The Long Road Home

So, as you may, or may not know, Tom and I went on our first holiday together in April. We went to Tenerife (another post to follow on that) in the Canary Islands. We had a lovely six days before turning on the news the morning before we were leaving to sea that British Airspace was closed because of a volcanic ash cloud from Iceland. I thought Tom was joking when he said it, but sure enough, there it was all over the telly...

We thought we might be okay since it was still a day and a half until we were flying, but by check out the next morning (Friday April 16th) it was looking like we were stranded. The first thing we did was try to contact our airline... that didn't happen, so we found a cheaper hotel (the one we were staying in was trying to 200 Euros a night).

The Chipeque was a downgrade, but it did the job at 35 Euros a night! By Friday afternoon our flight was officially canceled. We decided to just try and enjoy the next few days until our re-booked flight on Monday, April 19th. We were low on money, so we couldn't live it up - we shopped and cooked and bought some booze at the shop - no more eating out and pubs/clubs/bars for us... But that was ok, we were together.

On Sunday, we met Andy, Denise and Diane - they had been staying at the same resort as us, but decided a downgrade was needed as well. We spent the day drinking and hanging out by the pool. At the end of the evening, we all decided to head to a travel agency in the morning to see about getting to the mainland. Oh, our Monday flight was canceled by then too and the next flight they were offering me was on Tuesday, April 27th - 11 days after we were supposed to leave.

So, Monday morning, the five of us headed to the travel agency - by 10:30 AM we were booked with Iberworld flight at 4:30 to fly from Tenerife to Sevilla, Spain on the mainland. For only 69 Euros too! We had to buy a second suitcase as they wouldn't let us put our weight limit together in one bag, but I managed to find a decent one for cheap.

1 PM Monday April 19th - Leaving from the Chipeque... we knew it was going to be hard... but we were optimistic.
Left to right - Andy, Diane, Tom, Me, Denise.

On the bus... going to the airport, at last! Only three days late!

Woot! Airplane! I don't think I've ever been so happy to be getting on a flight!

So, by 7:30 local time we landed in Sevilla and headed straight to the train station. The plan was to get to Madrid and from there find a coach or train to either Paris or Calais. That's what the news kept telling people to do anyway, so we thought we'd be all right.

My one memory of Sevilla... There was some promotion going on in the train station, so we took a minute to enjoy this!

At 9:45 we pulled out of Sevilla Train Station on our way to Madrid - for 89 Euros each this time - we were quickly running out of money!

Some government building in Madrid... the only picture I really got there.

We arrived in Madrid around 12:30 PM. We were planning on spending the night in the train or coach station, but they kicked us out as soon as we got there. We couldn't find any information on where the coach station was and decided to stay the night in a hotel even if it would only be a few hours. The first hotel we asked at was quoting around 70 Euros for a room for the night - and we needed two. So, we went to eat something and then went back and the price had gone up to 110 Euros! Nice, take advantage of the poor stranded travelers. It was ridiculous. We'd seen another hotel around the corner and when asked, they only want 45 Euros for the night. We checked in at 2:30 AM and planned to meet in the lobby at 5:45 to get to the coach station as soon as it opened.

Our lovely hotel room in Madrid. At least there was a bed and it was clean.

So we got to the coach station at around 6AM only to find out we had to wait until 8 for the ticket office to open... but there was already a queue so, it was good we got there early. We met an American who had just arrived from Barcelona (he was trying to get to Germany). He told us there were no trains going through the south of France because of a rail strike - the first any of us had heard of that!

So we waited. and when we got into the ticket office we were told the next available seats on a coach to Paris was the following Monday (April 26th) - At that rate, we could have stayed in Tenerife and waited for our flight on the 27th! There was a group of 8 students ahead of us and one of them, Sophie, and I decided to see if we could rent our own coach and driver to take us to Calais to get the ferry across the channel.

It turned out that about 30 other people behind us, were into the idea too. So, we started trying to figure out how to rent a bus in Spain. The only problem was that there were no coaches for hire. They were all rented out - everywhere we went and asked there was nothing. Then, John, a man from Scotland who was traveling with his three kids, got a text message from his wife in Glasgow giving him the phone number of a guy who was hiring coaches to ferry people to and from Madrid to Calais.

