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ESCANABA - When Holy Name student Sydney de Boer left for Amsterdam April 12, she never dreamed her return home would be delayed by a volcanic eruption in Iceland, but that's exactly what happened.
It was the first time 13-year-old Sydney of Gladstone had been to Europe. Her father, Syd, had wanted to take her and her brothers, Austin and Colin, to Amsterdam to see their relatives and celebrate their great uncle's 94th birthday.
"I came here 15 years ago and I decided it was time to take my kids for their great uncle's birthday," said Syd. "It was supposed to be a quick trip - only three nights."
But on April 14, a volcano located under a glacier in Iceland erupted, melting ice, shooting smoke and steam into the air and forcing hundreds of people to flee rising floodwaters.
Unaware of the event at first, the de Boers' were fully enjoying their stay in Holland, where tulips were in full blossom and the skies were clear and blue.
"We'd been up in the northern part of Holland at my uncle's," said Syd. "Outside here we had nice blue skies, and there was nothing to show something was going on."
It wasn't until later in the day, when looking on Facebook, that Sydney and her family learned of the catastrophic event. After hearing the news, Sydney said her first thought was she'd have to miss more school and possibly an event she'd been looking forward to.
"My first thought was, 'oh no, I can't get home,'" she said. "I'm both happy and sad I'll be missing school. I just started at Holy Name and went there three days and then I left (for Amsterdam). I was worried I might miss the (school) carnival."
The de Boers' were supposed to fly out to Minneapolis the next day, but the volcanic ash had forced the cancellation of many flights, and disrupted air traffic across northern Europe.
"We had no problems getting here, we made good time, and all of a sudden this happened," said Syd.
"I had no idea a volcano was going to cause that much commotion. It shut down all of Europe. I've flown in Honduras and they have volcanoes, but it doesn't shut down traffic maybe locally, but not all of Europe."
Sydney and her family stayed with their relatives an extra four days before trying to get a flight home.
At the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol last Tuesday, Sydney and her family were surrounded by thousands of people all trying to get to their desired destinations. The aftermath of the volcanic eruption had left millions in flightless limbo.
"When we first got here, there were people everywhere," said Syd. "The whole terminal was full, but it was organized chaos. The airport did well handling it."
"We had to wait in line for over an hour to check in," added Sydney.
Back home, Sydney's mother Amy Wellman, who had been able to keep in contact with her family via the Internet, was worried about their attempt to fly home.
"The scary part for me is wondering, is it safe to be flying right now," she said. "They're saying it is, but it makes me nervous - the craziness of being with that many people at the airport."
Ultimately, only two flights left the airport that day, and the de Boers' ended up having to spend the night at the airport.
However, the next day, they got on the first flight out, and even arrived in Minneapolis early.
Sydney got home at 7 p.m. last Wednesday - plenty of time before the Holy Name carnival the following day.
"I'm glad to be home, but it was an interesting experience," she said.
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