Still stuck in Ireland (but now with an exit plan)
So much can happen in such little time, and then so little can happen, as well. Â I have a bit of both right now. Â My flight’s canceled again–the one for Monday morning–so I rescheduled to Thursday morning, since flights were sold out through Tuesday, and Wednesday flights probably will be cancelled, too. Â Who am I kidding? Â Thursday flights aren’t taking off, either. Â All planes are grounded indefinitely. Â The airlines are stringing everyone along with the idea of flights starting up, but that big ole volcano is still spewing ash into the air, so unless a monsoon washes it all away, the airs above Europe will remain empty for some time to come.
Finally coming to this realization, I decided to book a ferry. Â I tried Saturday morning to book one for Sunday. Â After countless attempts of trying to use both my American Express and Visa card, I was told the ferry on Sunday was sold out. Â The site ran my credit card and charged my credit card, but it didn’t give me a confirmation page, so I had no proof that I bought the ticket. Â Instead, they gave me an error page. Â Multiple times. Â In hindsight, I realize now I was on a ferry broker website instead of the official site for the company, so I might have had better luck on the official site. Â But directferries.ie sounded pretty legit to me under the pressure of time and frantic mental state. Â Their shoddy website should have been the warning sign.
Anywho, after that failed attempt, I tried booking the next available ferry, which leaves on THURSDAY.  Yes, I said Thursday, folks.  I was supposed to be in Amsterdam last Friday morning, and now I’m taking an 18 hour ferry from Rosslare, Ireland to Cherbourg, France the Thursday after.  So I get in Friday in France at 4:30pm, then get on a train to Paris at 7pm.  That puts me in Paris at about 10pm.  Now, originally, before St. Helen’s Icelandic sibling decided to get all uppity, I was supposed to fly back from Brussels to Chicago Saturday morning.  Ha!  That thinking is so April 14th.  To American Airline’s credit, I was able to reschedule my flight without a rescheduling charge to Thursday the 29th.  That will give me Saturday through Wednesday to see the sights I had wanted to see in the first place.  And who knows?  The way that volcano keeps spewing, I might be here longer than that.  I heard the last time this volcano erupted, it continued erupting for a full year.  I think I might apply for EU citizenship.