Lisbon Airport, Portugal.
I remember it like it was yesterday. “Fletcher, (my veteran cameraman) should we roll the dice?”-I mumbled under my breath, as we stood in the 3 hour line at the airport counter. He looked at me, then glanced at the arrival board, full of delays and said, “Amsterdam?” I replied, “Exactly!” After all, I was still soaking wet from the 3 solid days of rain in our planned Portugal shoot. So who would have thought that one problem with nature would have led to an answer with the another so called problem. You see, all of the airports were delayed, due to the ‘Iceland Volcano’. All, but Amsterdam. Originally we were scheduled to connect in London in effort to get back to NYC. The volcanic irruption had delayed all flights out of Lisbon, Portugal, to London, because flights were delayed flying out of London. Amsterdam, was still allowing flights to come in and out. So instead of staying in Portugal, with nothing more than a bench to sleep on, we noticed that flights were going into Amsterdam. Therefore, we changed our route to go into Amsterdam, then NYC, simply because the flights were not delayed, going out of Amsterdam, allowing flights to connect in Amsterdam. Oh, one other thing, it was free! The icing on the cake is, we asked for the 23 hour lay over, as most airlines will allow you a 23 hour layover with no charge. It just so happened, upon our arrival into Amsterdam, 23 hours turned out to be 48 hours, as the volcanic ash moved over the Amsterdam airport. So, Fletcher and I took our free hotel voucher and meal tickets, to experience the adventures of Amsterdam. If you are confused, here is the proof. The lesson learned here was to realize the flexibility you have with the airlines and the delays. The next time you are delayed, with a bit of the above knowledge, you too, can turn a ‘Natural Catastrophe’ into an ‘Extended Vacation’.

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As I prepare to film an all new 13 episodes for , “Alive! With Adventure Aaron”, on a larger network, we will be disclosing the new channel in July. Here is, “Alive-Amsterdam”. Featuring the ‘Worlds Expert On Flying Free’ and the ‘Godfather of Bumps’, Rick Ingersoll. Obviously, there are the standard, “Adventure Aaron”, bucket list items, but more importantly, you will see how we took advantage of a Natural Catastrophe, the Iceland Volcano.