Hi, its Tom again.

One week ago today we arrived in our new home on Fehmarn. It has been a week of get togethers, breakfast and dinners with the family and a birthday party in Hamburg.The beach is maybe 5 minutes away and our trailer, being at the end of a side street sees very little traffic; the only thing that we hear mostly are the birds.

Life here is a lot slower and its hard to keep track of the days and the time. I think I have my "land legs" back as I stopped feeling wobbly yesterday. When the wind blows from the West we can hear the train crossing the Fehmarn Bridge. The pigeons are the size of chickens and at dusk until morning there are rabbits all over. (No jackalopes yet) We went to our first Town Fest (Rapsblutenfest) yesterday in Petersdorf; a small town circle fest with food booths, candy, locally made goods, delicious German cakes and some sort of marinated hering on bread. We also had dinner at the Globetrotter restaurant on the campground both yesterday and the day before. Thursday I had liver and onions and yesterday I had Neck Steak.....delicious.

The neighbors are all friendly and everyone says "good morning" or "good day" as you pass. There is a small store by the registration building that sells fresh rolls in the morning and they ARE delicious with butter and cheese or just with butter.

We attended a birthday party yesterday in Hamburg for an old friend of Dagmars, which was very nice with quite a few people. It is interesting to listen to the many conversations and I am picking up more and more words and phrases as the conversations go on. The drive back was quite fast with speeds, outside of city limits, reaching roughly 136 mph. (210 kph) Normal driving speed is around 96 mph. Just what the Autobahn is made for.

I changed a lot of this post because I realized that is sounded very negative but I didn't mean it to, so this is the updated version.

DAY NINE

The journey is coming to an end. We had a wonderful time and it perfectly matched our needs. It was very relaxing – even though we had high winds, huge waves, overcast skies and rain. Entertainment was always available all day and night. There was always food in sight and it was hard to stick with healthy choices when the most delicate deserts were twinkling at us. So for 10 days we tossed all health and weight concerns out of the window and ate whatever our taste buds desired.

Cunard provided an excellent service. All staff members were most helpful, always very friendly, looked after our room twice a day to keep it spotless and waited on us royally. If we requested something or voiced a need, the response followed within minutes. It will take a moment to get back to the reality of having to cook our own food and then to do the dishes. It is super easy to get really lazy in this environment. – Just what we needed –

Now, almost all the bags and suitcases are packed and ready to go. Waiting for the washer and dryer to be done to complete the packing. We place the luggage outside our state room and it will magically, in silence, disappear until tomorrow morning when we leave this beautiful ship.

We, wholeheartedly, recommend travelling on the Queen Mary 2. This will not be our last time. We are already looking at west bound crossings into New York.

You will hear from us again tomorrow.

DAY EIGHT

Today we have a big rotation on board. Many of the people we used to have dinner with have left and the QM2 is in process of boarding about 1500 new passengers. Mostly Germans who are now going back to Germany, do a northern loop to include Norway and a few islands and then back to South Hampton to sail across the Atlantic west bound to New York.

We docked early this morning in South Hampton, England. It has been raining all day. For a little while it actually looked like snowflakes or at least slightly frozen rain drops. Combined with the strong wind it is just really raw outside.  I feel bad for the passengers that booked port excursions, sightseeing or shopping trips. Visibility is very low.  The Queen Victoria, another Cunard ship, is docked behind us and two other cruise ships are in an opposite docking area. Typical harbor activities are loading and unloading cargo (mostly vehicles), and on our ship outside maintenance started immediately. The poor ship took a beating this crossing.

It is 2:00p now and we have another 3 ½ hours until we sail across to Belgium. We will dock in Seebrügge early tomorrow morning. Another day when most passengers leave the ship to explore the port area. We will stay “home”. Then we have to start packing and prepare for our arrival in Hamburg, Germany.

