North America

On Sunday, 10th July 2022, my wife, Jean, and I fly out from London Heathrow to Seattle on the west coast of the USA for the start of our long-planned trip to North America. We will not return to the UK until 14th October. Most of the time will be spent in Canada, but we…

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The plan today was simply to travel down to a hotel near Terminal 3 at Heathrow, stay one night and enjoy (if that’s the right word) a relatively leisurely check-in at the airport the following morning, as the flight isn’t scheduled to leave until 15.10. Andy O’Neal, who runs Beds and Bucks Chauffeur Service, who…

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Rather fitful night’s sleep – strange, though comfortable, bed and still a rather stuffy room. Only one night, though…. Down for a very expensive breakfast and checked out with a hefty charge to my credit card. We won’t be returning here in a hurry….. Walked the 20 minutes or so to Terminal 3, negotiating several…

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As an aside, I’ve added a couple of pics to yesterday’s post. It’s obvious our bodies are not yet adapted to the long distance flown, as both of us were awake most of the night, it seemed, even in a comfortable bed and a properly air-conditioned room. Despite this, we were reasonably chipper given the…

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Apologies for the the late post – the Internet round here is very, very dodgy. Despite the help we got from Angelina on the front desk, I don’t think we will be returning to the Hilton Anchorage any time soon. Rather tatty and tired, very noisy aircon, exorbitant prices, etc., etc. Matters were not helped…

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Had a rather restless night – usual for me in a strange bed (although it was very comfortable). Still not really adjusted to the time difference. Breakfasted, then took the Viking shuttle bus into Seward, the main destination being the Sea Life aquarium there. All quite impressive, but I’ve never really been a fan of…

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A more interesting day. At least, I hope you agree….. The best night’s kip we’ve had yet. Now gradually getting attuned to the time differences and the rhythm of the cruise. The place where we docked this morning is actually the “new” town of Valdez. On Good Friday, 1964, a massive earthquake, 9.2 on the…

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Decent night’s sleep, although there was definitely a greater swell running than we’d been used to hitherto. I hadn’t mentioned Jean’s struggles with conveying what it was she actually wanted to eat. Strawberries and cream proved mystifying, and as for a soft-boiled egg, well…… However, breakfast this morning went without a hitch. A nice quiet…

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Welcome to Icy Strait Point! No ice to be seen anywhere…. Weather 12 degrees and cloudy, in total contrast to what we’re hearing back in Blighty. Breakfast in the World Cafe this morning. They have corned beef hash….. 😋 The port talk yesterday gave the impression that there wasn’t much here. True to a certain…

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Welcome to Juneau! Remember I said that you could only visit Juneau by sea? Four cruise ships in port including us. We are the unlucky ones, as we can only get ashore by tender every half hour. We thought we’d get a reasonably early tender so we could look around Juneau before boarding our coach…

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We are in Skagway, a tourist destination for cruise ships only about 20 miles from the Canadian border. No glaciers, for once! Sorry about that….. Jean has got a nasty cough, but has tested negative for Covid, thank heaven. Two huge cruise ships – the Celebrity Millennium and Ovation of the Seas – along with…

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Sitka, at first glance, is a very pretty place: The ship was at anchor again, so we boarded the tender to take us ashore for our Scenic Sitka and Theatrical Performance tour. We waited ages in the rain and cold for a 10-minute coach ride across a bridge for a view back towards Sitka. Sitka…

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Well, we appear to have docked right in the middle of town! Ketchikan is our final stop before we reach Vancouver on Friday. We left the ship by coach, driven by a very knowledgeable young feller called Scott. He had his work cut out trying to get people set up on the really effective QuietVox…

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In my haste to publish yesterday’s post, I forgot to include a few photos I took on leaving Ketchikan. I’m only putting them in as today is likely to be rather boring and pictureless. Today is a sea day, so various admin talks need to be done (yet another bloody immigration form and the voluminous…

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Managed to get up reasonably expeditiously to be greeted by a nice sunny morning in Vancouver. Then there was a lot of waiting around on board – about two and a half hours! There was a problem delivering luggage to the terminal and an announcement over the PA system told us to await further instructions.…

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One of the best night’s sleeps I have had. Very comfortable room and bed, even if the room is showing its age a little. Nice to have some room and a decent WiFi connection, too. On Saturdays and Sundays, this hotel offers a brunch menu from 10.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. How civilised is that??…

