Travel in 2011
Nov 16th, 2010 by Ted Liptak
For British travellers, 2010 has been a bit of a nightmare year. First there was the Eyjafjallajöku volcano eruption in Iceland. It spewed out a giant cloud of ash along with magma, which resulted in flight cancellations and delays across European air space.
Next was the British Airways strike, ruining many an Easter holiday. Flights were cancelled, others were delayed and Heathrow’s Terminal Five seemed rather superfluous.
Summer this year was actually rather good, or parts of it were so many Brits that decided on a ‘staycation’ actually got to enjoy a good old British summer. But elsewhere, extreme heat ruined some holidays as Southern Europe witnessed temperatures in the 40s.
The northern hemisphere then enjoyed a somewhat balmy Indian summer, with mid-20 temperatures even in late September. However, those bound for other parts of the world were shocked to find overbearing temperatures. LA for example was so hot parts of it caught on fire and new records were broken.
Fast forward to November and December and the weather has been causing even more disruption. Not because of heat, the opposite in fact. Freezing temperatures, snow and strong winds turned Britain into a Russian colony with -17 and -18 or so reported in Wales and Scotland. All airports closed for a time, which caused more travel misery.
At the same time, rail transport boomed and the popularity of cross-channel ferries and the Eurotunnel grew beyond all expectations. But, has the extreme weather, people power and random acts of nature turned travelers against air travel? Continue Reading »
