They fear replacement flights today may also be grounded
Barbara Krmelj and partner Roy Barone
A couple have been trapped in Italy for a week after a volcanic eruption saw their flights cancelled. Barbara Krmelj, 35, and partner Roy Barone, 46, went to Sicily to spend a week’s holiday with his parents. They were due to fly back to their home in Hackney, east London, on August 11 – but when Mount Etna became active that day, their flights were cancelled as a red warning level was issued.
The couple have had to take an extra week’s leave from their jobs and find alternative sitters for their two cats back at home as they remain “trapped” in the seaside town of Marina di Modica. They have alternative flights provided by the airline for August 17 but anticipate having to pay around £700 to rebook with a different airline if those are cancelled too, which they feel is likely.
They remain in a small holiday home owned by Roy’s family but say they “feel like a weight on his parents” to overstay. They checked but said the only hotel available would have cost over £2,000 for five nights because of high demand as it coincides with Ferragosto, a holiday period across Italy which sees people flock to the region.
Sales associate Barbara said: “On the way to the airport to fly back to London we got a message that our flight was cancelled. Eventually we managed to get a flight for the 17th, but the budget we allocated for our holiday is gone now. We have come back to Roy’s parents but the place is small and we feel like a weight on them now. We’ve had to organise for our friends to pop over to our home in London because the cat sitters we booked are done now.
“We’ve been paying for things like food and drinks with credit cards – and if we aren’t able to fly on the 17th we’ll have to book new flights. If we have to book new flights it will have cost us around £1,000 in total. It’s a beautiful city, but the holiday has turned into a frustration now as we want to go back home to our pets now. We can’t enjoy all the beauty around us as we feel trapped on the island.”
Barbara and Roy have been paying elevated prices for taxis to travel around due to high demand due to the Ferragosto festival. They said they have seen a steady flow of ash over the region as well as eruptions in the distance coming from Mount Etna.
The couple did not purchase travel insurance ahead of the trip. Barbara said: “We have had a chat with a few other tourists, people are definitely frustrated. People have been sleeping at the airport – when we went, people were sleeping or sitting in every hallway. There was no space even to sit and organise ourselves when we were trying to rebook flights.
“We were given a hotel for one night when our flights were cancelled, and thank God we have Roy’s parents here. I don’t know what people are doing when they don’t know other people living here.
“When we tried to go and stay at a hotel, there was nothing we could book, the prices had skyrocketed, it was around £2,000 for five days and there were only one or two options.”
The couple are going to the beach each day and trying to make the best of their situation but say they are no longer enjoying the once-relaxing trip. Barbara added: “We’ll have spent over our budget by about £1,000 if we end up having to rebook flights.
“We’ve been using credit cards because you do what you have to do in this situation, but we have to be careful, we don’t have a lot of money left because we didn’t expect this. Ordinarily, the holiday was lovely, and I’d recommend the area to everyone. But now the holiday has turned into a frustration.”