Tuesday May 10, 2016 – Depart Southampton on the Trans Atlantic voyage – Sothampton to New York. After a good send off and sail away, we settled in for dinner with Roddy and Dawn and the Atlantic crossing starts.
Wednesday May 11, 2016 – Monday May 16, 2016 – Rather that go day by day, I thought this final entry in the Around the World Voyage, I would group together the activities on the ship during the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. It was a good last segment, but seemed all too short as there was so much more to do and little time to do it. However, we did enjoy some interesting speakers on diverse topics. Joshua Levine spoke eloquently in a series of talks about the events surrounding the Battle of Britain, Dunkirk, the Blitz and key battles towards the end of World War II. He brought history to life with interviews he has done with individuals who were in those battles and thus spoke first hand about the experiences as opposed to facts and figures in a history book. Another interesting series was Captain Rick Reynolds who was one of a handful of people (30 odd) that actually flew the Concorde airplane. He could speak first hand about the excitement and issues facing flying supersonic passenger transport ‘planes and went into great detail about the botched investigation done by the French which led to the death of the aircraft. Under agreements between the governments of France and Britain prior to the construction, both countries agreed to do any joint investigation in the case of accidents. However the UK was prohibited from participating when the fateful event happened in Paris that was entirely blamed on the debris left by Continental Airlines on the runway. It disregarded that the aircraft was well over the maximum limit in weight, did not comply with engineering regulations on fuel in the tanks (95% was max, they filled to 100% thus not allowing for the air cushion needed), poor maintenance, Pilot error shutting down the engine on fire against training etc. All very interesting and led to Airbus refusing to make spare parts, thus the end of Concorde. Ken Walsh, who had been on early in the voyage has been a White House reporter for US News and World Report of some 30+ years spoke about the current status of the US Presidential election and in another talk, about the US Presidents through history as celebrities (like Washington, Regan, Lincoln etc and those who were not, like LBJ – Johnson was good at “convincing” congressional members but poor with the TV and public, particularly coming on the heels of the telegenic JF Kennedy. The 1400 seat theatre was filled to capacity for these talks. Seth Gopin, a NY based Architecture professor spoke to full houses very energetically and well on skyscrapers in New York City and a particularly interesting history of and the politics behind the construction of the World Trade Center, both the original twin towers as well as the now existing “Freedom” tower. Originally this was a David Rockfeller project that was to replace the Fulton Fish Market area as a venture under the auspices of the New York / New Jersey transit Authority, but because it was on the East Side of Manhattan as opposed to the New Jersey West Side, the governor of NJ decided to stop the project. The actual events of 9/11 were not covered in deference to the events and sensitivities. Bill Miller gave a series of talks about the great ocean liners, with one being particularly interesting on Cunard’s 175th anniversary cruise last year, which we were on in the Queen Mary II during the big events in what used to be the home port of Cunard – Liverpool. He went into not only the events that took place in the Mersey River, but also the church services and fanfare on the voyage back to New York in Halifax (the home of Samuel Cunard) and New York.
Other activities related to Golf – participating in putting competitions (Golf ball, Tennis ball and Ping Pong ball), as well as various golf competitions 100, 125 and 150 yard closest to the pin and longest drive) plus two hours for the five of us on the simulator playing Gleneagles Course. Roddy and Dawn were one of a twenty teams that participated in the Transatlantic Olympics, a series of sporting events (bowling, darts, throwing bags into holes, deck quoits, putting etc) and won the overall silver medal – a terrific achievement. We also all had time in the gym and plenty of time in the Commodore club bar then came the packing. The packing and the panic to see what had been purchased and how was it all to fit in the suitcases. Do we need to pop down to the shop and buy more, will it fit? All questions we had to answer and finally all was able to be fitted and suitcases delivered to the appropriate places. Nelson managed to arrange for all our cases to be picked up at the same time and put on one or two trolleys so that when we get off tomorrow, all the cases will be together and we can get hold of them all to proceed through the immigration and customs before the other 2500 people! A sad good bye to all the crew that we have seen and interacted with each day. When you all live in a confined space for 120 days one develops a close camaraderie both with the crew as well as other voyagers. Some we hope to keep up with and see again on land or again at sea. Others who we refer to as the eccentrics, we are glad to be leaving behind. We nicknamed some like – Frick and Frack a couple of gentleman who shaved their heads and wore army fatigues and seemed always angry. The queen and her King – a couple of eccentrics who would introduce themselves as the queen and the captain or the king or whatever titles they decided were appropriate for the day. They arrived late, carrying lots of stuff, sat in the front row, then King was sent out to get flowers which queen would present to the speaker or Captain if a church service. Flower lady a single older woman who always wore a large flower in her hair, sat always in the front row and chatted up all the speakers and important people. Frigid woman – an older single woman who would insist on sitting in the front row of the coaches feigning leg prom lets, then would run faster thN anyone else to get anywhere. Even when the temperature was 45 C (110F) she would put on a woolen hat and a snow ski parka. Always interesting people to go with the fascinating places.
Tuesday May 17, 2016 – Arrival in New York – the end of a fabulous journey which we will never forget – we can now truly say – We Have Been Around the World in 120 days.
Roger & Anne Travels 