A cruise mini-retrospective by Pete

Pete Here--

So the transit adventure may have technically started in the midwest, but this post is about the craziness that is our action plan for sailing to the UK for our next adventure.

So, starting in Brooklyn we stayed with friends about 2 miles from the port of Brooklyn entrance.  It was another 1/2 mile from the entrance to where we could board the boat.  We made the decesion to split up, Jess would ride with one of our friends and all of our luggage, and I would walk with the other friend and the Chasemonster.  We were hoping this would tire her out and she would thus be less crazy.  For the most part this worked, after all we were not refused boarding at the gangway.  Prior to boarding, we were under the impression that we would be getting on separately, this was not the case, we walked on board with Chase on leash through the main dining room up to the kennels.  It was pretty surreal, getting off was equally as insane.  It doesn't seem odd when I type it, but if you have met our dog and can imagine walking her through the corridors of a luxury liner at the same time as the super rich 1st class passengers are boarding you can picture some of our apprehension.

Anywho we got on at like 12:30 and had some time to get settled, unpack a bit, store our luggage in the stateroom, and even sit by the pool before our mandatory meeting with the Kennel Man at 5pm (the same time we depart, but after the lifeboat drill and life jacket test).  Departing NYC was cool, as dog owners, we were allowed in the kennels part of the top deck, probably the only not crowded part of the top deck, thus we got an unobstructed view of NYC, the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and the Statue of Liberty (not to mention the USCG and NYPD escorts) as we left.

The cruise was much more formal and much more social than I anticipated it would be.  We went to all but one dinner in the dining room.  We met fabulous people, we ate fabulous food, in general had a fabulous time.

Interesting stories.....On night two (maybe three) a passenger had to be airlifted via Canadian Coast Guard helicopter off the boat and flown to St. Johns.  This required a more Northerly (i.e. cold) route for our cruise but at least the passenger was ok.  I actually saw said chopper outside our stateroom and immediately stumbled backwards falling over the coffee table. Thats right our room had a coffee table, amazing.











We got to see Chase lots of times during the day, in fact we didn't even go to all of her visitations.  I think Disney cruise line really should put in a kennel program for kids.  It was nice; see her for a few hours and then she gets put in her cage or is supervised by a less than qualified (but very good) employee of the cruiseline who is I am sure grossly underpaid and we are free to leave to drink and eat with out any second thoughts.  Needless to say Jess occasionally worried about our pet.

The boat is immense, for those of you who remember the ship I sailed on with Semester at Sea, this boat was twice as big and had twice as many people.  And a casino.  Our cabin was on deck 8 of 13, 13 may not sound that big, but being 13 stories above the water line in a 20 ft sea, is to say the least noticeable. 

Ok Ok I am done rambling,   The next one of my posts will be focused on Scotland and our adventures here, the land of unbifricated pants.  Scotland 2 Macedonia 0 Hooray!!

                                              Saying adios to our ride in Southampton.

It Begins

Hi All ---Pete Here
So we are here, in the land of Haggis, Rain, and rolling R's. Those of you who are new to this or who haven't heard what Jess and I have been up to for the last three months I will start at the beginning of the adventure.

Phase 1......Departing Buffalo
We left Buffalo after graduation to move to the Quad Cities in Iowa. With newly conferred Master's degrees in hand we went on to live the post grad dream for the summer by moving in with my parents and borrowing a car from Jess' parents. It was awesome. The summer was good. Jess and I got to play with my parents house renovations--they are turning out quite well. Jess had a retail job in Davenport at a Kitchens store, so we had some money. That all came to an end on the 23rd of August as we repacked the essentials and left my parents with a gigantic pile of our things to "store/or lose to act of god" depending on the fine print of the homeowners policy.

Phase 2.......XCountry
We drove in a rental car from Davenport to Buffalo to New York City. All in a course of two days. It wasn't that bad, but somehow the design of the Holland Tunnel seems flawed, seriously 12 damn toll lanes for a two lane tunnel. We made the drive with no problems other than a new respect for the width of New York State. Thank you very much to Jay and Albert and Gaelen and Anand for the places to crash. Sorry for all of the people we didn't have time to see, we were on a tight schedule with the dog in tow.

Phase 3......."Brandy!!!!! you're a fine Girl"
Jess, Chase and I made the trip to the UK via ocean liner. In a way sailing past the Statue of Liberty on the way out was like some perverse reverse immigration thing. We, all three of us (Chase being the third) got on in Brooklyn to sail to Southampton on board the Cunard Line's Queen Mary 2. The crossing deserves a post in and of itself as so many crazy and wonderful things went on... from a Canadian Coast Guard Helicopter to a man named George. (That post will be post number 2) After 6 days of amazing luxury and the occasional gale, we arrived safely in the UK, cleared customs and drove for 8 or 9 hours to Glasgow.

Phase 4......Gles-ca

Jess, Chase and I have been living in the Holiday Inn Express city centre, or Merchant City Neighborhood as we attempt to get moved in. Tomorrow AM we will be opening a bank account, on Monday if everything goes well we will be moving into our flat which is across the street. And a few days ago we got our first cell phone. We will get another phone in a week or so as we become more familiar with what is available.

That pretty much sums up everything. When I get around to it I will post many more photos on here and on facebook and put up a post about the crossing. Jess will likely also put up a few posts as time goes on.

Till next time,
Cheers
PR