The co-created journey home
Last Sunday I was scheduled to fly from Damascus (Syria) to London. An easy 6-hour plane ride with a simple transfer in Istanbul turned into a very complicated journey. As a result of the volcanic ash cloud it took me 3 days to get home. I had to travel via Istanbul-Rome-Milan-Lausanne-Paris-Calais-Dover using 1 plane, 4 trains, 1 car, 2 taxis, 1 ferry, 1 bus, 2 tubes and a lot of long walks. Only by working together with other people was I able to reach London. My successful journey home was the result of collaborating and co-creation.
On arrival, at Istanbul airport Turkish airlines was in chaos. Later I found, this was also the case for the Italians at Rome Fiumicino airport. There was no information, no signs, no water or food, only very long queues. Speaking to local staff was confusing rather than helpful. The only thing brilliantly clear was that every flight was cancelled and all international forms of transport were sold out for the next couple of days.
As I tried to move on amongst this confusion I started to realise that something interesting was happening out of this disaster; a simple journey was turning into a voyage of discovery. As people’s travel plans were severely disrupted, travellers who would normally ignore each other, started to work together. They shared stories and exchanged information. As a result of the chaos, a community of travellers began the quest in trying to figure out a way to get home. The community fed information through social media. Facebook pages and Twitter tags sprang up to inform people and help them find alternative transportation, even supportive tips on where to find couches to sleep on. read more
