The boys and I were anxiously awaiting Ben’s return from a neurology conference in Toronto when Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted, closing most of European airspace for five days. With his return flight from Toronto cancelled, and without knowing when the ash cloud would subside, Ben made his way to Philadelphia to ride out the storm (and play golf).
Being unable to connect with the Novartis travel department complicated matters, but after several hours on the Internet, we identified two options: book a flight to Zurich on Monday night and hope the airspace would be open by then, or fly to Madrid (one of the only airports open in Europe) and somehow make his way home from there. Guessing it would be better to at least be on the same continent, Ben chose the second option; and after an overnight flight from Philadelphia to Madrid, several taxi trips back and forth between the frantic Madrid airport and a hotel as flights were scheduled and subsequently cancelled, a flight from Madrid to Milan re-routed to Rome, bags lost, five hours at the Rome airport waiting for the bags, and an eight hour train ride from Rome, the boys and I greeted Ben at the Basel train station (where I had to break it to him that he should have gone with option one, as his flight had departed Philadelphia the night before and landed in Zurich three hours prior)!
Luckily he was only delayed for three days and never had to sleep on an airport floor, like thousands of others stranded around the world; but we welcomed him like a soldier returning from war and celebrated that night with burgers and champagne. Nothing like a little distance to make the heart grow fonder!
