Round Town: Local News Benidorm, Alfaz, Altea.

For some, the extra holiday time was met with enthusiasm “You’ve just got to go with the flow” said one chap whose flight to Manchester had been cancelled “I wouldn’t have chosen to stay on but here I am, there’s room at the inn so to speak and now I’m off to the beach!”

But others, especially those traveling with children weren’t so pleased. “We’ve no money left and no clean clothes!” said one mum staying at the Hotel Ambassador, summing up the practical inconveniences that the knock on effects of the disaster incurred.

Local transfer company Resort Care whose head office is in Benidorm were one of the first to deal with the effects. They operate around 40 coach transfers a day to the airport and back and lead by team leader Cara McHugh they hit the streets of the resort to inform waiting passengers personally that there would be no flights that day before successfully managing to re-book most of their clients – at no extra cost – onto airport transfers for the following week. With all staff on duty to man the phones, including emergency agent Andy, who’d already been on duty for close to 24 hours, they worked round the clock to help out. Understandably many passengers were completely out of touch with the news and therefore unaware of the situation. So how did people respond to the fact they couldn’t go home?

“Generally everyone was very understanding” said Cara. “Some were shocked obviously but overall it’s not been too bad; I mean it would be worse to actually be at the airport, at least this way they can try and find accommodation and just make the most of a situation that is really out of all of our hands”. As the hours turned to days other reasons to want to get home began emerging; kids and teachers had to get back for the start of school and exams, holidays makers on medication had to be back for prescription renewals and one couple’s wedding was almost ruined (see insert).

Roundtown To the Rescue

But with tourists desperate for information and little answers to be found many turned to The Round Town Tourist Information offices in Benidorm and Albir for advise and they helped thousands of stranded passengers who flocked to their doors by booking them various ways of getting back to the UK, be it buses bound for Calais or ferries from Santander. Heidi Winstanley, who runs Round Town Travel told us "Especially agitated were those people who had booked their flights with low cost carriers - with no rep here in resort they just didn’t know where to turn for information and phone and internet lines were jammed and people just wanted to know what was happening. We all worked round the clock to help those people reschedule flights and transfers or book alternative transport back to the UK, I’m really proud of my team".

But it wasn’t all bad news as local restaurants benefited from the extra trade - like ‘La Riviera’ restaurant in Albir who had an unexpected surprise when guests staying at the Albir Gardens Hotel were referred to them for meals, the cost of which the customers could claim back from home. Owner Jamie Puete stated “we had a rather busy Sunday evening a week or so ago, I feel as if I was one of the few to benefit from the chaos caused by the volcano”!

And he wasn’t alone; one Benidorm resident even sold his British car - which he’d had for sale for months with no response -  to a family who were desperate to get to the northern French ferry ports!

But it was an absolute nightmare for the tour operators and lights burned all night at many British tour offices through out Benidorm as holiday giants Thomas Cook and Thomson, did all they could to arrange alternative accommodation or journeys back to the UK. And they came up trumps bussing more than 50 coach loads up to Santander many of whom were treated to the the return journey of a lifetime aboard the brand new luxury cruise liner ‘Celebrity Eclipse.’

 The relieved Brits, many of which had been stranded for up to a week in Spain embarked in Bilbao for the 30 hour trip back to the UK where they were treated to beds, food, free drinks and entertainment aboard the ship which had cancelled its inaugural celebrations to come to the rescue. The ship had sped to Southampton at its maximum speed of 24 knots to get people back because many on board were from Scotland, northern England, the Midlands and Wales and so had lengthy finals legs to complete and a fleet of 65 coaches met the ship as it docked in Southampton. School support worker Alice Hoon and her husband Chris were on board with their children Catriona, 20, and Alasdair, 16. They had been stranded for four days in Portugal nad were now looking at a further 11-hour motorway journey home to near Oban in Scotland. "We’re relieved to be back in the UK but the ship’s brilliant, we loved it”.

A happy ending for some at least, thanks to so many helping hands. Denise from Round Town Travel in Benidorm summed up the situation beautifully, referring to the many people they helped relocate "they were all magnificent, making friends with each other whilst in the queue and offering help to reach their destinations once they arrived at Calais. Sometimes disasters seem to bring out the best in people. This will probably never happen again , at least in our life time but of course if it does Roundtown will be here to help".