A North Dakota State University researcher has been stranded in Denmark since Friday due to the volcano eruptions in Iceland that have spewed broad streams of ash into the atmosphere, throwing international travel into turmoil.
Vicki Johnston-Gelling, 35, said by phone from her Copenhagen-area hotel room today that she hopes to make it home to Fargo by Wednesday night.
Wednesday is her son William's fifth birthday.
"It's the one thing that has me a little upset," she said. "I'm missing my son's birthday."
Local travel agents report they're working to help other stranded airline passengers get home.
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"I have one client, a woman in London who was supposed to fly back on Thursday, but now it looks like next Thursday," said Carol Tufte-Barbeau, travel consultant at Bon Voyage Travel Leaders in Grand Forks. "And I have a gentleman in Amsterdam who also was supposed to come back on the 15th" but has been rescheduled every day."
The woman is with friends and is handling the situation well, but the man in Amsterdam "travels a lot and was supposed to leave on another trip today," Tufte-Barbeau said. "He's not getting answers from the airline, and he's getting very frustrated."
'Stupid ash, ridiculous volcano!'
Johnston-Gelling was in Copenhagen to participate in a Ph.D. student's dissertation defense at Denmark Technical University. She arrived in Denmark last Tuesday and was scheduled to leave Friday.
Her Delta Airlines flight home was rescheduled to Sunday, then Wednesday, with a connecting flight through Amsterdam. It all remains tentative depending on how the ash clouds disperse.
Johnston-Gelling was able to talk with her children on Saturday. She and her husband, Jason, also have a 6-year-old daughter, Madeline.
"They wanted me to know they had scrambled eggs for breakfast," she said. "Kids decide themselves what's important."
William did express some frustration that his mom probably won't be on hand to cut the cake at his birthday party.
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"My son said, 'It's the stupid ash caused by the ridiculous volcano,' and 'Why doesn't someone go get a fire truck and put it out?' " she said. "My husband probably wants me to come home very quickly because he's been alone with them for a week."
She also talked by phone with her parents, Cindy and Phillip Johnston of Forest River, N.D. "She asked us, 'Are you going to go down and help Jason?" Cindy Johnston said.
Tours, dinner, reading, a walk
Johnston-Gelling said her Danish hosts "are being wonderful," with two professors taking her on tours of the city and one taking her home for supper with his family. She also got help filling a prescription for blood pressure medication.
"I had to buy some clothes, get some detergent and wash some things in my hotel room," she said. "But I've been watching the news on TV and seeing the people stranded at the airport. I'm in a nice hotel and comfortable."
A friend suggested she sail home on the Queen Mary II. Out of curiosity, she checked it out.
"They have one suite left," she said. "It's $20,000. It leaves (from Southampton, England) on the 22nd and takes seven days to get to New York."
She's sticking with her rescheduled flight.
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"When I call Delta, the people at the airline have been thanking me for being nice on the phone. I guess people have been yelling and screaming at them, and I don't understand that. It's a volcano!
"If everything works exactly as it should, I should be home by 9 p.m. on Wednesday," she said. "But I don't think that's going to happen. Right now the Amsterdam airport is still closed. Copenhagen is supposed to open later tomorrow."
She went for a 2-mile walk today, she said, and she's planning to read a book on her computer to pass more time.
"I want to come home," she said. "But I try to keep things in perspective. When my grandpa was in Europe in World War II, he went a much longer time without seeing his family. This is a minor inconvenience."
- Haga is a reporter at the Grand Forks Herald, which is owned by Forum Communications Co.
