Phillip Holt's World

As I search for ways of getting out of the UK to travel to Istanbul, I am continually told that there are no available seats on trains, no available seats on buses, I watch the news for updates, and see thousands of people struggling to get home, as the ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajoekull eruption continues it is said to spead over the UK and Europe, ceasing all air travel.

I decided to have a break and go for a walk, on a quite nice day here in London, having a few white clouds floating above me.

As I looked up enjoying the fresh air, there were two aircraft vapour trails crossing overhead, over London and Heathrow.

Aircraft vapour trails over London Heathrow 20/04/10

I am not a happy boy.

So OK, they are perhaps above 35,000ft, (10,000m), but if they can do it why not the rest?

Monday 19th April 2010, I am still trying to get to Istanbul to give an NLP Practitioner course , and the situation did not look good.

Not wanting to disappoint the participants and to honour the commitment I had made to give the course, I had been continually reviewing my options, and modes of transport.

I had contacted EuroLines, a bus transport organisation, transporting passengers throughout Europe by road, but they do not go to Turkey. The nearest they could take me was Sofia in Bulgaria, a three day journey, and the earliest they could get me a seat was in five days time. I would then have to find my way from Sofia, across the Turkish border into Istanbul, perhaps another day in travel.

I could drive my car across Europe, that was not a solution as I have not taken my car on the road for 18 months, it would need a service, oil changed, brakes checked, the paperwork prepared, insurance, but the worse would be the fuel consumption, my car achieves 18 miles to the gallon, (29 kilometers 4.5 liters approx.)

I could take a train or trains. On my return from working in Saudi Arabia, I had visited a friend in Athens, and on the spur of the moment, decided to take the train home from Athens to England and in 1988, with slower trains, it had taken me four or five days, a wonderful experience, but would I want to do it again, London to Istanbul by train.

I decided to go to the offices of Europe Train in central London, as they were not answering the telephones, their web site did not give me any help, in fact at the beginning of this crisis, their web site was being rebuilt and was unavailable.

Arriving at just after 10am in the morning, I joined the queue of hopeful travelers, which stretched from inside the offices, round a corner, down a street, around another corner, and down that street.

The queue outside Eorope Trains in Central London stretches even further into the distance, inwhich I stood for over 6 hours.

I stood in that queue until 4:30pm, and still not reaching the last corner, and we were told that there was a chance we would not be seen as the offices closed at 6pm.

I was cold, the cold wind had reached my bones. I was hunger, I had not eaten since breakfast, I was thirsty, again not having anything since breakfast.

I was asking myself, was this worth the waiting? But I had made a commitment and a promise, people had booked time off work, not gone on holidays to attend the course.

Would Europe Rail be able to get me to Istanbul, after all, the bus company EuroLines only went to Bulgaria?

There was no information, no-one from Europe Train was to be seen. A young man, a fellow traveler made an effort to get information, and slowly went down the queue informing people that the earliest train to Rome would be Wednesday and the same to Spain. But I was going a different route, perhaps I could get an earlier connection from Paris.

Now, I had an idea, just like the ending of the very funny film, The Italian Job, (the original is far better than the recent release), what if I went to Rome and took a flight from there? Then I thought, would I get a flight? What happens if the ash cloud covers Rome, or as I had been told closed Turkish airspace, I would be stuck in Rome.

I had throughout the day been telephoning friends to keep an eye on the fluid situation, the ever changing news of the air travel, I had my travel agents checking as well. Nothing.

Then I had another “Italian Job” idea, check the internet myself on my mobile phone, and the news from the BBC news pages was, that flights were being allowed from Scotland the next day, and with luck London airports opening in the evening.

I had a British Airways ticket on BA0676 on Wednesday.

After spending six and a half hours in the queue, cold, hungry, thirsty, tired, my legs stiff and back aching, with no guarantee that Europe Train could help me, and at what cost, I left the queue to return home, spirits raised.

Now, Tuesday morning, (20th April), I have seen on the news that there has been fresh eruptions from the Eyjafjallajoekull eruption, and an ash cloud is set to cover the UK.

Oh Poo Poo. 

Then I looked at what aircraft have been allowed to fly so far today from Scotland. They are small propeller driven aircraft being flown to the outer island around Scotland, which fly below any ash cloud, not the jet airliners flying to international destinations the majority of travelers and myself hope to take.

So, were we given the correct information by the news media?

We all assume that if someone says the flightpaths are to reopen, that ALL aircraft will be flying. We put out “cat on the mat“, in NLP terms we made a presupposition, we presupposed that we understood what was being said by putting our own understanding.

The other piece of information that was given was that an international flight was made. Where to? Iceland.
 

It is a wonderful day in London, not a cloud in the sky, yet there is, an ash cloud, grounding all flights in many European countries.

