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FIRST ON FOX: An American traveler’s vacation in Sicily turned into a travel nightmare after volcanic activity from Mount Etna disrupted flights and left her scrambling to find another route back to New York.
Julie Sagoskin, editor-in-chief of Park Magazine in New York City, told Fox News Digital that she arrived in Sicily through Catania International Airport on Aug. 1 and spent more than a week traveling around the Italian island.
The trouble began when it was time to return home Aug. 10. Sagoskin said her flight from Catania was canceled amid ongoing volcanic activity.
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“Right when we arrived at the airport, we did get a notice that our flight was canceled,” Sagoskin said.
She said another traveler in her group who had reached the airport earlier described the scene as “total chaos.”
Sagoskin’s group knew volcanic activity was affecting travel. Friends who had planned to fly out two days earlier had their flight canceled and returned to stay with the group, she said.
Sagoskin hoped conditions would improve by her scheduled departure.
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Instead, she found herself weighing whether to wait for flights to resume or find another way off the island.
“You’re in a foreign country, first of all,” Sagoskin said. “It’s obviously a big … natural disaster. So there’s nothing anybody can do about this.”
The cancellation came amid widespread disruption at Catania’s airport. Between Aug. 6 and Aug. 12, more than a third of the 1,974 scheduled flights were canceled, Reuters reported.
The disruption affected thousands of travelers during the busy summer season, with some passengers spending days waiting for a way out, according to Reuters.
Sagoskin and others gathered at a hotel near the airport. Some discussed waiting another couple of days, while others began looking for flights from different cities.
Sagoskin decided to head to Rome hoping there would be more flights there.
She quickly booked a ticket for an approximately 11-hour overnight train ride from Catania to Rome as seats began filling up.
The journey brought another unexpected twist when the train was transported across the water by ferry.
“The trip really turned into a trip upon a trip,” Sagoskin said.
The journey was made more challenging by stretches without air conditioning, she said.
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After days of uncertainty, Sagoskin said seeing that her flight from Rome wasn’t delayed brought a sense of relief.
She finally flew home from Rome on Aug. 11, one day after her original return date.
Other members of her group took different approaches. Some traveled through Palermo, while others dealt with additional flight cancellations, overnight stays and lost luggage, Sagoskin said.
“I think you have to come up with one plan and stick to it,” Sagoskin said, noting that it would be easy to second-guess her decisions afterward.
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Mount Etna’s activity was visible during the ordeal, Sagoskin said. She recalled seeing the volcano while traveling toward the airport.
She saw ash around the hotel near the airport, including near the pool area, where guests were temporarily told to leave.
Despite the difficult journey, Sagoskin said the ordeal did not overshadow her positive experience in Sicily.
“It was memorable,” she said. “We will remember this for a lifetime.”
She said the experience reinforced the importance of staying flexible.
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“We got out safely,” Sagoskin said.
“Things can happen in life at any time. You just have to … make decisions, be prepared and move on.”
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