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Remember I said I’d report back on the ginger tea issue? It’s fine. Another lazy start to the day. Nice and sunny again – a very pleasant 21 degrees. Brunch time! Not as buzzy as yesterday, but still animated. No food pics today. Yet, anyway. I know somebody who will be very glad of that!…

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So today we leave Vancouver, but I’d forgotten we have one more night back here before we depart on the Rocky Mountaineer in early August. Now that’s something to look forward to! Meantime, we await our pickup to take us onto the ferry across to Victoria, on Vancouver Island, in glorious sunshine. I’d just got…

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Another very good night’s kip in a very comfortable bed (although the aircon is noisy). First world problem, I know…. Tried breakfast in the hotel. Expensive again, but I can feel myself getting inured to these prices. It was at least large, but not outstanding. Booked a restaurant for tonight’s dinner via the hotel concierge…

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Awoke to another gloriously sunny day. Such a contrast to Alaska…… Quick breakfast, then a short walk to collect our hire car for the next few days. After a credit card sting for nearly 1,000 dollars (although I get 500 of those back when the car is delivered back to Vancouver in one piece) I…

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As predicted, a sticky night. Consequently, not a great night’s sleep. The shower, however, was an excellent reviver. The sea is incredibly shallow here, which explains why it’s so popular with families. Partook of a very decent and reasonably priced breakfast at the on-site restaurant, and excitingly visited the gift shop to get washing powder…

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Another frazzling start to the day – 27 degrees at 9.30 a.m.! Better night’s kip, for me at least, then a rushed breakfast and frantic last minute packing to get out in time. Checked out without any problem (apart from another large bill) and were soon on our way. As we had loads of time…

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By our standards, a VERY early start. Down to a very rushed breakfast in the hotel – a large coach party had also between staying overnight and it was chaos, with insufficient seating and people milling about – then the short drive to the seaplane terminal. A few minutes’ panic when we couldn’t find it…

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Bit of a different start to this morning! Very cloudy and cool after yesterday’s low 30s Celsius. Actually managed to get to breakfast at around 6.35 a.m. – a result for us. Very decent spread – even the coffee was good. Off for our first excursion of the day – a rainforest walk. This commenced…

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As we both needed a bit of a break, we decided to cancel the kayaking experience booked for this morning to give us more time to pack and check out. Good idea as it turned out – we had the place pretty much to ourselves. Nice and quiet. No rioting kids. Result. And we had…

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This is likely to be a relatively boring post, I prophesy…. Good night’s sleep in another comfortable bed, and, as we had the wherewithal to make our own breakfast, a relaxed start to the day. Cloudy and cool. Managed to master (sort of) the intricacies of the oven and hob, but, whilst frying some bacon,…

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Dreadful day weatherwise. Either that gentle soaking fine drizzle, or much harder rain. Just never stopped for most of the day. Nevertheless, we decided to stick with our plan, such as it was, and walk around the much-vaunted village of Tofino, protected by full oilskin jackets provided by the resort. We knew that it rains…

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Very little sleep, mainly due to the noise of heavy lorries trundling along the Trans Canada Highway outside the window. Besides, I never sleep well when I know I have to get up early. Made it out of the hotel room by around 5.40 a.m. in somewhat bleary fashion to drive the two minutes to…

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Dragged ourselves out of bed at an ungodly hour yet again and made our way down to the hotel lobby. Again, not well organised. People milling about everywhere. Loads of coaches. Finally managed to find the right coach and, after innumerable headcounts, the coach set off on the 10 minute journey to Vancouver Station. Found…

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Jean has just calculated that last night was Bed 13 on this trip! Fitful sleep, but we didn’t have to get up until 6.45 a.m…..🙄 Luxury! Actually felt a bit livelier than the last couple of days. We boarded the coach in glorious sunshine to take us to the train, driven by a genial bloke…

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Awoke (eventually) after a very good night’s sleep, to this view out of our room window: Went to the Grand Hall for breakfast. Very slow service and not great quality. No tip. Caught the shuttle bus into the attractive small town of Jasper in temperatures of about 27 degrees just to have a look around.…

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I suppose I should say something about the Rocky Mountaineer trip while I have the time. Chaotic organisation at first, but on the train itself, superb. Great food and service. Plenty of alcohol if you wanted, all included. We were on the Gold Leaf package. First day was more about the rivers – relatively little…

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For once, we got out of our room 10 minutes early. And, glory be, the bus was waiting! We were first on to a big coach and only 9 people in all were expected. We could pick our spot and spread out. One of the few stress free coach boarding experiences we’ve had. And it…

