Travel Diary: On the Good Ship Queen Mary 2
We are aboard the Queen Mary 2, the successor to the Queen Mary 1, pictured above. Because we have kids and grandkids who live in Brighton, UK, we fly to the UK two or three times a year. And, while the visits are often lovely, the air travel is not. So, rather than spending an uncomfortable and tiring day in airports and airplanes, we decided to spend a comfortable week in the QM2 from New York to Southhampton.
Just as an aside, we flew from Lansing to New York via Detroit. The flight from Lansing to Detroit is less than 20 minutes. It took four hours. Got on the plane. Mechanical problem, wait for the mechanic to fix it. De-ice the plane. Discover another mechanical problem. Wait for he mechanic to fix it. De-ice again. Fly to Detroit in 17 minutes. Four hours total. My suggestion of "Let's ignore the mechanical problem and take a chance! Who wants to live forever?" was not received well. Tiring and uncomfortable trip.
The good ship QM2, however experienced none of these so-called "mechanical problems" and launched right on schedule. And the first 20 hours on board have been lovely. We had some nice meals and went to a bridge lesson this morning. To my utter surprise, the lesson was not on how to build a roadway extension across a river, but how to play a card game. Fun!
The QM2 is the only true ocean liner in the world. If you find yourself in danger of forgetting this, the good people of Cunard will remind you. Indeed, they will remind you even if you are not in danger of forgetting this.
Yes, the QM2 is part of the Cunard Line of ships. The passageways (hallways for us landlubbers) are festooned with pictures and signs celebrating the Cunard Line's storied history. I have yet to find if Cunard has any pictures or stories of the two most famous Cunard ships, the Titanic and the Lusitania. Perhaps Cunard thinks those stories would not aid passengers in finding comfort aboard the ship.
Anyway, we are on our way to see these two adorable urchins. Watch this space for further adventures!
jpj stories by John Jackson is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
