Stuck in Rhodes

[TooTrusting]

I was just east of Gennadi, 5 minutes away, at Atlantica Dreams resort (Tui). All day yesterday there was a steady stream of evacuated guests from other hotels arriving.
The fire seemed to die down at around 3pm. But by 7 it was raging again.
We were told one of us needed to stay up all night to listen gif the evacuation siren.
There were hundreds of evacuees there by then.
Just before 10pm we were evacuated. We walked to the road where there was a coach and some cattle trucks. It was chaos and hard not to be separated from my DCs (23, 19, 17 & 17). We had no idea where we were going. I had to calm and keep company 2 distraught children (circa 14 and 8) who had got separated from their parents. I lost a shoe and one DC their phone. We had to jettison the one small cabin size suitcase we had brought our essentials in.
Our truck broke down and we walked about a mile, again not knowing where we were going, and were eventually directed onto Gennadi beach. There were around 2000 people there all crammed together. Small boats, capacity around 10, went back and forth between ferry boats and the shore. There was no Dunkirk spirit. People were tired, upset and frightened. Some had not slept for 2 nights.

It took 4 hours until we finally managed to get on one at around 2. It was bedlam with everyone shoving and barging. I was separated from the DCs several times. Nobody knew where we were going.

We were on the ferry around 4 hours before arriving in Rhodes Town at c6.30am. We sailed through ash clouds and people had towels tied round their faces. People were taken off in different buses. We ended up in a school with 150 others. But there was nothing there for us, no beds, mats, washing facilities or food and it was boiling hot.
There was no list so the authorities have no idea who has gone where. It is a total lie for Tui to say they have re accommodated everyone. They have not. They have no idea where I am and until their phone lines open I cannot contact them either. The only info we have been given is an FCO number for advice on travel and consular assistance (which we don't need).
Luckily I have 24 hour insurance access and when I'd re charged my phone was able to establish I am covered (was worried it would be an "act of God"). I have booked a hotel for 1 night, after a long search. I've just arrived - it's chaos with everyone sleeping on the floor.
Just before we left the school a band of volunteers arrived laden with food and one of them thinks our hotel may have been burned down and we are unlikely to get back to try to retrieve our stuff. She says Gennadi is mostly gone.

We leave on Wednesday. We can't check in here til 2 and need to go and buy clothes and essentials. All we have is what we are standing in.

What makes you think there are passengers on board? Are you seeing more arrivals in the resort you're staying in? Or does it seem to be getting quieter? Although, I guess it may be hard to tell if people are being moved into safer accommodation.

Awful - how could they live with themselves? Its a miracle no one has been killed (that we know of yet).

Do you really have to ask?

When you day that you can't afford to lose the money, what on earth makes you think that flying to Rhodes in the current circumstances will get your money back.

I wasn't worried - it was only on Friday that things turned because of the wind, and the fact they used our hotel to evacuate to had made us all think it wasn't expected to come our way

I don't really know. They are dependent on the tourism so I suppose in a week or so it will be business as usual (save for the hotels which have been destroyed)

There were fireworks going off the night before behind us I could not understand the logic or why it was allowed!

I returned from there (Ixia area) a couple of days ago, no one including locals were talking about it although we did see it mentioned on Greek TV news.

I know someone who was due to fly out at lunch time today (theologos area) and it was impossible for them to get a straight answer as to whether they should. Even emailed the hotel who said its fine, we are expecting you! Were then told on the way to the airport it was cancelled so accepted they would just try to make the best of it and get on a different flight to somewhere else then once at the airport they were told to board the plane! (Ryanair) worried/confused and everyone else seemed to be boarding but they decided not to at the last minute. Now they're not sure if they've lost the money!

I'm not cross with them per se. It's an unusual situation. However PPs have a good point about contingency plans.
What I AM annoyed about is Tui telling the press all its guests are taken care of when we aren't. Because that's just a blatant lie. They seem to have toned that down in more recent reports.

Ps The guilt tripping won't work on some of us as we know man made climate change (previously known as global warming until they couldn't keep up the lies) is a nonsense and a control mechanism from top down. If it makes you feel virtuous though carry on.

I hate wilful ignorance.

I think you're being too harsh on the poster here. A holiday in peak summer for 7 is a lot of money to get no return for. It's hugely disappointing. I get that.

