What Customs Dogs do when flights are canceled - pic

[Kadie]

Doggy bag: Hundreds of canceled flights at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris due to Icelandic volcano smog over the Atlantic means unlimited baggage claim merry-go-round for customs dogs. Whee!

Photo: Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images

:D

http://www.sfgate.com

[Bluzmann57]

1. Beats sitting and watching tv for hours and hours

But seriously, it would be tough to be stuck in a foreign country especially when one is due home at a certain time and now has no idea when he or she will be back. Good luck to all those who are stranded.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

6. I keep thinking about all of those people who traveled on a limited budget & running out of money.

[mzteris]

7. just read a non-liberal response to that concern ....

what do you mean they're running out of money? There are ATMS everywhere!

:eyes:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

13. lol! That's why

I deliberately said "on a limited budget"

[Ignis]

34. Ugh...

What a perfect, 21st-Century, "Have they no cake?" response.

[jdp349]

35. some of us get tired of the big pity party

sometimes shit just just happens and that's life. No use crying over everyones personal little tragedies.

[gtar100]

40. Tragic response.

Can only guess you've never been in need or you're too damn proud to admit it. So if empathy is just too much for you, well please stand back and stop getting in the way of people who *are* willing to show some compassion. And if you don't think people's sympathies matter, try going through travel delays and flight cancellations and have someone with your attitude around.

[Lost4words]

41. If you are hit by a train today, I'll start not crying right now

what a wonderful person you must be.

[jdp349]

46. I wouldn't expect you to

Much like you're not crying about all the strange accidents and likely injured or killed a few people while typing this sentence. Life can be tragic and given 6.3 billion current lives I imagine there will be a lot tragedy so I'm not going to get all worked up about it when something inevitably goes wrong for someone somewhere sometime.

[Lost4words]

48. I have witnessed a Human Being die in front of me,

I didnt know him, we made eye contact. It has stayed with me everyday since, it was then that I understood that there is more connection between humans than we have imagined. It is about people, always has been always will be. So I do feel for others, and am proud to say so. But have not always felt this way.

[jdp349]

50. I'll admit I don't have an experience that could come close to rival that

Empathy is a difficult and sometimes confusing emotion for me.

Pity is especially confusing, for instance on the walk back to my apartment I watched a couple of two frat boyish types semi heckling a black homeless man and making him free style for a bit of change. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves but I was overwhelmed with pity for the homeless guy because I couldn't stand the degrading position that made him the play thing of these two white guys just so he could feed himself. But at the same time I thought perhaps he doesn't see it as degrading, he's having fun it seems and doesn't need my pity, who am I to pity him.

What I don't like is when posters accuse me of being some sort of troll just because my identity as a progressive isn't motivated simple out of empathy for my follow individual man, but rather a loyalty to the betterment of the human race through the construction of a prosperous, sustainable and just society.

[Lost4words]

52. its not an accusation, but your first point of betterment is Prosperity

your quote, "my identity as a progressive isn't motivated simple out of empathy for my follow individual man, but rather a loyalty to the betterment of the human race through the construction of a prosperous, sustainable and just society."



money wealth or acquisition of wealth before sustainability and last you have justice. And thats a tell. If some are allowed to prosper at the expense of others you dont have justice. And nobody wants nor needs pity, they would appreciate a little understanding and a basic level of human respect. If you drop the use of the word pity and replace it with Empathy soon you start to think in terms of empathy. When I was young working in Wash DC, I would see these people who lived on the steam grates sometimes in a biz suit and I wondered what could have befallen them to end up this way. But I didnt pity them and I didnt look down on them, I just wondered. If you keep asking yourself questions through life, life in time provides answers.

Your loyalty to the betterment of human race is most admirable but the human race is comprised of fellow individual men and women so you really cannot separate the two.

oh well have a nice evening

[Ignis]

47. I think you missed the right turn at Albuquerque.

Try harder. :hi:

[pitohui]

15. i was stranded a few years ago in a blizzard

while trying to find a hotel i could hear a young mom screaming into her cell phone, "i only have $7 left!"

there were a lot of people on limited budgets, they ultimately had to sleep at the airport because in the usa there really aren't safe cheap hotel options

in france and some other parts of europe they have hostels where you can arrange to sleep pretty cheap in a dorm, i've gone for that when i needed to, altho it is more socially accepted to just spread out and sleep on the floor of the airport than it is in the usa, "backpackers" who travel w. little money are common & accepted there

england is the really costly one, even the hostels are really pricey, not sure what you could do there other than try to chip in w. some other stranded travelers and share a hotel room and sleep in the bed in shifts

airlines don't have to pay yr cost if the delay is caused by weather but i don't know if a volcano is considered weather, i guess since it's a cloud?

i travel VERY cheaply but i try to always have a back-up plan, if i'm traveling w. my last seven bucks, honestly, i don't need to be traveling because nobody can control the weather and emergencies DO happen

when stranded in a snowstorm at FRA the airline came out and brought food, even tho they're not required to, i can't believe that in europe they will allow any stranded pax to go hungry for lack of $$$ or euros

[FailureToCommunicate]

25. Think you have to be a card carrying "youth" to stay in a "youth hostel" but things may have changed

[TankLV]

28. Wrong. There are areas for whole families.

Some are increadibly nice.

The one I stayed in outside Paris was on the Seine and really modern and had the shower heads in the ceilings about 10 feet up - it was great to shower in that place after walking around Paris all day!

The other one looked just like the horror movie house complete with squeeky gate, knarled old leaf barren tree, and a thunderstorm when we arrived after 10pm! That one was in Coventry or Canterbury UK I think.

