Houston Takes To The Seas After Volcano Disrupts Air Travel

The I Have Nothing hitmaker returned to the stage in Britain this week (begs12Apr10) after cancelling several shows because of illness.

She is scheduled to perform three gigs at the O2 Arena in Dublin from Saturday (17Apr10) - but faced travel chaos on Friday after her flight was cancelled.

Houston instead took a ferry service to the country, after nearly all air services in Europe were axed because of a heavy cloud of volcanic ash floating in the skies above.

Her tour promoter reveals, "When Whitney was made aware of the airport closures due to the volcanic ash, she made the decision to drive from Birmingham (England) to Dublin via the ferry so that she would not disappoint her Irish fans."

Luckily, the singer arrived in Ireland in time to perform as scheduled - despite the usual 40-minute journey taking more than three hours, according to the Belfast Telegraph newspaper.

Houston's Nothing But Love tour has been dogged by problems - she rescheduled several shows in Europe after falling ill, while in Australia her gigs were mauled by critics after she struggled to breathe throughout her set, and took long breaks.