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Food + Travel

Trip Watch

Keep the trip you planned within reach when conditions change. Trip Watch checks disruptions against your places, dates and bookings, with sources and practical changes to consider.

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Lava has reached the Blue Lagoon car park.

Historical example · 27 November 2024
Fictional itinerary: arrive at Keflavík on 29 November, visit the Blue Lagoon, then stay in Reykjavík.

Replace the Blue Lagoon stop on your arrival day. The spa was still closed on 26 November. Ask the operator about your booking before arranging a replacement. The eruption has not disrupted flights, so it does not currently give you a reason to cancel the flight into Keflavík.

What changed

Lava from the eruption that began on 20 November has crossed the Blue Lagoon’s car park and engulfed a service building. NASA’s 27 November report confirms both the closure and continued flight operations. Your spa visit is the affected booking; the airport is a separate check.

Backup

  • Contact the Blue Lagoon about changing or cancelling the 29 November reservation.
  • Change the airport transfer to go directly to your Reykjavík hotel. Confirm the route with the transport operator before booking.

Keep watching

Check the spa’s reopening and access information before rescheduling. Check your airline’s flight status before leaving for the airport.

Rescue the trip you’ve planned and booked, with a smile.

In April 2010, volcanic ash shut European airspace and left John Cleese stranded in Oslo. The comedian who helped create Monty Python needed to get back to London. His assistant checked the alternatives: no seats on the boats or trains they tried. His assistant’s solution was a taxi to Belgium. [1]

  1. Oslo · 2010

    Three drivers for one fare.

    The journey to Brussels was about 1,500 kilometres. Three drivers would share the driving; the fare was 30,000 Norwegian kroner. From Brussels, Cleese planned to take the Eurostar to London. [1] He reached Brussels the following morning. His driver, Glenn Pauli, described a tiring but entertaining trip. Cleese had already given the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet his assessment of the situation: Iceland could manage neither its banks nor its volcanoes. [2]

    John Cleese · revised journey · April 2010

    OsloFlights grounded
    BrusselsReached by taxi
    LondonEurostar planned
    1,500kilometres by taxi
    3drivers sharing the journey
    30,000Norwegian kroner
    Cleese reached Brussels on April 17. London was his announced onward destination. Route summary from the contemporary reports. [1] [2]
  2. Around the world · 1988

    Another Python had made a career of this.

    Twenty-two years earlier, Cleese’s fellow Python Michael Palin had set off to go around the world in eighty days without taking a plane, filming the journey for television. [3] In Saudi Arabia, a permit took a night of negotiation. Once he could travel, roadworks forced a detour. Members of his crew went ahead to Dubai to arrange a boat to India while he made his way across the desert. Getting through that day meant working on the next connection before he reached it. [4]

  3. The Arabian Sea

    Brahms, seasickness and a very good story.

    Aboard the dhow Al Shama, Palin was missing both his wife’s birthday and the British opening of A Fish Called Wanda, the comedy he had made with Cleese. He was trying not to be sick. Soon he was sharing music with the crew. Anwar listened to Brahms’s Violin Concerto and delivered his verdict: “Great disco!” [5] Palin eventually completed his circuit in 79 days and seven hours. [3] His travel writing found its comedy in the people and predicaments along the way, including his own discomfort. Those encounters gave the journey its character.

Keep the journey worth taking.

Cleese’s assistant found a way out of a grounded city. Palin’s team arranged the next crossing while he was still on the road. Their resourcefulness kept the journeys moving and left room for the stories we remember. Trip Watch follows the places, dates and bookings in your itinerary, checks developments against that plan and reports what needs your attention, with sources and practical alternatives. You can reconsider a connection, move a visit or arrange a backup while keeping the trip you wanted to take in view.