DAY SEVEN

Last night as by far the worst in regards of high winds and waves! It was so bad that for the formal event I took my heels off and walked barefoot. Heels and waves in combination with a damaged ankle don’t go along well. It is really funny when you watch people walk. Tom enhanced it a bit by increasing the motion and flung himself from side to side and went down to his knees and then stretched to tip-toes as gravity dictated it. I was behind him in the hallway laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes.

My sleep pattern is completely messed up. They steel an hour a day, but our meal times are still the same. So we eat dinner at 8:30 pm but, by now on our time, it would be already 1:30 am. By the time I get tired it is around 3:00 am and I don’t wake up until noon. Tomorrow morning I will get up with the alarm again to train my body for the new time zone. Tom doesn’t seem to be effected by the time changes at all.

After dinner last night we poked into the ball room for the Ascott ball to admire the ladies hats. That was rather amusing. Some ladies had made hats the afternoon before and came up with unbelievable creations! Not anything I would be seen in public with – but it was just for the fun of it. We stayed for the dance performance, strolled through a few clubs and ended up in the movie theater.

Today we checked out the professional pictures and selected the ones we liked best.

It was much less windy and we went for a walk again. LAND IN SIGHT!!!! The very southern part of England was visible today. A few other ships joined us as well. Tomorrow morning many passengers get off the ship to either take tours of South Hampton or to complete their journey. We will stay on board since we will be in driving distance and at a later point visit for a few days.

All this delicious food, available around the clock, with a disturbed body clock is very dangerous! Once we arrive I believe we have to tape out mouths shut! Gaining weight is super easy here. The on board gym is always full but I haven’t seen the inside yet.  We just eat, sleep and have fun!

DAY SIX

This day turned out to be much different than anticipated. I woke up with a massive headache that didn’t want to let go. Besides we have HUGE waves outside and items on the counter are actually sliding around. It was interesting taking a shower today, because you had to lean against the wall to stabilize yourself. So far we’ve had only one and a half days of somewhat nice weather, but that’s alright. There is so much to do indoors and the view through the countless windows is still spectacular. Today we are moving towards Bishop Rock, passing over the Porcupine Abyssal Plain in the North Atlantic Ocean. England is a little less than 1000 nautical miles away.

We have TV in the room and can tune in many different channels in several languages. Right now we find a lot of soccer games leading up to this year’s Soccer World Cup.

Tonight is the Royal Ascot Ball. Formal attire required. It is a beautiful sight when men and women are dressed in gowns and suits. Woman also will show off their favorite hats tonight. There is actually a hat decorating class on the schedule this afternoon. Well, I will not wear a hat. I guess it is a British custom to wear hats at certain occasions.

About half of the passengers are British and will disembark the ship in South Hampton. Others, like American Tourists will also disembark and continue by train or car to either be back on board in June when the QMII travels back to New York or others fly back to the US. I have met a few German passengers so far who will continue the journey to Hamburg, Germany.

DAY FIVE

We are now at the midpoint of our Transatlantic Crossing and finally had some sunshine. It felt so good to feel the warmth. It was still windy but the sun made a huge difference. Every day we set the clocks ahead one hour – meaning, we lose an hour at mid-day. Somehow this is not easy to deal with. This afternoon we went to see a movie again, The Wolf of Wall Street, at the Illuminations Theatre and we had to rush getting ready for dinner.

In the morning after breakfast we checked out some dance classes. First Ballroom dancing with Wilfried and Ilona as instructors. They taught the Quick-Step today. Right after was some line dancing lesson. Tomorrow we will participate in the Ballroom class and learn the Rumba. That should be fun.

I took a lot of pictures today and will post them once I have reliable internet connection. There is no high speed internet on the ship and to upload pictures would take forever.

Dinner once again was lovely. Everything was very tasty and beautifully presented. The staff, on any level of service, from the Officers to the maintenance personnel are all very helpful and always nice. I spoke to one of the waitresses today, she is from Lithuania, and she told me that she is on her second crossing and that she is enjoying her job a lot. The staff provides a composition of 57 different nationalities! The restaurant Britannia, our dinner restaurant, serves 12,000 meals per day! Tomorrow we actually have the opportunity to visit the kitchen and watch the activities that lead up to our evening feast.

