who has got family stranded by the volcanic ash?

[MrsShu]

me ! easy jet have cancelled return flight

quint Drive/train/bus to Oslo, ferry to Copenhagen, ferry to Harwich.

QS where in Norway?
He might be able to catch Hurtigruta to Bergen, then Bergen Hirtshals (Denmark) ferry, then Hirtshals Esbjerg (not sure if there might be bus, it is ca.3 hrs by road), and Esbjerg-Harwich.

Alternatively Tromsø has bus+train connection with Oslo, but it takes more than a day to get down.

Apparently limited airports in Northern Norway are having limited flights, but I guess with nowhere in (Northern) Europe to fly to that is not an option...

Clarissimo that is very kind! Thank you so much. We will see how he gets on and I'll let you know.

Strandedatsea my DH did try that but he says there are hardly any flights to Spain from the Americas.

clam - the parents work a lot and rarely see the kids. I run the household.

Well we have a new destination. At 1030am we are being bussed to Malaysia. That is the nearest hotel with vacancies {confused] .

They are really pushing people to go back to Australia but if you do there is no guarantee you will get to London before May 1st.

Well I kind of guessed that! Sad.
But even so, plenty of us work a lot but still know our kids' routines.

Lou - my DH is just leaving Malaysia for Washington DC via Tokyo, he has a flight booked from Washington to Madrid on the 24th April which was the earliest flight to Europe that they could get.

I'm guessing that if you are already mid-flight so to speak that they can maybe prioritise you though?

lou - this could really work in your favour though, as the parents (and dc) will see you as indispensable once they experience the chaos without you!

This pilots forum makes interesting reading.

norkily I think we are going to come back the same route as your dh. We couldn't see much availability on the tgv to Paris (and eurostar from there) but there seems to be more to Brussels. Mme L Thanks for the tip about seat reservations - we will remember to arrange that too. that's probably why there seems to be more availability on that route.

Just spoke to friends of neighbours, they were stuck here in Geneva and could not get TGV tickets online. They went into the train station booking office this morning and got seats on the TGV tomorrow.

So that is the top tip for today. Go to the local ticket office, stand in line and you might get tickets earlier. I checked this afternoon and earliest available ticket was Tuesday.

Those of you who are stuck. Have you made any interesting aquintances. Any friendships developing?

My sister and her husband are travelling home from Costa del Sol to Scotland with another couple they met a few days ago whilst trying to get some info at an internet cafe.

I think they are treating it like some mid- life adventure. Travelling by train, bus, ferry and hire car. Staying at gites. My sister is used to travelling first class and 5 star all the way. Should be an interesting change for her.

Sounds a bit like Planes Trains and Auotomobiles without the planes obviously.

My aupair is unable to fly back from Austria. Dd goes back to school tomorrow and dh and I go back to work with no childcare!

I would also suggest turning up at ports / train stations to see what's available at the last minute as there may be lots of no shows, people with contingency bookings or choosing not to travel and being unable to cancel reservations due to the phone lines being busy or simply unable to get to the port/train in time.

Hello again.

An update.
My ex refuses to discuss even making plans to return DS - think he's using it as an excuse to keep him there (been a longstanding abduction threat)
I'm booked on the Eurostar on Tuesday to collect him.
At the moment I've no idea how/when we'll get home, but at least I'll have DS so we can have an adventure. If anyone has advice for getting back from Brussels, I'll be pleased to hear it.
Thanks nice MN ladies

Madascheese
Oh, how awful for you. There are a good few Belgian MNetters, give them a shout if you need them. I think we have a few folk in or around Brussels.

Thanks, It wold be amazing to hear from anyone who thinks they might be able to help. At the moment I've got a reservation for thursday to come back.
Am in bits.
Is my worst nightmare about what my ex threatned.

Have posted for the Belgian MNetters here

Portofino has already offered to help anyone stuck in Brussels.

parents left rome yest am
are now on FERRY!
yaay!

Madas - so sorry to read the latest. I think you are doing absolutely the right thing. Have you told ex you are coming - is there any risk of him doing a bunk before you get there? (At least he can't fly)

Hi Madascheese, my DH got back from Brussels on Friday. He took the train from Bruge to Ostend, then took the ferry to Ramsgate, then cab back to London. The ferry only takes car passengers but he and his boss got in the car with a guy who was driving - he said plenty of people were willing to do this. Or local cabs were driving people on - going across, then coming back. It took about four hours. Sorry, I can't do links well but here is the ferry site.

www.directferries.co.uk/ramsgate_ostend_ferry.htm

The cab from Ramsgate was around 140 quid. I know that isn't cheap but this was at 4am Saturday morning so might be cheaper different times.

Very best of luck, what a crap situation for you.

Thanks Northern, i sat around being all 'reasonable' until my DP and Dad went, Ok but what do you want to DO, I said get on the train and fetch him and they went, OK, let's make that happen. I have a marvellous family. Now likely to have 2 nights in Brussels as have managed to get tickets back for Thursday AM.

I'll tell him tomorrow, you're right at least he can't fly and if he does flit with DS it will be the last time he gets unsupervised access.

Thanks

I've emailed portafino, thanks again.

loving mumsnet at the moment

really, thanks

Will keep my fingers crossed for your trip madas - two nights in Brussels with mum will be a pretty good birthday present for ds don't you think