Hens travel wings clipped

An Inishowen bride to be’s plans for a hen party in the sun were unfortunately scuppered at the weekend due to the travel chaos caused by Iceland’s volcano. Lisa Kelly, from Ballymagan and her 17 ‘hens’ were due to fly to a villa in Marbella, Spain for the weekend on Friday last to celebrate her impending marriage to Brian McDaid May 29 next. However, after four months of planning and excitement, they were “gutted” when, just the day before they were due to fly out, they found out Mother Nature had other plans and they unfortunately joined thousands of people around the world who were grounded due to a volcanic ash cloud. So, instead of sunny Spain, the ladies changed their plans and the weekend was spent in the closer city of Belfast. Speaking to the “Inish Times,” Lisa said that despite their disappointment, they still managed to have a great, helped in no small part by many generous people who ensured her hen party was one to remember. She said: “I first found out on Thursday morning at 6.00am. My partner was leaving someone up to the airport and when he got there he found out what was happening. The first thing he did was ring me to tell me Belfast Airport was closed and I just couldn’t believe it. I said to him ‘You’re joking, I’m dreaming, this just can’t be happening!’ I ran upstairs to the computer to check what was going on and never went back to sleep. All I could see was ‘cancelled, cancelled cancelled.’ I just cried. “I went to my mums and the girls were saying ‘OK now we’ve got to go to Plan B and make other plans’ but I was still hoping we’d be able to go. We’d been planning it since January 11, four months ago. Maria Kelly, Anita Friel and Laura Doherty had it all organised and we had a big nine-bedroom villa booked and one of the girls was due to fly out on the Saturday to join us. Another cousin Natalie Mc Daid was due to fly in from London so she missed the whole weekend. Because their plans were cancelled, their costs doubled, as they had already paid 700 euro online for food which was to be delivered to the villa, as well as the deposit on the villa itself, which was non-refundable. They also missed out on various surprises such as a Global FM DJ, TGI Fridays Cocktail Makers and ‘Cheeky Butlers’ which were due to come to the private villa, so although they managed to have a good time, it was “expensive.” “We travelled up to Belfast anyway and booked into Benedict’s Hotel, explained Lisa, “which we were due to do and waited to see what would happen from there. It became clear though that we weren’t going to be able to go.” Lisa explained that when the staff of the hotel – which is owned by the local Simpson family – found out what had happened they ‘went out of their way’ to ensure the group enjoyed themselves. “They were absolutely fantastic, we really couldn’t thank them enough. Despite our disappointment we had a ball. They just couldn’t do enough for us and went out of their way to make sure we had a good time. “People were so good when they found out what had happened. We were in a restaurant called Advocate and the waiter came over and said a man there wanted to buy us all a drink. I couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to named or anything, just sent it over. I think the bill came to £83 or something like that! “As well as that myself and Anita, Frances and Breege went to the Merchant Hotel and Una Rodden, from Buncrana who owns Identity was doing a fashion show there and she and her sister Joanne came over with two big bottles of champagne. “When we came home on Sunday night we went to the Halfway House in Tooban and they had bottles of champagne and food for us as well. While we were really really disappointed not to get to Marbella we still had a great time in Belfast and can’t thank everyone enough. I would just personally like to thank each and every one of the girls for the best weekend ever; Maria and Catherine Anne and Jenna Kelly, Laura Doherty, Anita Freil, Breege Galbraith, Frances Galbraith, Lisa Doherty, Orla Fullerton, Maria Fullerton, Roisin Baldrick, Helen Doherty, Lisa O’Doherty, Annemarie McDaid. Lorraine Mc Daid, Megan Kelly and Michelle McMenamin Lisa’s groom to be also had his stag party plans thrown into disarray as he and 18 of his friends were also due to go to Manchester for the weekend. They ended up partying in Monaghan instead. Dozens of other Inishowen people have also been affected by the travel chaos. It is understood a number of local people are stranded throughout the world including Spain and Portugal. Many other people who were due to go on holiday have now had to remain at home.