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Awoke to cloudy skies and mid-teens temperatures after a reasonably comfortable night’s sleep. Down to breakfast, only to be told there was a 20-minute wait. This is high season, I suppose, and the hotel seems very full, but…. Not particularly impressed. Anyway, left my phone number with the girl on the front desk and went…

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Didn’t eat until late last night and it was a big meal. Consequently, not the best night’s sleep as the digestive system was working overtime. We are due to be collected from this hotel on Saturday morning by Discover Banff Tours for a transfer direct to Calgary Airport so as to catch a flight to…

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Nice relaxed start to another warm day. I should mention that my brother, Steve, and sister-in-law, Jane, are also undertaking a trip to Canada at the moment. Have a look at his blog if you would like an alternative view. Both trips were conceived independently of each other, and cover some common ground, but we…

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Up far too early, but made it out of our room in good time after settling a humongous bill. Despite that, we’ve really enjoyed our stay at this huge but lovely hotel. The service levels generally have been excellent. Our transfer vehicle was timed for 7.15 a.m. 7.25 came and went, and, not for the…

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I forgot to mention that the flight we undertook yesterday should be the last one on this trip (hooray!) as we go home on the Queen Mary out of New York in early October and don’t have to fly anywhere. Lazy start to the day. Nice. Although Jean’s phone hadn’t updated, so she thought it…

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Decided to go for the buffet option at breakfast, rather than à la carte. Not sure it was the best idea, as it was expensive and I don’t think I got the best value, but at least we could choose what we wanted. Another warm day as we headed off for our bus/boat tour. Got…

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Decent enough night’s sleep, and checked out early, leaving our luggage behind at the hotel as we walked to the UP Express Union station just across the road. Got ourselves a coffee and a croissant, and boarded the train to Toronto Pearson Airport, 4 stops down the line. 25 minutes later, we were in the…

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Breakfast was “included” at this hotel, but only by way of a voucher. Gets more like Las Vegas every day. Got seated reasonably quickly, but had to wait a while to get served. Neither of us were particularly hungry after last night’s blowout, so we weren’t really able to do it justice. It was mediocre…

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Breakfast at the Hilton was by by way of voucher again, but we didn’t have to pay anything and we didn’t have to rush as we did yesterday. Far, far too many potato wedges served again. What a waste. Got the car loaded up and set off on our 330 kilometre journey northwards to the…

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Or to be more precise, Muskoka Lakes. Well, today is our 44th wedding anniversary! So how did we spend it? Well….. I did a workout and we got the washing done. These things are important, you know! Apart from that, after an acceptable breakfast, we wandered around this great resort and ended up sitting by…

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As the room has basic cooking facilities in it, we decided to get a few victuals from the onsite shop and eat in our room. This proved to be a sound move, as we had plenty of time to finish packing and check out of the room, rather than have to wait to be served…

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Rather fitful sleep, but the bed is comfortable enough. Went down to breakfast, only to be told that there was a 25-minute wait. My opinion of this place dropped another notch. Maybe the two weddings held here had something to do with it. So we headed out to find somewhere else for breakfast. Very hot…

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Managed to scrape ourselves out of bed to make it literally across the road to the Senate building for our guided tour. This building actually used to be the Ottawa railway station. This ceased operations in the mid-1960s. In 2014, because the Central Parliament Building was no longer fit for use, the Canadian government started…

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Despite all the shenanigans overnight, we managed to get to the 9 a.m. appointment for our House of Commons tour, but feeling pretty curly at the edges. Our guide, Brandon, wasn’t as engaging or as clear as Emma was yesterday. I got the impression that he was relatively new to the gig and a bit…

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As an aside, some of you may have seen the news article below. This was the hotel we were staying at in Ottawa, and we were in total ignorance of both the photo and the theft. BBC News – Iconic Winston Churchill photo vanishes from Canada hotel https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-62649297 Oh, well….. To today, then. A very…

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Just realised we are approaching the halfway mark in this great adventure. It’s flown by. Another good night’s sleep, aided by the now-working aircon. Breakfast chaos was even worse than yesterday. We brought some of Jean’s bread down with us to make our own toast, as once again there wasn’t any bread available. We managed…

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Breakfast was just as bad chaos-wise. Shame, as apart from that, we’ve really enjoyed our stay here, despite the slight weirdness. The weather took a decided turn for the worse: As we set off, the rain let up a bit, but the weather for the first hour of driving was atrocious. Torrential rain, spray and…