The last two days were informal days and we could stay somewhat casual. Tomorrow is another formal day. It is interesting to see the variety of styles and tastes in fashion and the understanding of formal and informal dress code.

But for now I need to get some sleep. It’s almost 1:00 am and we have another busy day ahead.

DAY FOUR

It is still very windy and over cast. Blow drying my hair is absolutely useless. The wind will do it’s thing. We spend most of the time indoors. There is a long hallway with windows on either side of the ship lined with card tables. We played a game of Monopoly. We haven’t played in decades! Tom bankrupted me rather fast…. 

Later in the afternoon we went to the Theater and watched The LEGO Movie in 3D. That was pretty cool. I had thought of my grandson, who created his own LEGO YouTube channel (LEGO EVERYDAY) and within a few weeks 20,000 people viewed it

.

We have very interesting dinner company. A gentleman from Ohio with his student. He is a professor in forensic psychology, specialized in sociopathic disorder. His student is a 24 year old male, who just graduated. We also have a British couple at the table. There are many British people on board and some German travelers as well. After dinner we usually stroll from club to club and theater to theater until we get tired. 

DAY TWO

We were tired or better exhausted. Tom was feeling nauseated because we had some really strong winds! All outside areas were blocked off and inside, especially in the front of the ship, the motion was intense. The Queen was, and still is, creaking in her seams. Nevertheless we did so some walking, sitting outside later in the day and Tom after some Dramamine took a nap on deck and later we took another nap inside before getting ready for dinner. After dinner we stayed in one of the theaters for some good old Motown tunes.

Our information about the dress code had a glitch. The Black & White event tonight was listed as an informal event. Well, it wasn't informal. I believe other people didn't know it was formal either. I did not feel out of place after all.

As Tom was getting ready for the event is got a little stressful. I’m pretty sure that he packed his cuff links but they are nowhere to be found. So, I assume as soon as we go and buy some new ones the old ones will magically turn up.

We are having some trouble with the time change at one hour per day since our cell phones will not change until we are in fact at the next time zone. Good that Tom has his wrist watch.

The service on the ship is excellent and so far all the food and the variety of it is phenomenal. The waiters are very attentive and right there when needed. Room service comes twice a day the check the room and make sure it’s all clean and we have everything we need.

All hallways are heavily carpeted and the ship seems to be very well insulated since we don’t hear what is going on outside of our room. 

DAY ONE

We had a smooth ride to New York. A friend of mine travels to NY twice a month and had given me her favorite route. We really appreciate her suggestion. There was traffic, but it was always moving at a decent speed all the way to Brooklyn, NY. The transaction with Enterprise Car Rentals also was a great experience. Everything went without a hitch. We loaded our luggage in front of our home and unloaded it right in front of the terminal onto provided luggage carts. We arrived about 30 minutes early and proceeded through the check-in line without delay. There were minimal waiting times and everything seemed to be very organized and coordinated.

Once in our State Room, our luggage was delivered and we were able to store some in the closet, and the big ones under the bed. By now we were hungry and visited the buffet on the 7. floor.  Delicious food and plenty variety. We now had some time to do first exploration of the ship. It had turned very windy and we needed 2 tug boats to keep the Queen at the pier. At 4:00 pm we gathered for safety drill and instructions. It took place in the gym since it was too windy and rainy outside.

We were supposed to leave at 5:30 pm and we decided to go out on deck to watch. There was not much to see today. Lower Manhattan was hidden in thick clouds and the financial district was not much better. Even the Statue of Liberty was fogged in. The wind, the rain and the fog made the Captain skip the Lady Liberty drive-by and finally, at about 6:15 pm, we headed out to see. With the Ship picking up speed the wind and rain increased and we had to go put some more clothes on, but came back outside just in time to pass under the Verrazano Bridge – with only a few feet to spare.