I will never forget those trips...

[WolverineDG]

32. Only some (very few) have an age requirement

and those that require "membership" allow you to buy it at the door, or pay a bit more per night.

dg

[a la izquierda]

43. nah...i'm 32 and stay in them all the time.

i guess it helps that i look like i'm about 15. the average age is probably 28 when you get down to it.
i stayed in a few in mexico where men in their 50s were staying. who knows?

[madmom]

26. Psst...there are hostels in the US. My daughter stayed in one in NOLA over xmas break.

[truedelphi]

29. When I was much younger and did a good deal of travelling, i always brought plenty of

Food and drink with me.

But now you cannot even do that on account of Homeland Security. My fruit juice could be an explosive, or somethin'.

[WolverineDG]

16. this is why I always get travel insurance

www.insuremytrip.com

very much worth the cost & it's paid off a couple of times, most notably Christmas a couple of years ago when bad weather closed all the airports in Texas. I was able to get a hotel room (booked thru the insurance co, so no out of pocket $ spent) & get a good night's sleep. I had a meal voucher from the airlines, so meals were covered. I was only out the $ spent on contact lens solution, since that was in my checked luggage.

dg

[pitohui]

19. i don't think travel insurance covers acts of god, however..,.

i just read that the travelers stranded at AMS are already been helped by local residents in amsterdam who are opening their homes and offering places for people to stay

i would expect to see this copied at other european airports

[femrap]

20. I remember staying at

a 'Floatel' in Amsterdam....a boat rented out to travelers. What a generous and fun city it was.

[WolverineDG]

21. It covers you in case of delay

doesn't matter the reason. If the airline cancels your flight for any reason, then the insurance kicks in if the delay is longer than a certain number of hours (6-8-12, depending on the policy).

dg

[SmileyRose]

42. It can - see Travelex among others.

[SoCalDem]

24. and honeymooners who have no other choice of place or date

When my son & his wife went on their honeymoon, they flew into London, spent a few days there, flew to Florence for a week & then flew to Naples to catch their Greek cruise.. One glitch along the way would have ruined it for them..

There are travel agents all over the world who are pulling out their hair :(

[Withywindle]

27. I once slept at Orly-Sud in Paris for a week.

cause I was a college student on a budget that ran out. Ran WAY out. We had very cheap stand-by RT tickets back to NY, and there were just no flights.

We were young, and it was almost....*almost*...fun. At that time you couldn't exchange coins, so we'd hang around the exchange booths to pick up a lot of spare change. This was only 2 years after the Berlin Wall came down, so we met a lot of Eastern European travelers getting their chance to go the West for the first time...

anyway, I can say it's alright when you're young, but my mom is 62 and travels the world a lot teaching dance and....she is WAY more OK with five hours of sleep on an airport floor right now than I would be.

[tango-tee]

33. Especially people travelling with small children

who might still be in diapers. Where do you get a fresh supply of diapers or formula from in a place where you might not speak the language to ask for directions, plus you're miles away from stores?

I know... I work at an airport here in Germany which was closed.

[HipChick]

10. BTDT...nothing you can do...but wait it out..n/t

[DBoon]

12. "nothing to do, no way to go home... "

"... I wanna be sedated"

[roguevalley]

38. awwww cutiepie

[Love Bug]

2. Cute! I've always wanted to try that myself.

[HopeHoops]

5. Yeah, me too! There's a great scene along those lines from the movie "Outrageous Fortune"

Bette Midler and Shelly Long play the leading female roles. To escape people who are chasing them, they crawl in from the terminal side of the baggage belt. They get dumped out onto the claim belt and someone remarks, "gee, and I thought coach was bad."

[Demoiselle]

11. I really liked that movie! Thanks for reminding me.

And that dog looks adorable......Weeeeeeoooof!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. I LOVE It!

That dog's stance just says puppy!

How cute!

[Catshrink]

4. Cool!

Even working dogs need to play!

[xchrom]

8. Awesome! Nt

[KansDem]

9. Freedom Fidos!!!

...oui-oui! ;)

[eppur_se_muova]

14. I thought it was gonna be this pic ...

[lonestarnot]

17. Snort

:rofl: How cute they are!

[Grassy Knoll]

22. Smells like a boxer cutter. n/t

[BrklynLiberal]

31. Awwwwwwwwwww

[Kadie]

49. LOL

:rofl:

[DeepModem Mom]

18. K&R!

[XOKCowboy]

23. What creative humans do when stuck in an airport overnight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv1va9Jdt7g&feature=player_embedded

I really like this gal.

[barbtries]

45. that was great

thanks. i put it on my facebook dedicated to the stranded.

[XOKCowboy]

51. I love that video. Shows a fun and creative spirit

Why sit around and be miserable. Make A Video!!!

[BrklynLiberal]

30. That is adorable...

Looks like a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

[RagAss]

36. LOL!...Hey dude .....biscuit time !

[kestrel91316]

37. I got stranded at Las Vegas airport Christmas of 2007, the last time I was able

to visit family. I was only stuck there in the terminal for 24 hours, but it was the longest 24 hours of my life. There was fog in WI and so the plane couldn't even leave there to come to Vegas (where I had gotten off a flight from L.A. for transfer). What a nightmare. We folks who were in the same boat all slept in hard plastic chairs (not comfortable) or on the floor without blankets or cushions (even less comfortable).

I thought I was going to lose my mind and require heavy sedation before it was over. I can't imagine how all those people must be feeling right about now.

[Stumbler]

39. Aww. Thanks for the smile

[carlyhippy]

44. LOL! cute

C