“Unusual travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.”
Attributed to Bokonon (the Caribbean guru) in “Cat’s Cradle” by Kurt Vonnegut.
“Stuck Inside of Mobile (With The Memphis Blues Again)“, Bob Dylan, Blonde on Blonde. 1966
Vonnegut’s memorable line shouts out to thousands of travellers today, as the Icelandic volcano causes an unprecedented total shut-down of air travel in Northern Europe and across the Atlantic. We have friends en route to Canada and another en route from Germany to the UK. Stuck. In a word, stuck.
I thought back to the times I’ve been stuck. In thirty years of talks, my only no-show was Seville, after the runway collapsed and my late night flight from Barcelona was cancelled.
Then there was Japan in the early 80s when a hurricane struck. We were stranded in a hotel in Osaka unable to travel or even look outside. So was Robert O’Neill, and we paid a ridiculous sum for the straw-covered bottle of Chianti adorning the hotel bar. I phoned home to find a friend there looking after my older two kids. The youngest was in hospital. He’d been seriously ill three months earlier. I couldn’t get out of Japan. All flights were cancelled. It was the worst couple of days I can remember. By the time the storm subsided, he was out of hospital and I continued the tour. My heart goes out to all those who HAVE to get somewhere and can’t.
But sometimes the unexpected travel plans are a bonus. I once followed our friend’s route from Germany in 1971 by train. I was in a compartment with five Yugoslavs from Munich to Brussels (they had travelled from Belgrade). They had copious supplies of bread, salami, red wine, cheese. They insisted on sharing it with me, though they spoke not a word of English. It was one of those “Manchester United?” “Fantastic.” “Red Star, Belgrade?” “Fantastic!” conversations that lasted several hours. We established that I was an English teacher and they insisted I teach them English greetings and toasts. They taught me toasts in Serbo-Croat which I remembered for a few days then forgot. We parted in Brussels, good friends as far as it goes.
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