marshlander & princealbertofb

[fjp999]

...
New York is, of course, an interesting place, but everything here costs money and practically everyone hustles you for money under the oddest of circumstances. I've missed my flight back to England and had to pay to rearrange it to a time when I know I can use it. This means that after we deliver the kids to their families in France I shall have to book another flight from scratch, which as any EasyJet user knows, means paying a premium at short notice. I've lost a few days work, which (being self-employed) means no money and the days are incredibly long, starting with a call from the travel company telling us we can't fly that day, through the chaos of meal arrangements to the hours of walking to keep everyone busy and now I've run out of clothes so I'll have to find a washing machine in this hostel. It'll be another late night I think.

Last evening I was waiting by the subway at 103rd Street for PA to arrive with another group (I had gone back to the hostel a little earlier with one girl and one of the parents who were feeling unwell) and was accosted for money by yet another hustler who thought that this white guy should owe him some money. Again he didn't seem to understand the concept that I didn't actually have any. His mood was difficult to read, but I did actually feel quite threatened. We all came back together tonight.

[COLOR="Purple"]Good to hear that NYC hasnt changed a bit :eek:

Here are some links I found... was looking for the CNN piece I heard a couple days ago but cant seem to google it???[/COLOR]

Social Media Sites Help Volcano-Stranded Travelers : Discovery News

Incompatible browser | Facebook

Incompatible browser | Facebook

BBC News - Iceland volcano: Air passenger rights

***not sure whats going on with the "incompatible browser" bull but the links do work***

[Boysstuff]

Its good that they are all okay and hope they have a save journey home.mile:

[marshlander]

Thanks again for your good wishes. Our early morning call from the travel company in Nice on Thursday suggested we should actually turn up at JFK en masse and make a bit of a nuisance of ourselves, so we did. Luckily we found a lovely woman called Janice who moved heaven and earth and sat on hold to other air companies for hours until she secured us flights to Rome and then on to Geneva with Alitalia that evening. She was a marvel and a credit to the BA operation. So, we got into Rome yesterday afternoon and arrived back in Geneva last night and only nearly lost one student. Unfortunately one of the students lost her camera at the airport, but other than that, everyone is safely back in the bosoms of their families. I am now the only slightly displaced person, in that I should have been working in England tonight, but the bandleader found someone to replace me during the week.

I have booked a flight back to England tomorow morning, but at the usual EasyJet penalty price for late bookings (£230 instead of £40 I paid for the flight I missed). I did wonder whether the expense of a late EJ booking would be an excuse for travelling by rail, which I would like to do sometime, but the rail fare would have been €415, so that didn't work out.

Well, what an adventure! It's been quite a fortnight, but we've had some pretty amazing experiences. I'll let PA tell you about some of them. If you're lucky he may post a few pictures too.

[fjp999]

CONGRATS ON IT ALL!

***Isnt life all about the adventure?