flight

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust: Stop moaning and start driving!

It has now been four days since all flight traffic over the northern Europe was cancelled due to the volcanic ashes from the explosion on Iceland. The airspace is still closed over: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, UK. It is partly closed over: Italy (northern airspace closed until Monday) and the flights are operating in: Greece, Portugal, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Spain.

In the meantime the news broadcasts hundreds of articles and TV programs about people being stuck who are going to- or leaving from cities in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.

Obviously a lot of the stories focus on sensation – like four French business men who were stuck somewhere in Denmark and "had to" hire a taxi to get home to Paris for 15.000 crowns (2700 USD). But really my question is: What happened to people’s logic? Did it disappear with the availability of cheap flight tickets?

Before the days when we were all able to pollute the atmosphere with CO2 (from flights) on a regular basis, we used to travel on buses and trains: OVERLAND TRAVEL. Doesn’t anyone remember that?

There are still regular buses and trains connecting all the capital cities in Europe!!! I understand that you can be "stuck" if you are travelling to or from Asia and South America. But to say that people, who are "merely" travelling from Paris to Copenhagen, are "stuck" is ridiculous.

Google "bus Europe" or "train Europe" and you will get thousands of entries. I went to the following website: http://www.bahn.de/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml This website combines all train travel all over Europe – from the very South of Barcelona to the north of Norway.

I decided to figure out how long it takes to go from Copenhagen to Paris. Well I can leave tomorrow morning at 07.45 from Copenhagen and will get to Paris tomorrow evening at 20:53. The trip takes 13 hours and 8 minutes. That’s 10 hours more than flying. But honestly – we are NOT "stuck" in Europe. It’s such a small area that being stuck is for the most part more a question about comfort.

Thomas and I travelled for 9 months in South America. We did all our travel overland. This often meant 20 hour bus journeys and as you can imagine travelling from Guatemala to Bariloche in Argentina overland takes many hundreds of hours in buses. I never thought about flying.

I do sympathise with people who have engagements to attend to etc. But why not use this opportunity to reduce your carbon footprint and get back down to the ground – take the train or the bus in Europe 🙂

Video: Flight over the Nazca Lines, Peru

The Nazca lines are a series of mysterious 2000 year-old drawings cut into the the stony floor of the Nazca desert in Southern Peru. There are many hundreds of them, and they include animal figures, people, an astronaut and various geometric shapes and lines.

There are many theories as to their origin, some of which include: religious iconography, guidance for flying/tripping shamans, race tracks, irrigation channels, art for ancient hot air balloonists, and that they were part of a giant alien landing site – this theory is obviously supported by the presence of a 2000 year old astronaut figure.

Due to their size, they are best viewed from the air in a small plane – half hour flights go from Nazca airport and cost $55 include airport tax.

This short video was made on a slightly terrifying flight over Nazca. As it may be hard to see some of the figures in the video, you may want to have a look at the accompanying photos.

Links

More Photos of Nazca lines
Podcast from Southern Peru
Wikipedia on the Nazca Lines
Note: If in this video it is hard to see the Nazca lines, you could try the version in our YouTube account directly as it is larger.

Corn Island: Bounty island in Nicaragua

Corn Island in Nicaragua
Corn Island in Nicaragua

Thomas and I had dreamt about the white Caribbean beaches since long before we came away. We had seen heavenly pictures from little Corn Island and had been looking very much forward to spending Christmas and New Year there.

Big and Little Corn Islands are both low-key vacation spots in an isolated corner of the Caribbean. The two Islas del Maíz retain in many ways the magic associated with the Caribbean – clear turquoise water, white sandy beaches fringed with coconut palms, excellent fishing, phenomenal coral reefs to explore and an unhurried and peaceful pace.

However, getting there is NOT funny. The ferry there from Bluefields runs irregularly and we ended up having to decide between staying 4 days in Bluefields or flying to Big Corn Island (one way 85$). We chose the last option although it was not in our budget -but Bluefields is honestly not a place you want to spend 4 days (or even one).

On the way back we also flew because there was no boat right after New Year and we would have to wait one week on Big Corn.

Collective pangas between the islands (US$6, 40 minutes) leave from Big Corn at 10am and 4:30pm; if you’re staying on the far side of Little Corn, you need to take the morning boat. Boats leave Little Corn at 7am and 2pm, meeting each round of flights. The sea is very rough and you better wrap your backpack.

I really enjoyed my time on Little Corn Island – but thought it was too expensive to get there 🙂