Well, as usual, I'm running behind on my blog. It's Monday night, about 9:30 pm and the sun is just setting. We set sail from Southampton hesterday afternoon at 4:45 pm and have spent the day cruising the North Sea along the coast of Europe. In a few minutes, we will pick up the pilot and head up the Elba River in Germany, arriving at Hamburg at about 6:00 am.
But let me tell you about the trip over to England. I left Ft Walton Beach at 4:15 pm CDT, right on schedule and arrived in Atlanta at 6:30 pm EDl, again, right on schedule despite the bumpy weather along the way. We left Atlanta an hour later than scheduled because the plane was late getting to Atlanta and they had to clean and stock the plane for our overseas flight. I didn't mind that because I was afraid I would get to the hotel in London too early to check in anyway. The flight was good - a little bumpy at times, but mostly a smooth flight. Arrived in London about 11:30 am. Everything was good - my bag made it and I sailed through customs, only to come to a screeching halt when I got outside of customs and my driver wasn't there. Usually, the driver is standing just outside customs holding a little sign with either my name or Cunard on it. I went up and down the line of drivers several times and hung around the arrivals area for almost an hour waiting for the driver or a Cunard representative to show up. I was really beginning to panic when a guy in a suit approached me and asked if I was waiting for a Princess rep. I told him I was waiting for a Cunard rep or driver. He checked his cell phone for his list of pickups and there was my name - he also knew what hotel I was going to, so off I went with him. He was a very good driver and got me to the hotel. I had to walk (with him pulling my bags) the last couple of blocks because public works had all the streets blocked off for road repairs and he couldn't get me right up to the hotel entrance. The hotel was nice, but I think I prefer the one that I usually stay at.
The ship is beautiful and I got my table for one in the dining room. I might get bored with my own company and move to a larger table, but, for now, I'm happy. My cabin is very nice, not as big as my last one, but very nice. Today was a relaxing day - I didn't sleep all that well last night - woke up at 2:00 am and read for a couple of hours before I could get back to sleep. The weather has been good - the temperature in London yesterday was over 80 degrees which is very warm for them. The bus that took us to the ship was small and the air conditioning didn't really work, which meant we were all hot and grumpy when we got to the ship, but one on board, everything was great.