Back to the Queen Mary 2

Monday, August 17, 2009 - Our last day in England. Queen Mary 2 leaves Southampton at 5 PM (that’s 18:00 in British time!) so we will be on the road for part of today. It’s back to work for Steve and Lyn, so we are all up early. Steve will drive us to Waterloo train station in London before he starts his shift, for which we are grateful. We travel through the South East part of London past the famous Millennium Dome (where we pass over the International Dateline at 0 degrees Longitude), and the Isle of Dogs and Tobacco Dock (where the famous East India Tea Company had their docks. With Steve’s knowledge of London, we are there lickety-split. Our baggage is deposited on the sidewalk. The separation is not tearless. We are VERY sad to leave.

Waterloo is big, and we have a bit of trouble finding our way around. But Donna is a savvy traveler, and we purchase tickets for a train that leaves in twenty minutes. I leave a tall coffee on one of our suitcases, and when Donna moves another bag, the coffee splatters to the floor. Not a great start. We are sorry to leave a huge puddle in Waterloo station for janitors to clean up, but we have no choice. Our train is ready to board! We climb onto the train, and soon we are heading out of London, looking at the lush green countryside.. The rest of our hour-and-a-half trip is fortunately less eventful. While passing through Winchester, we scan the skyline through the trees in an effort to spy the spire of the famous cathedral, but are unsuccessful.

At Southampton, we flag down a large taxi, needed for our luggage, and in ten minutes are at the Cunard terminal. QM2 doesn’t embark passengers until noon, so we read for an hour. We know our way around now. Soon we are in our stateroom, again 5073, and we are unpacking. Then we move to promenade deck, plop down onto a couple of deck chairs, and watch as QM2 majestically backs out of her berth and begins to move down the channel. Many on board have brought their bottles of champagne on deck to celebrate this event. With champagne in hand, we are on our transatlantic voyage home.