD: Thank you Marco.
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