who has got family stranded by the volcanic ash?

[MrsShu]

me ! easy jet have cancelled return flight

I saw that. Bet it's not whatthe parents were thinking!

lou my parents are in Malaysia so can you take them with you when the navy come??

They are in a hotel at the airport at KL.

Totally not suprised at your bosses not knowing the kids schedules have nanny friends and the stories they come out with are unbelievable!

myboots cross your legs

Does anyone know if there is still a ferry service between Ancona[Venice] and Cesme[Turkey]?I cant understand the websites which are not in English or French.

Can you link to the website, perhaps someone can translate?

Didn't Stenaline have ferries between Greece and Italy?

Pranma there is a ferry but looks like next sailing after today is 13 May
Website in English here

Pranma I think it starts in May for the summer season.

Oops, sorry, you said Turkey, not Greece.

Minoan lines go from Greece to Ancona or Bari or even round to Venice
Looking at the ferries many of the greek ones don't seem to be running yet but maybe they are not loaded on the web. Cyprus s pretty much isolated as well . This webiste gives most of the ferries
www.greekferries.gr/
ferries-turkey.com/general/ferries-information-en.html

so we have managed to book eurostar tickets for Thursday evening from Brussels. it was a nightmare getting on the site - tickets were disappearing very quickly, and that was the first date we could find. the phone line wasn't working at all.

But we can't get any train tickets to brussels - we are told that the entire train network computer system has gone down for the whole of Europe We have a ticket to Geneva and are thinking of just getting the first train in the morning and trying to move on from there. Is that too risky?

Good news though, our insurance company will pay out £250 per person (there are 7 of us) so we will have most of our expenses covered hopefully. (although there are only expensive eurostar tickets available of course).

LouIs...I like men in uniform too, have had one for the past 25 years!!

Exotic traveller the web site for trains in Italy is
trenitalia.it/
For any Eurostar train ( and Freccia rossa) you must have a seat reservation the problem with the webiste is that often they have problems taking non Italian credit cards .
For me your best bet is to go Rome - Milan and then Milan and up into France . However I have heard that International trains are full until Sat.
If you need any more info let me know as I know the train system in Italy pretty well.

My DP is still stuck in Vancouver with a small cabin bag, 5 shirts and 5 pairs of knickers. He's managed to stay with friends and their washing machine He's set up an office from their house, we've written off the week and hoping the weekend brings a change. Canada is looking potentially ash ridden though so he might have to look into cruises

Hi ruby!

Pollyanna
Friends of our neighbours did that, just went in and got tickets for the next available train which was the next day.

If you want to risk it, you can always stay in Geneva one night if need be.

You are going to need to stay somewhere, either Brussels or Geneva.

No problem - If he is there he could join the huge queues in the rail stations to try and get tickets OR go to a travel agency that has access to a trenitalia system - many have them and they can try and book seats. However the trains that go up the coast might take longer but are bound to be less popular. Obviously the commuters are trying to get on the main lines as well .....

Sorry for everyone stuck abroad.

My parents are coming on a Ferry to Portsmouth tomorow. 8 hours and they have been told its standing room only now which should be fun but at least its something.

Hope these ships can help people out too.

Really hoping this ends soon! We are going to a close friends wedding at the weekend and they are panicking now about thier honeymoon!

Well DH has arrived in Tokyo and is now trying to get a flight to the continent or the middle east. This is such a flippin nightmare.

Pollyanna - I think you will be okay if you give yourself plenty of time and are prepared to take slower trains/night trains as well as TGV style ones where you have to have a seat booked. Good luck.

Ruby I live in Rome, let me know if your DS needs any help on anything-am usually on the Little Italy thread.Dont have any space or blow up beds am afraid but could help with other practical issues if required

Another stuck abroad story: my little sister has been staying with me in Switzerland, her Easyjet flight back to Liverpool on Saturday was cancelled. She lives in Aberdeen, so has a long way to go.

We spent the weekend looking for ways for her to get back to the UK, lift shares etc. French trains are on strike, no cars available for hire.

We finally came up with the following plan, and she's currently en-route: train to Paris (TGV running a minimal service), then train to Boulogne. We got her a crossing on the Boulogne-Dover ferry, with a catch - she has to be accompanied by a form of transportation (car, motorcycle, moped, bicycle). So when her train gets into Boulogne she's off to the nearest out-of-town hypermarche to buy a cheap bike. Hotel overnight, then ferry Tuesday morning.

It sounds ridiculous (the bike bit), but apparently the ferry operators have been turning people away, as it doesn't take foot passengers.

God knows what she'll do with the bike once she gets to Dover though...

Good luck and bon voyage to anyone else making a similar journey!

Pollyanna - Geneva is very expensive for hotels.

The cheapest are in the neighbouring French town of Ferney Voltaire, but that's about 20 minutes in a taxi from the train station.

I think it's good to keep moving though, might save your sanity!

As I wrote above, my sister just got on the TGV from Geneva-Paris. Staff weren't even checking tickets, and the train was only half full.

Another tip for those getting French or Swiss trains:

We booked the Geneva - Paris train ticket on the TGV website, to pick up tickets at Geneva station. When we got there at 8am today, there were massive queues to get tickets (they don't have automatic machines like in the UK). Two members of staff told me that in the circumstances, it's fine to get on the train with just a print-out of the email confirmation, rather than queue for the actual tickets.

Good to know, as if we'd done that, she'd have missed her train.

Thanks for all the help-at least there is a possibility of a ferry later in the summer if needed.

Pollyanna - go for it. What a fantastic adventure for your kids!
Hope it goes smoothly!