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Nice, if pricey, breakfast at the hotel, which is right on top of the central station of Montreal. The city has a huge underground network of interconnected passages with a vast range of shops, cafés, banks, etc, all integrated with the Métro underground rail system. All we had to do was to go downstairs from…

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Unlike yesterday, a glorious day was promised on awakening after a reasonable night’s sleep. As neither of us fancied a full cooked breakfast, we tried the “Marché Artisan” – the chichi shop/café that we’d sampled on arrival at this hotel, just for a coffee and croissant. Nobody behind the counter really seemed to know what…

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Relaxed start to the day, as checkout wasn’t until midday. Nice and sunny. Breakfast was partaken of at the Krema café, inside the hotel but open to the public, a bit like a posh Costa Coffee. Not bad, and certainly a lot cheaper than the hotel breakfast would have been. Checkout was smooth and efficient,…

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Cloudy and muggy start to the day, with the threat of thunderstorms. It had obviously been raining somewhat overnight. The hotel swimming pool was on our floor, so Jean went for a dip. All pretty satisfactory, apparently. Went down for breakfast, erm, latish, which they made a bit of a mess of, particularly for Jean.…

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Jean again went for a swim this morning, but it turned out to be an aqua-aerobics class! She joined in, even though it was in French, and enjoyed it. Somewhat hasty buffet breakfast, then checked out before departing on an official tour of the Château Frontenac, led by a guide affecting to be William Maxwell,…

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This place is in stark contrast to what has gone before. We now move out of big-city Canada into a much more rural phase of our journey, with hopefully some beautiful scenery. We don’t get back into metropolitan surroundings until we reach Boston, USA, on 29th September. No more Fairmonts until then….. We still have…

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Lovely, if chilly, weather on awaking. Decent enough buffet breakfast again, and a very leisurely checkout as midday was the deadline. This has been rather an odd place. I get that it’s on the St. Lawrence River, which we are following as part of our journey, but there’s not a lot to do and the…

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Hopefully a less boring post than yesterday! Beautiful sunny day today. As expected (?), our breakfast was delivered in a takeaway box at almost exactly 9 a.m. It consisted of a bacon, egg and cheese muffin, two hash browns and what the North Americans call an English muffin – a sort of cake. The former…

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Complete contrast to yesterday weather-wise. Grey, cloudy and around 14 degrees with every prospect of rain. Once again, we had breakfast delivered to the room in takeaway boxes. This time it was a bagel with egg and bacon, plus two hash browns again and a very large cookie. This last formed part of our car…

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After a rather dispiriting finish to the day yesterday, you’ll be glad to know that today was much better! Gloriously sunny and clear day, albeit with a chilly wind. First port of call was the local tourist office, which was an absolute mine of information. We came away with plenty to think about, so we…

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Another nice sunny start to the day. We availed ourselves of the basic facilities within the room to make some toast and coffee. Jean also fried a large tomato which we’ve been carrying around since Mont Tremblant, I think….. 🙄 We then set off southwards on Route 132 again as it swung round the southern edge…

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Although the room at Carleton-sur-Mer was small, it was spotless, really well thought out and very comfortable. We partook of breakfast in the same pub/restaurant that we visited last night. Relatively good value, enhanced by a waiter who enjoyed trying out his English. So Brexit and the Royal Family (natch) came under discussion….. Good fun.…

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Cloudy and rather humid start. As planned, we visited the tourist office to get some gen on what there is to do around here. A rather disinterested official there provided us with some info, which we decided to peruse over a coffee and snack at a Tim Hortons, a very well-known coffee and snack chain,…

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Caraquet as a town has little to recommend it, to be honest. Nice bits to it, but not of itself particularly pretty or interesting. The historic Acadian village and the restaurant saved it to some extent. Overall, New Brunswick as a province appears not to have the level of investment afforded to neighbouring Québec. The…

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Short post, you’ll be glad to know! Comfortable night in a queen bed each. Breakfast was very good and again very reasonably priced, served outside with a good view of the River Miramichi. As reported yesterday, the laundry was beginning to pile up. There was a launderette about 10 minutes’ walk away, but the reviews…

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Nice leisurely start to another lovely day. After a decent breakfast at the hotel, we went to the Île de Beaubears visitor centre at Nelson, a small place south-west of Miramichi itself. We only went here because we felt a bit guilty that we’d not bothered to see anything in Miramichi and this place purported…

