Chaos in the skies caused by ash from a volcano in Iceland (BBC Photo)I decided to get closer and find out what the problem was. I realized the crowd was in some sort of very, very long line at the offices of the company that runs trains. I suspected it was to do with the closure of the airspace in Europe and grounding of planes.
Lining up for train International tickets at Amsterdam Central Train Station
I approached a train conductor and pretended I was travelling to London. She explained to me that there was no place that day, or the next. I inquired when I can possibly travel and without blinking an eyelid said, Tuesday if I could line up now to book my ticket. She however warned me to be prepared to stand in the long line for a minimum of 4 hours in order to book a ticket for Tuesday or Wednesday!
The volcano erupted on Thursday last week. The current Volcano is which is currently filling the sky above northern Europe with ash is called Eyjafjallajoekull. Eyjafjallajoekull means "island mountain glacier" Eyja means "islands" Fjall means "mountain" Joekull means "glacier" Typical Icelandic names.
When the volcanoe erupted last Thursday and air space was closed in UK and Netherlands, I joked with a friend of mine in Iceland on face book, that I thought it was not the Iceland people punishing Britain and Netherlands whom they owe a lot of money. I did not realize that it would affect all Europe and go on for days.
Already 7 million travelers have been affected by the cancellation of flights. 63,000 flights to date have been cancelled in Europe. Airlines are losing over 200 million dollars per day and their share prices have dipped.
No comments:
Post a Comment