A British couple have been left "trapped" in a Sicilian seaside town after a red warning was issued for Mount Etna, causing their flight to be cancelled.
Flight Cancelled Amid Red Warning
Barbara Krmelj, 35, and her partner Roy Barone, 46, were due to fly back to their home in Hackney, east London, on August 11 after a week's holiday with Roy's parents in Sicily. However, their flight was cancelled when Mount Etna became active that day and a red warning level was issued.
The couple have had to take an extra week's leave from their jobs and arrange for friends to check on their two cats at home. They remain in the seaside town of Marina di Modica.
Costs and Accommodation Pressures
The airline has provided alternative flights for August 17, but the couple anticipate having to pay about £700 to rebook with a different airline if those are cancelled too, which they feel is likely. They are staying in a small holiday home owned by Roy's family but feel "like a weight on his parents" to overstay.
They checked hotels but found the only available option would cost over £2,000 for five nights, due to high demand coinciding with Ferragosto, a holiday period across Italy.
Frustration Grows
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."
She added: "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."
Ash and Airport Chaos
The couple have seen a steady flow of ash over the region and eruptions in the distance from Mount Etna. They 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."
She continued: "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."
