Whitney Houston forced to take ferry for Dublin shows

The 46-year-old star is in the middle of her "Nothing But Love" world tour. Because most of Europe has been declared a no-fly zone because of the volcanic ash that looms over the continent, the singer was forced to abandon her first-class airplane seats and travel by ferry to perform in Dublin.

"When Whitney was made aware of the airport closured due to the volcanic ash, she made the decision to travel from Birmingham to Dublin via the ferry so that she would not disappoint her fans," the promoters told Belfast Telegraph.

Houston is due to play at the O2 in Dublin on Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday. She is said to have urged her record company to publicize her travel arrangements to assure fans that the shows will not be cancelled.

Meanwhile, British actor John Cleese has also opted for other means of travel. The "Monty Python" star took a thousand-mile taxi cab journey from Oslo, Norway to Brussels, Belgium to get home to London. He paid 30,000 kroner or around $5,500.