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Breakfast was a rather strange affair. It was partaken of in a small room off the main part of the hotel, and purported to be a bistro open to the public serving Starbucks coffee. Hmmmm….. One ordered one’s breakfast on a tickbox form. Eggs, bacon, sausage, etc, were all available in various guises, plus other…

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In my haste to get yesterday’s blog post published, I omitted a few photos that might have been of interest. Right. Breakfast was the same strange experience as yesterday as there didn’t really appear to be any alternative. We were so taken by Prince Edward Island yesterday that we decided to favour it with another…

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Latish night doing the blog, so didn’t set an alarm, as we were expecting to do very little today. Which proved to be the case. Comfortable night in this fantastic resort, and actually got to breakfast in plenty of time, where it was eerily quiet. We both plumped for the continental breakfast buffet, which was…

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Bit of a busy morning, but we managed to fit in our usual lemon and ginger tea, a swim for Jean (which she thoroughly enjoyed in a huge pool all to herself), packing the car up and checkout before settling down to another nice breakfast at this amazing resort. As it was only a short…

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Leisurely breakfast after a rather disjointed night’s sleep in a fairly standard box of a hotel room. Bit of a comedown after the Fox Harb’r resort, but perfectly acceptable. Decent shower is always a plus. One of the most visited sites in Halifax – in fact, the whole of Canada – is the citadel, which…

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Better night’s kip and an OK breakfast, although requests for omelettes caused a few furrowed brows. Sorted in the end. Checked out with very little problem and started the looong drive around the Bay of Fundy to St. John, New Brunswick (not to be confused with St. John’s, Newfoundland). Road sign on the way (for…

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Woke up to some pretty wet weather and temperatures in the low teens. Wind had dropped right back, though. Last night’s meal had left us too stuffed for breakfast, so we set off to find the Discover St John office. Slavishly following Google Maps got us nowhere – it just led to a wasteland on…

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Very foggy when we woke up, and a biggish cruise ship was tied up at the quayside. We checked out using the last of our Canadian dollar notes, which was a nice result. Took me a while to find the car in the vast underground car park, but we were soon under way down Highway…

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Awoke to heavy rain, lowering skies and a chilly wind. The free breakfast was rather odd, as it was reasonably extensive, but everything was disposable. All cutlery, plates, cups, etc, were just chucked in the bin when finished. Makes sense at one level, but hardly classy. This place has a guest laundry, so what else…

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Really not sure what to make of Bar Harbor. A pretty place, but very touristy indeed. Up itself in a high class way, and I can’t see the fascination that it seems to hold, bearing in mind the rubbish weather (which is normal at this time of year, apparently) and the season has all but…

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Biblical rain on arising. The inclusive breakfast wasn’t bad – buffet style. I’d lost my collapsible umbrella a couple of days ago, so we decided to walk to a mall about a mile and a half away a) to see more of the town b) to see if I could buy a replacement. We borrowed…

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Up earlier than usual to attend our guided walking tour. The weather was far better than yesterday – bright sunshine, but a chilly wind, expected to get much stronger as the day wore on, due to the presence of Hurricane Fiona making its way up the coast. This was led by Dugan, and proved to…

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Cloudless blue skies greeted us on awakening, with a cautionary gale warning – the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona. It seemed a bit blowy looking out of the window, but nothing untoward. As our next destination was only about 50 miles away, we had some time to investigate a bit more of Portland before we headed…

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After breakfast, as it was a lovely day, we decided to walk the 40 minutes up Highway 302 to the station for our scenic railway trip. Lots of noisy traffic, and it wasn’t a pretty walk at all, but we were able to check out a couple of possible eateries for the evening. Got to…

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After a Hampton Inn style plastic breakfast, we started our long drive to Lake Placid. Checking out was not without incident. Despite the fact that our reservation had been lost, then found, there appeared to be a room charge on my account. The young lad at the front desk really didn’t know what to do,…

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Similar breakfast to the Hampton Inn approach – paper cups and plates, plastic cutlery and buffet food. Much of what was available was pre-packed. Edible, but not at all classy. Again. Very quiet also. In addition, Jean had not slept well, finding the bed rather uncomfortable. It certainly creaked a lot. The weather was very…

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Hopefully the final disposable breakfast on this trip, after an OK night’s kip. I’ve referred to the extensive construction work going on around here. We can only assume it’s to do with the new centre celebrating Lake Placid’s contribution to the Winter Olympics. It really is big news around here. I’ve mentioned that we hadn’t…