While sitting on deck we already met some people from Hamburg, Germany on their way home. Now it was time to get ready for dinner. The first night was an informal night. We were ready early and went for a walk to see what all we can do in the next 10 days. The ship is beautiful!

Dinner was scheduled at 8:30 pm and we were assigned to a table with a British couple and two gentlemen from Ohio. Both parties are experienced cruisers. We were informed that we are not on a cruise or on a cruise ship but on a crossing – to be specific, on a transatlantic crossing. The Queen Mary is very different from other cruise ships. The hull is V-shaped to cut deep into the water while cruise ships have a somewhat flat bottom.

It was difficult to decide what to select from the dinner menu. We decided for a Liver Pate with honey glazed cranberry onions and bread as the appetizer. As the Entrée I chose portabella mushroom with chicken and Tom had a seafood fettuccini. Caramel Pecan pie with vanilla ice cream completed the meal for me.

Now we are rather tired and will not indulge in available activities but get some sleep.

PICTURES

 Safety equipment in place...

...and we are leaving New York

it was very windy and cold

Congratulations! We are on our merry way!

Leaving the NY Brooklyn Cruise Terminal

Looks like a "yellow cab" but it really is a tug boat

Statue of Liberty. It was too late and too windy to circle around. 

We headed straight for the Verrazano Bridge

The QM2 has to leave in time to make sure she fits under the bridge. 

We left a bit later than planned and had

only a few feet to spare

Sitting on deck 7 on the way out we met this nice mother-daughter couple from Hamburg. 

Can you see how cold it is???

 We stopped at the wintergarden to write a few post cards

The chairs are now all tied up to prevent them from blowing across the deck.

This beautiful chimney is one of the original four Titanic chimneys 

 The lifeboats

Looking down to deck 7

Deck 7 - Three laps equal 1.9 miles. Usually it's very busy here

Deck 11 with indoor and outdoor pool and the Ragatta Bar and Lounge

The view out to the back of the ship

The middle of the Atlantic Ocean 

Deck Stuarts hard at work

The nose - I wanted to stand there at night like in the Titanic movie, but it's restricted.

Here you see extra propellers. The look very small from up top. In reality the are very large but still decorative.

The view from the observation deck, right below the bridge.

The bridge with the shadow of your Captain

 The doggy park - not very attractive but functional. The dogs are supervised all day and have individual kennels. Sorry, no grass until England

One of the endless hallways. Narrow, so you can touch the walls and railings at high seas.

The stairwell and elevators on deck 6

Go up to deck 7, to the Kings Court buffet area and the wonderful  promenade deck

Plaques like this are on the walls all around the ship from hundreds of locations around the world

BON VOYAGE

On the way to NY. The rental provides a comfortable ride and is big enough for all the luggage. We got a GMC Yucon XL - it's nice, but I miss my muscle van. Lol

This is it!!

Sleep one more time in our bed and off we go. Not sure if I can see the road through the curtain of tears but I'll try. It's hard to say good bye even if its not permanent. Much can happen in a year or even a week.

Yesterday we gave the Crombie fleet their last ride. With 338.000 miles and 248.000 miles they served us very well.

Kiss the older brother good bye.....

The rental is is in the driveway already packed and ready to go. Last items to be added in the morning and we will be on our way. 

We might have a 10 day silence period but I promise you will hear all about it once we are connected again.

For right now, I need some sleep

Inside the QMII

Inside the Queen Mary II - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWKxQ7wvbaE

What a BEAUTY!

Queen Mary 2's 200th Transatlantic Crossing: http://youtu.be/1IOsNk9d6Lo

7 DAYS, 20 HOURS AND 6 MINUTES

Medical records collected, most stuff either brought to the dump or to storage, Goodwill box dropped off and garage somewhat cleaned out.

