volcanic ash and travel

Things happen. Just rebook once the volcano settles down. My suitcase will always have masks packed just in case of Covid, and other natural disasters.
The health department handed out N95 masks when we had bad ash fallout due to our fires. You definitely don’t want to breathe in volcanic ash. Just take some N95s with you.

How did I miss it? Where is volcanic ash a problem in Europe???

Frank: Mount Etna in Sicily. Stromboli in the sea near Sicily. Popocatepetl, 43-45 miles from the center of Mexico City. Hawaii. Taal in the Philippines. Iceland. You can search the internet for a list of currently active volcanos.

Frank,
We did an 8 day tour of Iceland in 2021 and that island country always seems to have a volcano erupting at some time.

Mike L, I think you answered your own questions. Does it happen? Obviously yes. Is it a risk high enough to plan your life around? Only you can make that call. Just like hurricanes, severe weather, forest fires, tsunamis and other travel-interrupting events, you just deal with it.

Ive been in four countries (including the US) during volcanic events, and you'll see that for most of the people who live there, it's an annoyance but not a life-threatening event. The direction of wind changes the ash plumes all the time. If it's heavy enough some people wear particulate masks, others dont. A fine layer of ash on your car is not taken as a reason to panic. Flights get canceled for all sorts of reasons, and people deal with it.

No such thing as a life with zero risk.

Back in 2010 we had a flight to Rome cancel due to an eruption in Iceland. We rescheduled on an airline that took a different route to Rome that avoided the ash. Once on the ground the ash wasn’t an issue. Back in the late 1970s when I used to fly into Catania on a regular basis with the military, we never even thought about inhaling the ash when Mt. Etna erupted. We went about everything as if it was normal, even with a quarter inch of ash covering the ground. Now, when the Popes died a month apart, that caused problems because everything shut dow while a new Pope was being elected.

With regard to Mexico I’d be more concerned with crime and the cartels than with an eruption. Believe the State Department has Mexico is the “use extreme caution” category.

Dealt with this general idea when evaluating work safety. Basically, if you need a higher level of protection (PPE), then you should first evaluate whether you need to be there.

If a simple dust mask is not enough, I would just go elsewhere. Luckily, masks are easily available and acceptable, though unfortunately due to the pandemic.

Also, ash usually affects only specific locales, often for short periods, and is reasonable to work around. Would I carry PPE just for that event, no, you can find a mask there if needed. Would I even worry about it if I were visiting the Mt. Etna area? Not really, it might make me have an alternative if I could not do my itinerary or a flight gets cancelled, but those are pretty remote.

Last I checked, Mexico, Hawaii, and the Philippines weren't in Europe.

That's why its in the Beyond Europe forum.

Should I plan another trip to Mexico city (ever?)? Should I wait until the volcano dies down or plan now or just acquiesce to permanently skipping Mexico?

You may (or may not) want to wait until the volcano quietens down. In either case, if you really want to go Mexico, then by all means go and enjoy. It will not make a bit of difference 100 years from now. Someone much smarter than I once said somthing to the effect of "It's ok to regret doing something, but it's not ok to regret not doing something." With regards to masks, a couple or three N95 respirators will take up very little space. Any safety supply store should have them, if you can't find them anywhere else.

Mike--There are no volcano's in Iceland that have been erupting. The last time was August 2022(this one was very short lived) and before that the same time frame 2021. Otherwise it has been 2014 and 2010 for other recent ones. We were there in 2021 during the eruption and hiked it one day. FWIW we did not need a mask for that, just for regular covid stuff at the time. We live here in the PNW and remember when Mt St Helens blew. We did not need a mask for the ash, even though we got some. People in Yakima would have liked to have had them though since they were dumped on. We head back to Iceland next month and are only taking a couple masks for covid, in case they are needed.

If you are concerned about the remote chance of ash exposure, there are two more likely concerns...but may depend on location and time of year. Air quality. It can be bad with smog in a variety of cities in North or South Hemisphere. There are apps to give you the air quality index in fairly real time. N95 masks would be better than cotton. Do air quality checks for Mexico City, Naples, Paris, Los Angeles as an exercise in education.
If you decide to go further afield in the world, a lot of the world still burns off fields before replanting crops so smoke and air quality becomes a real problem. North Thailand and Laos in February can be unpleasant. India, Uganda, Tanzania also do agricultural burn in February. But you can travel there around those dates.
But you can't live a life in a bubble. I know a guy killed in a car accident at the end of his street. Assess your risk comfort and choose from there.

Should I plan another trip to Mexico city (ever?)? Should I wait until the volcano dies down or plan now or just acquiesce to permanently skipping Mexico?

Mike, you are worrying way too much, just rebook and go. My wife and I were in Mexico City for week in March had a great time.

Too bad that trip didn't happen, I remember reading and posting as you were planning it. And too bad if Delta didn't offer to rebook you on American to Oaxaca when it canceled your flight. That's what Icelandair did for us, on two separate trips, when volcanic activity in Iceland closed the airport there. We ended up flying home on different airlines.

I've been traveling with some KN95 masks over the last three years, and probably will in the future. They're easy to pack and reassuring to have and occasionally use. I hadn't thought about them for volcanic ash, but I guess they would be better than nothing. But no airline will ever fly into an active volcanic area because the ash does so much engine damage.

I know you've overcome lots of travel worries over the years and it's too bad that volcanism has become another one. There's no reason to stay away from places like Mexico, Hawaii, Sicily, Iceland, or my own Pacific Northwest (to name a few) just because a volcano might start emitting something. By all means, reschedule your Mexico trip when you can, put to use all the knowledge you acquired planning it this time, and have a wonderful experience. Keep in mind that American flies direct to Oaxaca from Dallas, and so does United from Houston, so you don't have to fly through Mexico City unless you want to for other reasons.

I was referring to the response to Frank's specific question.

As for "With regard to Mexico I’d be more concerned with crime and the cartels than with an eruption. Believe the State Department has Mexico is the “use extreme caution” category."

The US State Department has separate travel advice for each state in Mexico. The states I was/am going to, the states of Oaxaca, Mexico, Puebla, are in the non-high "exercise normal precautions" category... Analogies are typically not persuasive but the city of Detroit has some bad neighborhoods. That doesn't make the whole state of Michigan dangerous.