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After some pretty cruddy hotels, it was nice to experience a decent one again. And to be served at the table with serviettes, proper coffee cups, metal cutlery and china plates! Bliss! Another lovely, if longish, drive, with some more terrific views of the fall colours. On the whole, this is a very affluent area…

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One of the nice things about Fairmont Gold is the free breakfast. After partaking of same, we headed out to catch the hop-on-hop-off bus tour – and promptly headed back in again. It was about 14 degrees, but a shrill wind. Once properly layered up, we got to the bus stop, which had around half…

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Partook of the free breakfast once again, and set off in very overcast conditions with the threat of rain overhanging. One of our objectives today was the Mapparium in the Mary Baker Eddy Museum. The earliest time bookable online was 12.20, so we had plenty of time to have a look round the immense Boston…

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Very blustery day today. Not particularly chilly, but enough to make it a tougher day. At least it stayed dry. Low-teens temperatures. I’d been intrigued by a large church across the square from the hotel, so we paid it a visit. Unfortunately, there was a service going on, so we weren’t allowed in, but had…

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Our train wasn’t due to leave Boston until 13.05, so we had plenty of time to check out and relax in the Fairmont Gold lounge. Having sampled Uber as a car service, I was sufficiently emboldened to try Lyft as an alternative. Sure enough, a driver turned up within 2 minutes, wordlessly loaded our bags…

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Arose leisurely after yesterday’s efforts, but managed to get to breakfast reasonably expeditiously. Very wet weather again. Original plan was to walk the short distance to Battery Park on the very southern tip of Manhattan, as this was supposed to be a nice area with views of the harbour, but we got hijacked by a…

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Decided to skip breakfast so as to make an earlier start. Plan was to visit Battery Park, right down at the southern tip of Manhattan, which had been the idea yesterday until we were waylaid by BigBus Tours. The walk there provided us with pictures of two New York icons. Battery Park was a nice…

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At last! Sunshine! Blue skies! Warm temperatures! Hooray! Ironically, we spent most of our time indoors today. 🙄 I’d booked tickets for the OneWorld Observatory which you know, as you’ve been religiously following my ramblings, is at the top of One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western hemisphere, a half-mile walk away…

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Sorry about the late post – VERY dodgy Internet. Nice leisurely start to the day and cloudless blue skies. After a decent breakfast (excellent omelette), we returned to our room to pack with that slightly sad feeling one has when things are coming to an end. As we had plenty of time before we needed…

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A very good buffet breakfast – kippers! Woo-hoo! There followed a fascinating talk from Roger McGuinn – he of the Byrds and the rectangular specs – about how he got into the music business and a social commentary of the times, plus guitar demos – he was famous, inter alia, as a 12-string master. Right…

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Another decent enough breakfast in the King’s Court buffet, with the skies being cloudier than yesterday. Every day (except one) at 12 midday, the Captain announces that the ship’s clock will go forward one hour as we move through time zones. At the time, the ship’s hooter sounds, and this bell is rung in the…

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After breakfast, we attended a talk given by Christopher Ward, the grandson of one of the musicians who lost their lives when the Titanic sank in 1912. His grandfather was buried in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and he laid flowers on his grandfather’s grave when the ship visited Halifax on the current trip. Despite this, he…

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Well, I’m glad to report that the room service breakfast was a success. Delivered in the time frame, good quality and remarkably hot. Saves quite a bit of time. I’m sure you needed to be reassured on this point. However, no hot water, so the shave was less pleasant and a shower was out of…

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Wet and foggy day. Bearing in mind that we had a posh lunch booked, I just had a coffee at breakfast. Jean tucked in as usual, even though she was starting a cold. Today was the day that the clock didn’t go forward an hour at midday, so we had an extra hour to attend…

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Last full day of the whole shooting-match (sob!). Got up early (for us, anyway) to see a talk by Dave Wright, the resident historian, who’d done some excellent material earlier in the cruise on Mary Queen of Scots and Lawrence of Arabia. His topic was St. George, the patron saint of England (and, it transpires,…

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Up earlyish for a 9.20 departure from the ship. Jean elected to have breakfast, but as it’s never been an important meal for me and I really wasn’t hungry, I stayed in the stateroom, did the last bits of packing and checked that we really had cleared all our stuff out of every cupboard, drawer…

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For starters, here are some pictures of the Queen Mary 2, very kindly forwarded to me by Jay, after my comment on the previous post that I hadn’t managed to get any photos of our home for the last week of the journey. I do have her permission to share. A beautiful, comfortable ship –…

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