Nothing except what we are wearing, phones, hand towels (smoke protection), phones, chargers and passports.
The bag is put other stuff in (sun cream, my laptop, toiletries, medication, change of clothes) had to be abandoned at the roadside.
We have nothing. Im about to try and find a supermarket. Clothes shops are closed as it's Sunday.

I wish I'd brought change of clothes and some toiletries in my handbag

Don't be wilfully ignorant then? 🙄

Yes I was thinking that the boats could have capsized, they probably overloaded them a bit.
The people who turned up with food were volunteers who just wanted to do something for us.
If you were in the same school as me, my son was the one in the baseball cap who came round everyone to make a list of names and resorts to pass up the chain.

Hope you're all ok Op - what a nightmare for you all.

We finally got into our hotel room at 4.30. I've been asleep. A very lovely Tui person has just called. The intention is to get us out asap rather than waiting til Wednesday but she's told me we will need at least 1 possibly 2 more nights here. I'm off to reception to see if they can do that. At about 4 I found out a Tui rep was at the hotel and we all gave her our booking numbers, names, room numbers and details of what we'd left behind.
I know it's only things and I will totally get over myself if we don't get anything back or only some of it. DD23 is devastated all her makeup and straighteners are gone. But she too knows it's just stuff.
We will not be able to go back to get our things, they'll do their best to have it packed up for us. I'll try to call the hotel about the bag we left by the road.
I'm off to try and buy provisions now. Someone did the supermarket sells clothes. My one dress is minging and I don't really want to carry on wearing it.
We just need a good night's sleep now.

So many holiday companies have gone over to online models of communicating with clients - but this means there are very few reps on the ground to practice and implement plans

The thought had occurred to me, though given the calibre of too many of them I'd rather rely on those with deep local knowledge anyway

As PP rightly recognises, give it a week or so and providing the situation doesn't deteriorate it'll be business as usual - though not for some of the locals who'll have lost so much

The whole thing is way more complex than some of the self-styled eco warriors would have us believe.

It's like, a hypothetical example, today's temperature is the highest in x location since 1973.

Now, to me, a simple soul, that implies that the temperature was just as high on an occasion 50 years ago. As for natural disasters - they have always been a feature of life on earth. Just musing!

The confusion is awful though and exactly what shouldn't be happening. The airlines/travel companies should have clear plans in place. It's not as if it was a totally unpredictable event is it?

@TooTrusting I wish there was something people could do to help. Might some clothing shops have opened up because there must be so many people needing to buy stuff?

Rinse your dress and undercrackers in the hotel shower/sink. Hang on hanger, be dry in a couple of hours in the heat. Doesn't need to be completely dry either I suppose.

Wrap towel/sheet around you while waiting. Might be worth it.

Glad your safe and the Rhodes fire service seem to be bringing things under control? Also sounds like hopefully your possessions will be retrievable as it sounds like the hotel may be ok and the staff won't have lost their jobs.

Reading this thread earlier today almost made me sign off from MN for good after coming close in the recent past. I can't believe the wokescold toldyouso posters that were on here before banging on about climate change an it being all your fault for daring to travel to another part of the world - like millions do. Incredibly bitter, nasty trolls and I hope you managed to ignore them.

They are so deluded as well. As a PP pointed out, airline emissions aren't a huge part of the problem and, when you look into it, the only way to bring down average temp is to massively and globally reduce emissions on a large scale, which is something that only governments can do. Banning people from traveling (as if you could) would devestate local economies that currently massively rely on tourism as well. Greece don't want people to stop coming all together. And I personally don't want to live in a world where nobody leaves their home town or experiences different cultures and landscapes, the judgey trolls you get on here are a direct result of that lifestyle and mindset imo. We should be making positive changes by influencing government policy and the only way to do that is by voting, not by doing one less wash or overloading Devon and Cornwall instead of going to Europe.

Well said!!

@Fallenangelofthenorth I think the arrivals at our hotel have slowed up today. It's a mix of European guests at our hotel but it seems many of them travel with TUI and all of their flights have been cancelled too. Hopefully there's some free rooms for evacuees now.

Slight derail but I wonder how many of the PPs criticising OP for daring to the travel in the first place have children. Surely that’s far more damaging to the environment than anything else. 😜

Agree completely - Devon or Cornwall is far too clogged up with cars to appeal to me. Give me a Greek Island holiday any day. Most people take one or two holidays a year at most and anyone suggesting we ban all holidays is just ridiculous.