Tomorrow I have to pick up my gowns from the seamstress and Toms pants from the dry cleaners. I haven't done much cooking lately. We have a lot of last dinner gatherings. Tuesday night we had a lovely time with friends at the Back Room Restaurant. The food was great and the company was even better. I also enjoyed a short visit from an ex co-worker and last night we took a few hours to play Yahtzee. Our daughter came for a few days and will be back beginning of the week. It's sooo good to have the kids around. Tomorrow night my son has a surprise dinner scheduled. It's an early Mother day dinner and I wonder where we are going.

I managed to reserve an appointment with Concord Imaging for a mammography and don't have to worry about that for a few years. All prescriptions are filled and supplements packed. Dramamine for motion sickness and Immodium for the unexpected airborne intestinal virus are also packed. There are no special immunization requirements going to Europe.

I got a new Laptop today! My old one started scrolling lately and so we decided to get a new one before we leave. That will take a while until I know my way around….

This weekend we will open the garage sale for one more time. I hope we have willing customers stopping by. Wish us luck!!!

 

TEN!

10 days to departure! I’m ready to leave now, but I’m really not ready at all. The house is a disaster, there is still so much to do, so much to take care of and so much to think and make sure. I have to admit, this is the second most difficult move in my life. The first was coming to the US in 1986 and now going back. I think I moved a total of 30 times, but this is much harder. Moving from one city or one street to another is easy. You put all your stuff in boxes at one location and unpack in the new location – DONE. This is different. We are not taking anything but clothes and important documents. What to do with the rest of all this stuff??? Constant walks down memory lane delay the process and the final decision. Dump, storage, or suitcase? Or maybe one of the kids want it – not very likely.

I found vacuum sealed bags are a fantastic space saver. I used to use “Space bags” but after a short time they started sucking in air. K-Mart sells “Smart bags” and those seals seem to be much better. It’s not easy to fill an average suitcase to 45 pounds without vacuum bags.

This afternoon we will retrieve the last parts of our medical records and work on some legal documents regarding the house and power of attorney for the kids to be able to take care of things on our behalf. Passports, tickets and rental car are all set and ready to go. I even found my old German driver’s license! It is still valid – not that anybody would recognize me, but I can still use it.

Toms van is just about cleared out while mine is still full with STUFF. That word is starting to irritate me severely….

Good thing, we had a few alcohol remnants kicking around. Tom had a shot of Goldschlager and I had a shot of V.S.O.P. Brandy. No more leftovers in the booze cupboard! LOL

MANY LAST TIMES - FOR NOW

Hi, its Tom and it is CRUNCH TIME! We now have thirteen.......uh.......twelve days until we get rid of the vans and say goodbye to the house......at least for the year. We have spent the past two days going through stuff that I personally haven't looked at in the past ten years......so why do we still have it. (sentimental reasons). For me its mostly old pictures and memories of places, pictures that can't be replaced and are never really forgotten, only white washed over by our hectic daily lives.

My brother came up from Texas on April 23rd to spend some time with us before we depart and also to see friends. It's too bad that we live so far apart and don't get to spend much time together except when he visits me or I visit him. It was really great having him here for the week. His next visit to us will be in Germany on the Baltic.

Today I have to clean out my van. This will be a monumental event because there will only be two times when the inside of my van has been really clean with no clutter........the day that I bought it and after I clean it today! (to stay in my van has been threatened as punishment by my brother to his son, its been so bad at times) Of course without a pickup, my van has been substituted for work, hauling everything from boulders, rock dust, gravel, sheet rock, lumber,trash, and tree limbs to leaves and furniture. If I had to buy another new car it would be a Grand Caravan.

I unfortunately inherited "chronic worrying" so I'm taking Herb Pharm drops....Brain Tonic, Immune Defense and Nervous System to help calm me down and keep me focused on the task at hand. They seem to have helped. 

Well, I still have boxes of photo albums that I haven't found yet, and where the heck is my left shoe...........