Reflections on ash clouds and transport networks

Earlier this month, I had a flight booked to Germany from Newcastle. As it so happened, the flight was on the day the infamous ash cloud started to cover Europe. I was woken at 5 a.m. in morning when my phone beeped with a text message informing me that my flight had been cancelled. As their web site still said that my connection flight from London was 'confirmed' and 'on time' (couldn't get through to their call centre), I hopped onto the next train to London.

Luckily, it had free (!) Wifi so I could chat with my wife who was following the news on TV and radio, and also keep an eye on the BA web site. Somewhere around Peterborough, my connection flight was cancelled, and I started to investigate alternative routes to my destination, which turned out to be quite tricky. There doesn't seem to be working pan-European booking/look-up service for trains - so I had to piece information together from several web sites. Once I got to London, I was at least able to buy a ticket that took me to Brussels and then on to Cologne (where I had to buy another ticket). In the end, I actually got to my destination about 30 min later than I had would have gotten there if I had taken the plane.

So, from this experience it appears to me that a) it's possible to be almost as quick using train than using a plane if you travel within Europe, b) it's not outrageously expensive (I paid less than what I would have paid for a plane ticket bought on the day of travel), and c) if there was a unified booking/lock-up service for trains (similar to those available for planes), I think more people might consider this option. After all, taking the train is so much more relaxed (bigger seats, not having to rush through ever increasing numbers of security checks), being able to walk about at any time, etc.).