    
Trafagar Square and The London Eye, basks under a blue cloudless sky, well apart from and ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajoekull eruption

Still trying to reach Istanbul to give an NLP Practitioner course , I was booked to fly on Sunday (18th April 2010) at 0710 hours, but I have just received an email from British Airways to say that its’ flight BA0678 is canceled.

I have tried other ways to travel to Istanbul, but it seems to be near impossible to book tickets.

Traveling into Cental London to the offices of Europe Rail near Piccadilly Circus, I was met be a large queue of people, all trying to get train tickets on Eurostar and Continental railway systems.

A large queue outside Europe Rail hoping to buy rail tickets due to the Eyjafjallajoekull eruption 

Speaking to a number of them, I realise how lucky I am to be living in London, and being stuck here rather than being stuck in another country.

People who have been waiting for a number of days have had to find hotel accommodation, find food, all at their own expense.

There was one couple who were going away this weekend to be married, but now cannot get to their own wedding. Their guests were also not going anywhere.

I tried to purchase train tickets out of London to main land Europe, but all seats are booked, and I am told that all trains out of Paris are fully booked as flights are grounded in France.

I intended to get to Milan, but was informed that Italian airspace is also affected by the ash cloud. So, had I reached Milan, I would have been stuck there.

So the course in Istanbul will have to be postponed by one week, and somehow I will find a way to get to Istanbul, as I have just heard that aircraft could be grounded until next Wednesday at the earliest.

Pity that I have already ironed all my shirts, (22), prior to my now defunct trip, I could have spent this weekend with a purpose.

One of the other outcomes resulting from the ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajoekull eruption, was to be a beautiful sunset, as the sinking sun shone through the suspended particulates in the upper atmosphere.

To have a view of this sunset on Thursday evening, 15th April 2010, I took a short bus ride to Richmond upon Thames, and climbed Richmond Hill.

A stunning view over Surrey and in the distance a very quite Heathrow, with no aircraft taking off or landing.

Below me was the River Thames, yet to flow through London.

View of the River Thames from Richmond Hill

Many famous paintings have been composed and produced from the same view, although the trees and island in the River Thames have changed, plus the style of dress.

William Turner, “Richmond Hill on the birthday of the Prince Regent”, 1819.

Many people stood watching the sun set behind Heathrow Airport. A red sun and sky resulted, perhaps not what I expected, and certainly not worth the cancelation of all flights in the UK and parts of Europe. 

Sunset from Richmond Hill looking over to Heathrow Airport 15th April 2010.

Jet setting is no fun, continually flying from one country to another as I tend to do, seems a dream to some people, but it is not.

Having to wait for hours in an airport, a departure lounge, the delays that just seem to happen, having to wait for luggage to tumble down onto the carousel, arranging and getting a taxis, or having to catch a bus to and from the airport, to be squashed into uncomfortable aircraft seats next to other passengers who fight for some personal space with elbows everywhere. Then there is the airline food, promoted as gourmet, promoted as being high class, but then it tends to be just fast food in style, and depending on the airline and their cuisine or culture, not to my taste.

Today has been a horror, a nightmare, due the the grounding of all UK flights and much of European flights.

I spent an hour sitting in front of a travel agent I use, just to find alternate ways of getting from London to Istanbul, perhaps they could get me from London to Paris by Eurostar  train, then from Paris to Milan, and I could catch a plane say from Milan to Istanbul, but there were no seats available on the trains from Paris to Milan, and so it was on all trains from Paris, all are fully booked.

My travel agent gave up trying.

I returned home to try myself on the telephone and internet.

I go onto the Eurostar web site , and there are shown seats available, so I go on the Rail Europe web site, to book train journeys onwards from Paris. Rail Europe  web site is down due to maintenance, so I tried their booking telephone line, engaged, engaged, engaged. Eventually I get connected and put on hold for twenty minutes, listening to music and a woman saying they are extremely busy, please hold, or visit their web site. The *?££$% web site does not work Rail Europe. When I speak to a very friendly sales person, she does her utmost to help, but everything is fully booked.

Oh Poo Poo.

Then I am told that even though Eurostar web site shows availability, actually when you do try and book, it says, no seats available.

Oh Poo Poo.

Iceland’s Eyjafjallajoekull eruption and the ash cloud has much to answer for. The disruption it has caused worldwide, the cost of lost holidays, work, and visits must be extremely high.

Flitting around the world has become easy, and we now take it for granted, just to jump on an aircraft and in a couple of hours be in a far off country. It is only when incidents like the Eyjafjallajoekull eruption  and the ash cloud over Europe, that one can begin to appreciate how lucky we all are, we take for granted airline travel.

As far as jet setting is concerned, forget it, it is Poo Poo.

I still have to get to Istanbul. How?