..and Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as northern Italy, northern Norway, and northern Spain (according to the BBC). Because of a volcano. In Iceland. You couldn't make it up.

Essentially, the ash and other components, mainly silica, that are produced by a volcanic eruption can cause jet engines to fail, so our airspace has been closed and people are stranded, unable to leave or to come home. There are some fantastic photographs of the eruption here and the latest news from the BBC here.

One of my friends and his partner are in Istanbul, on holiday, and their flight back was one of the many cancelled. They plan to join the masses of people travelling across Europe by train, car, coach, etc. and then get a ferry. There have been some fantastic stories. One that jumped out at me was two young women who hired a coach and collected strangers on their way back until they had a full coach. Also, the people buying bikes so they can get places on ferries that are allocated to cyclists. France is having a boom in bike sales.

I have to admit that I'm amused at the fact that a volcano, of all things, in Iceland, of all places, has had such a unexpected impact, and at the stories. As a geographer I'm also inclined to look at volcanic displays and go, 'oooh, pretty!'

I know things are bad for a lot of people, with many having no where to stay other than at the airport, a lack of organisation in a lot of places, and people missing important events. Two physicists I know from university were meant to be flying over from Germany, where they're researching at the moment, to a wedding here in the UK. They missed it. They, at least, haven't been stuck sleeping at an airport.

Still, this isn't a disaster. If planes were actually taking off and crashing back down again, that would be a disaster. If we'd been on top of the volcano when it burst it's top, that would have been a disaster. This is aggravation, anger, disruption.

On BBC North West tonight some troops were interviewed who have finally managed to get back from a seven month tour of Afghanistan. Their plane was diverted and then they had to take a coach and a ferry, making them four days late arriving. The interviewer was saying to them how strange it must be, to be delayed getting home by a volcano of all things, and how awful it must be. The General's response can pretty much be summed up by: we just got back from seven months in Afghanistan. This? Not a big deal.

In actual fact, he called it 'a mini adventure'.

Adventures are not always nice things, as I remember a character in an Enid Blyton book saying once I think, but they're not disasters. This, like all things, will pass and it'll be something we talk about for ages, like the unusual snow we had in winter. It's the current Big Thing, but sometimes I think people need reminding to keep it in perspective: for some this is not even a real adventure, just a mini one.

The thing about adventures is that you have to make the most of them. You have to make a story. My friend is on the way back from Istanbul, he'll get here eventually, I'll listen to the story he'll be able to tell, and he'll enjoy telling it.

It'll be just one of many mini adventures, and best of luck to everyone on one.