Back when I started this trip I commented on how a curse I formerly thought I had might have finally been broken.  I liked to call this curse the Travel God of the Apocalypse Curse as every time I went to book travel for the better part of a year (or more), some sort of freakish weather system would hit out of nowhere and I would somehow end up sleeping in yet another airport. Well, turns out it was just laying dormant. In a 200-years-quiet volcano in Iceland no less. A sudden massive snowstorm I can handle. An out-of-nowhere typhoon-like lightening storm? Why not. But a continent-sized cloud of deadly volcanic ash? Seriously, what have I done to deserve this?? Friends now are even half expecting me to bring a cloud of locusts with me when I arrive.

To be honest, I’ve gotten off fairly easy in this whole ordeal but let’s do the points recap shall we:

Day 1, Thursday: A bad day at work topped off by a Messenger of Doom declaring the unfortunate news of the ash cloud. Nevertheless, I’m still hopeful it’s short term and my flight isn’t until the next day anyways. Mandy 0 – Volanco 0

Day 2, Friday: Down in London and flights are officially cancelled due to extreme chance of death by firey glass that will plummet you into the sea. Thankfully I never have to trek out to the airport to know this, but I rebook my flight for the next day because I’m stupid like that. Mandy 0 – Volcano 1

Day 3, Saturday: Today is Record Store Day so off I trek to Rough Trade to support my independent shops and manage to catch the Caribou in-store show at the same time. Follow that up with a great little pop-up exhibition by the excellent MuTATE Britain and chance upon a great new bar with a sunny quiet patio and the fact that I’m now living my life in 6-hour windows to hear the latest updates on my flights doesn’t feel so bad anymore. Mandy 1 – Volcano 1

Day 4, Sunday: Flights still grounded and despite the gorgeous weather (especially compared with where I was headed) I’m finding it hard to not be massively disappointed at all this. I haven’t been home in over a year, my parents were out specifically for this visit and the great and wonderful California Wine Show was once again on the agenda. A sit in the park with the paper barely lifts my mood. Mandy 1 – Volcano 2

Day 5, Monday: Back at work and my body is protesting since it knows it should be sleeping in. Takes 3 coffees and about 5 hours to feel even close to normal but work gets on as it should. I’ve rebooked my flight for Friday and Air Canada is more helpful and nice than they’ve ever been or I could’ve expected them to be. After getting home, flight restrictions are announced to be lifting. I may be able to fly this weekend after all! If I can survive the 3 more days of work to get there. Mandy 2 – Volcano 3

Obviously, the volcano is gonna win here, but when I think about all the other people stranded in airports all this time or shelling out on hotels and things, it could all really be so much worse. And hey, I got affected by A VOLCANO. That’s just shit you hear about on tv. Kinda cool and humbling when you think about it. All those irate travellers feeling so put upon and angry that “in this day and age” we should be able to deal with this better should maybe start giving Mother Nature a little respect.  Yeah it’s annoying, yeah it’s disappointing, but some of you bastards out there get to ride home on a Navy ship for god’s sake, talk about a cool story to tell when you get back to work. Anyways, this story is far from over, so perhaps my meltdown is still yet to come. But I hope not.

In parting, we’ve all seen the ‘I hate Iceland’ guy, so instead I give you my other favourite volcano-related video find of the week: