Travellers' Dunkirk spirit but new ash cloud on way

Stories of adventurous travellers making their way home on cruise ships, trains, coaches, and hire cars  through several countries to pick up a ferry to a UK shore have been nothing short of inspiring.

Some stranded in long haul destinations see the wait as an extension of their holiday and a chance for more sight seeing. Some who are pressed to get home have seen this as a fun challenge. others have simply shrugged their shoulders and invoked the Dunkirk spirit.

On the down side, some travellers feel ripped off by some profiteering car hire companies and other transport companies,

Ferry companies have increased their capacity and P&O, who have put on two freight ships to ease the congestion, say that there are ferry tickets for everyone who turn up at Calais though there may be a wait.

Eurostar have offered a 300,000 tickets at a special price of £89 one way.

Meanwhile the first of three Royal Navy warships started a rescue mission for Brits stranded abroad. MS Albion docked at Santander in northern Spain this morning and started loading about 250 troops and 200 civilians to take them back to the UK.

Another two Navy vessels, aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and commando helicopter carrier HMS Ocean, have also been deployed to rescue stranded British travellers from the Continent. Government officials are due to announce where they will dock later today.

A new £500m cruise ship, the Celebrity Eclipse, is to sail to Spain to pick up almost 3,000 stranded British tourists. The luxury vessel is due to leave Southampton tonight for Bilbao.

There is a plan is to use Spanish airports as a hub for UK travellers where coaches will be on hand to take passengers onwards.

All ferry services between Spain and the UK are fully booked for a week.

The no-fly zone was imposed across Britain on Thursday after a plume of ash spewed into the air south of Iceland on Wednesday night and with signs of slow improvement for the 500,000 British passengers without flights home, many are heading for various ports in France in the hope of catching a ferry back

A Heathrow airport spokesman said: "As things stand, all flights remain suspended. When airports do open for business, we will continue to strongly advise passengers that they must check the status of their flight with airlines before travelling to airports."

How the chaos has disrupted plans for some high profile travellers:

*Former prime minister Tony Blair has been unable to fly home from Israel, where he has been carrying out his role as a Middle East envoy. Cherie Blair said her husband was hoping to return home as soon as he could to help Labour win a historic fourth term.

*Rock band Status Quo will be forced to travel home from a gig in Moscow by rail and road. heir tour bus has was sent to pick them up from Warsaw and the journey will take almost two days.

*Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles missed his morning show after he was grounded in New York. He had been expected to return on Sunday. Moyles described his situation as "a very, very surreal [but] kind of pleasant nightmare", and said he had run out of underwear. "I'm going to have to get my pants and socks laundered at the hotel," he added.

*Actor Kiefer Sutherland, has still not been able to fly home to California from London.

*Filming for the new series of the popular television show Dragons' Den has been delayed, with judge Peter Jones unable to return home from Barbados due to the travel chaos.

*Miley Cyrus is unable to attend the UK premiere of her new film The Last Song, and singer-songwriter Newton Faulkner is stranded in Hong Kong. The Cribs, Delphic and Gary Numan were also forced to pull out of the weekend's Coachella festival in California.

*US singers Usher and Adam Lambert are unable to carry out promotional duties in Europe

* Actress Demi Moore has declared herself unable to attend UK press interviews for her new film The Joneses.

*Two cast members of the stage version of Hi-de-Hi! are stranded in the Maldives. Understudies will fill in for Peter Amory and Rebecca Bainbridge at the Haymarket in Basingstoke this week.

*Fulham FC, who were hoping to catch a private plane, will have to make do with a coach to travel 600 miles for a game in Germany.

20 April 2010