An Unusual Trip to NYC
This trip happened in 2017, so nearly two years ago, but when I was thinking about what might be interesting to write about for the Travel section of my blog, this one immediately came to mind.
My daughter and I were thinking hard about what kind of trip to do together over a nice dinner and I don’t know what got into her to say “mum lets go by boat to New York”.... well she had just watched Titanic a short while before so I got the hint.
“This was the most excited we had ever been for any of our trips.”
The following day I spent all my evening Googling through the Cunard website and by the end of the week we were booked for July on the Queen Mery 2 in a VIP cabin on the right side of the ship (thanks to my travel agent I understood that this was quite important because you want the sun on your side).
We spent months dreaming about this upcoming cruise, imagining ourselves crossing the Atlantic for 7 days, and tanning on the upper deck gazing into the horizon. So bikinis were packed, suncream stacked up and obviously beautiful evening outfits as it said in the brochure that dressing up at night was required. Off we were in an Uber to Southampton to board our ship. We already felt like Rose when we saw the humongous Queen Mery 2 from far away, not to mention the impressive and luxurious hall for dining. This was the most excited we had ever been for any of our trips.
it begins…
Well we all know what England weather is like so it was obviously ok that it was raining, but that was gonna change as soon as we would sail off right ?
In the meanwhile we discovered our beautiful cabin, our restaurant where we were booked for lunch and dinner every day. We saw the Planetarium (not that I was interested), the ball room and the Spa where I booked some complimentary treatments for the week. What a pity to discover that my daughter couldn’t do any of the Spa with me as it was not allowed under 16.
About four hours after our boarding we heard that Titanic horn and off we were for 7 days crossing the Atlantic to New York. How exciting !!
the reality check
We already had planned the next day through of spending our time in the sun and swimming... well, big wake up call. Guys, it’s never hot on the Atlantic and nobody had told us that in the middle of July the maximum temperature we would reach was 12 degrees. So here goes the fantasy of bikinis and with it the wifi. OMG.... no wifi! You can buy wifi packages but be prepared to spend a fortune if you do and it’s seriously slow. So that is where we discovered the DVD library in the VIP lounge on day two where you could grab free movies like in 1995.... I think we watched them all from Dirty Dancing to Shawshank Redemption.
By day three we had figured out all the decks, participated in the fancy 20’s theme ball, done a painting class, been to the gym (you do not want to do gym on high sea believe me), done the Planetarium and had far too many hot chocolates at Godiva.
Every day at 12pm the captain announce came through the loudspeakers announcing where we were and what lay beneath us. That was impressive. Especially the day when we were just a short distance away from the Titanic.
This trip was not about the luxury, nor was about the fun. It was mostly a voyage through emotional rollercoasters and a mother daughter relationship. It was about bonding and handling our deceptions because we had imagined it all so different. It was laughters at night before falling asleep, it was about long talks about life on our little balcony and it was about having lived the experience. It wasn’t about the food, nor the bad massage I had or the great service. It was so much more...
here comes the sun
On day six the sun finally came out. I finally got into my bathing suit and could lie on the upper deck. You could smell that civilisation wasn’t far away anymore. We saw dolphins and you could feel that New York was near.
Arriving in the United States by ship is one of the most incredible experiences I ever had. Standing at 4am all in front on the highest point of the Queen Mery 2 was breathtaking. It takes hours to sail into New York and passing in front the Statue of Liberty made me very emotional but I wasn’t the only one. It’s indescribable.
Travelling is all about creating memories isn’t it ? Well this one will stay with my daughter for long long after I’m gone and for that it was every penny worth.
“Standing at 4am all in front on the highest point of the Queen Mery 2 was breathtaking. It takes hours to sail into New York and passing in front the Statue of Liberty made me very emotional but I wasn’t the only one. It’s indescribable. ”
All pictures are taken by me and my daughter.
