Arrived in the UK
August 6th, 2009
Tags: Bath, queen mary II, Salisbury, Stonehenge
Posted in Destinations, Journeys by Mark
Yesterday morning we disembarked from the Queen Mary II, after enjoying one last sumptuous breakfast complete with five star service and delicious coffee. What an incredible way to travel! Some of my most memorable moments:
1. During dinner on the first night, they played “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion. Considering it is the soundtrack to a movie in which the ship actually sinks, I found this highly inappropriate, and hilarious.
2. Every once in a while, we would overhear people (usually very rich looking people) complaining that this was “vile” or that was “inferior”. Trust me — nothing we experienced was even close to vile or inferior. However, we did feel it was appropriate to start referring to many of our experiences as vile and inferior, just for fun.
3. We had coffee delivered to our room every morning. What an awesome way to wake up.
4. We saw a dolphin jumping clear out of the water right beside the ship, way out in the middle of the ocean. Ah, nature!
5. As we approached the UK, two F-15 fighter jets flew out to meet us and welcome us to Europe. Apparently one of the pilots was friends with somebody on board.
6. We played two rounds of duplicate bridge, for the first time ever. It was quite the experience. We are pretty certain that some of the people there were cheating — in the last hand we played, our opponents’ bidding sequence went 1 heart, 7 no trump. They made it. You bridge players out there will know how unlikely that is…
7. On the topic of bridge, we were the youngest people in that room. In most cases, probably by about 35 years.
Now we are finally on land again, and in the UK. Instead of heading straight to London from Southampton, we decided to take a detour and visit Bath for a night. On the way, we stopped in Salisbury, and visited Stonehenge, Sarum Castle, and Salisbury Cathedral. I’m blown away by how much history we’ve been exposed to already, and it’s only been one day here. Today we’re off to explore Bath a little more, and we should be in London by tonight.
August 6th, 2009
Glad to hear things are going so well! I’m way to jealous and I’m sure that jealousy will only grow as your journey continues.
Have fun!
August 6th, 2009
On an unrelated note, I thought you guys may want to check this out: http://www.inkcover.com/. Free books to download to you iPhone… just in case you need something to read while you’re traveling about.
August 6th, 2009
Have a pint for me in London!
August 7th, 2009
Q Mary sounds a bit pompous!!! Good luck in UK. Jealous beyond belief.
August 8th, 2009
Glad the Celine Dion song was not a bad omen and you’re now safely on the Island. Say high to the Queen for me (we go way back).
Hope we can cross paths in Europia next month!
August 10th, 2009
Hello there Wewander,
I must say I am as happy as you both are sitting here reading your blog. I am on the journey with you and is enjoying it with you, wishing you both all the best and also that you will be safe at every port.
Shelley.
August 11th, 2009
I hope so too Carl ‚Äî we still don’t have a good idea of our itinerary for the rest of Europe, but we’ll keep in touch.
August 11th, 2009
Cool, thanks Dan. I’ll check it out for sure.