I called him and he told us that there was a coach already leaving the next day (more than 24 hours later) and we were all welcome to get on it if we wanted to pay 250 Euros each! Well, we all decided that a) we didn't want to wait that long and b) that was too much. The regular coach from Madrid to London (not even Calais which is what he was offering) is only 120 Euros. So I negotiated with him. I asked him if he could get us a coach that day and how much it would be if we filled it. We had to wait an hour and a half for him to call me back. It was tense, but by the time he rang back we had over 50 people who wanted to get on our coach.

It was a beautiful moment when he said he could get us a coach at 6PM and we'd only have to pay 215 Euros (still not great, but better) and he'd take us to Calais - a 20 hour drive. So it was settled. 52 of us. 6PM at Madrid coach station. One bus. Two drivers. We couldn't believe it. Some people had already been traveling for three days by the time we met in the station.

It funny I don't have any pictures from the coach station... We spent so long there. By lunchtime, with the relief of knowing we had a way to Calais, we all had a little party - the rum we'd bought in Tenerife came out; we went to the grocery store and got stuff to make sandwiches; we were all stoked.

At some point the media showed up. Reuters, ITV and the BBC. They interviewed us (two of them interviewed me) and we were on the news back home as the people taking matters into their own hands. (Not sure the links will work outside the UK) We were on more reports, but I can't link to them anymore...

So after waiting all day, we headed out of the station to wait for the coach to actually arrive... at 6:15 PM it did.

Waiting outside for the coach to arrive.

My group of travelers... new friends and "parents"

By 6:45 we were on our way... about 30 hours after we set out from the Chipeque it felt like we were really going home.

Andy and Nise - our new parents!

Going home!!!

So a fitful sleep through Spain and Franc, a quick drop off in Paris (two people were getting out there) and 21 hours later we got to Calais, France.

There were only about 3000 people in line ahead of us. While it was disheartening, it was even worse when we heard that it was going to cost 65 Euros each - the normal price for a foot passenger is around 25. Getting screwed again. We complained to the first British officials we'd seen for the whole trip and they said there was nothing they could do. The problem was that Tom and I were out of money. We could get on the ferry, but wouldn't have anything left to get the train back to London from Dover.

It didn't matter though. We'd be on British soil and what else were we going to do, stay in France Andy and Denise kept telling us not to worry, that they'd get us home. It was really great to have that kind of support with us.

Andy being interviewed for TV in Calais.

Almost inside... to be fair it only took about two hours in the queue.

Finally, at 5:45 PM on Wednesday, April 21st, we were on a ferry and pulling out of the port. It definitely warranted a drink!

Cheers! We're on our way!

Bye bye France and mainland Europe...

HELLO DOVER!!!

My silly boy... he really was happy to be in Britain!

On the ferry Denise shoved £60 in my hand to get us from Dover to London - we'd heard the train was about £30 each. As it turned out it only cost that much for both of us, so we had a little money left to get bread and milk. (The advance on my pay that work was supposed to give me came through the day after we got home!)

So, we got on a train, straight to London Victoria (a two-hour train ride) where we had a short tube ride and then a walk home. We got in the door around 11:30 on Wednesday, April 21st... four days, and 19 hours after we were supposed to. After 58 hours of travel across mainland Europe using just about every mode of transport that exists.

While it was exhausting, it was an adventure that I will never forget. It taught me a lot about my and Tom's relationship too. We can get through anything together. If you'd have asked me beforehand what I thought would have happened it wouldn't have been that we'd get on the whole time and support each other and be strong... to be honest I thought we would have argued at least once. But we didn't. If anything, it's brought us closer. So, good things do come when you least expect them...

Finally home and in my own bed!!!

So, sorry this post is so long... but it really did warrant it this time... and hopefully that will help you understand what has taken me so long to write it. I'm sure there is more I could say. But I will leave you with this as it is. Up next, Tenerife: the holiday - before the ash.