From The Washington Post:

A plume of volcanic ash from Iceland hovering over Northern Europe severely disrupted air travel for hundreds of thousands of airline passengers Thursday as authorities cancelled flights across the region. The ash cloud, which has drifted from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland, forced officials to shut down airspace in Britain, Ireland, France and Scandinavia, causing further delays worldwide. The volcano is still spewing ash into the air, and authorities said they did not know when the airspace would reopen.

Wow that’s a lot of ash! There hasn’t been a shutdown of airports this widespread since 9-11, and that it could last several days or even weeks. All I can say is that I am glad I don’t have to travel internationally any time soon. But I am glad they are being safe.