There's nothing like a little freak and unprecedented weather event to throw a wrench into your travel plans.
Like millions of others, my journey has been derailed by a giant ash cloud hovering over most of Europe after a volcanic eruption in Iceland last week.
Arriving in London after a three-week reporting assignment in Africa, my flight was among the last to safely land at Heathrow Airport on Thursday -- not that I knew it at the time.
Taking a bus to Oxford, a lovely city an hour's drive from London, the driver referenced the impending cloud of doom hovering over Britain's airspace.
"There may be trouble in the skies but the weather in Oxford is just fine," he told the bus of sleepy travellers.
On Friday, Heathrow cancelled all flights leaving and entering London. It closed the airspace again Saturday, stranding tens of thousands of passengers inside its walls.
Supposed to fly out on a now-defunct flight early Sunday morning, I have been rebooked on a Tuesday flight -- the earliest possible flight considering tens of thousands of other Canadians are also trying to get home, a tired-sounding Air Canada agent informed me.
But the odds of getting off the tarmac aren't looking great.
Airport officials announced early Sunday morning the airspace above the UK would remain closed at least another day, warning that the cloud did not appear to be dissipating.
Scientists issued even more dire predictions, saying the eruption column showed no signs of slowing. "There doesn't seem to be an end in sight," geologist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson said.
Nestled at a friend's home with a cup of tea, I am thankfully not among those forced to sleep on a cot at Heathrow's international terminal or pay what I'm told are skyrocketing rates at hotels hoping to cash in on the new -- and unwilling -- captive market.
But I am getting antsy.
I am due to fly to Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday evening for a friend's wedding on a non-refundable flight. With my partner, who is waiting as patiently as he can for me to return home after almost a month abroad.
So fingers crossed.
The last time the Eyjafjallajokull erupted was in 1821. Its effects lasted more than a year.
