Roger Daltrey

Just saw Roger Daltrey.  He talked, took some questions and then performed.  Acoustic mainly, he did some of his own songs, some Johnny Cash! and then a couple Who songs.  Unbelievable.  I'm in the middle of the Atlantic and getting an unplugged music session with a legend!  Wow, I never expected that.  What  a treat!

Day 3 "I'm King of the World"

From feeling a little seasick on Wednesday to a fantastic day It helped that the ocean was like a mirror all day, you could have skipped stones on it.  I never expected to see it like that in the middle of the ocean.  Also the sun was shining for most of the morning, so when I took my pot of coffee on my balcony and sipped it with just wearing a t-shirt, paying a little extra for the balcony was worth it.  After that, it was a tough day:

Lecture on the architecture of St. Petersburg given our professor at dinner.  He was good with some great photography.  Next,I went to the library which is an amazing room.  At the front of the ship, it has chairs in front of windows providing an amazing view.  I started to read my book but I just found myself staring straight ahead.  It was mesmerizing.

Captain's update at noon everyday is about the only time they bother you with the intercom.  He provides an update on position and weather forecast.  He was predicting smooth seas but fog (which sure enough came today, Friday). He also said they were going to slow down as they were making good progress.  Later in the day we went from 23 to 18 knts.

Went to lunch in the main Britania dining room.  Met some interesting people including a fellow from Italy who didn't speak much English but could tell me he was going to his daughter's wedding in Vermont.  He just didn't want to fly.  Turns out many people on here take the ship simply because they hate to fly.  Lunch again was fantastic and very relaxing.

But I guess I wasn't relaxed enough so went to the Canyon Ranch spa for a dip in their relaxation pool, followed by a steam in the hottest steam room I've ever been in.  It started to get a bit noisy when these middle aged women came in and were very loud...time to go!

I needed some exercise, so with the seas calm, and feeling better, went for a run/walk around the deck.  Ok, it was more walking than running but felt great.  Many people run but I think it actually was getting quite busy and I think the running isn't terribly considerate of the walkers, some of which were elderly.

What?  It's 5 pm?  Not sure where the time went.  Next stop was the Chart room for a glass of wine.  The best part of the ship, by far, are the public rooms.  The restaurants, bars, library are all spectacular.  They give you great views of the ocean and for the bars, they have great live music.  Classical, jazz, piano, and it's all very good.  It was the classical quartet last night.

Then the captain's cocktail party.  They force Purell on you before shaking his hand!  A nice party with a big band playing.

Another nice dinner after that.  This time, I offered wine to everyone at the table so that I wasn't the only one and all had some except for the woman from Paris!  She is just quite nervous and didn't want to get sick.  But even Joan, who has to be over 90, travelling by herself and very frail, had some.  Well maybe just a sip but she did say it went to her head!

Too many choices after dinner.  I started watching "Alice in Wonderland" in 3D but with the ship gently rolling, just as Alice falls down the rabbit hole, I thought that it might not be a good idea.  Instead I listened in on great female opera singer.  Amazing voice.  I hope she performs again. 

Went for a walk on deck around midnight.  It was warmer and very little wind and just a really calm environment.  I took some photos, hope they turn out.

Main event today: Roger Daltry is being interviewed by Chris Difford, I think it will be like Elvis Costello's TV show.  It's at 3 so will likely need to get there early.

All for now!

Day 2 "I think I'm going to be sick!"

Wednesday had it's ups and downs, both the ship and me!  I know I'll get some ribbing for this but I did get a wee bit sea sick yesterday afternoon.  I had been taking Gravol but it wasn't doing the trick.  I went to the purser's office and they gave me the UK variety of motion sickness pills.  Within an hour I was feeling better, that coupled with some smoother seas helped dramatically. 

The big buzz around the ship is that Roger Daltry is on board and will be performing at some point with Chris Difford from Squeeze.  I will have to keep an eye open for that. 

Great dinner last night.  I had a caprese salad with grilled asparagus followed by Polenta Lasagna.  Both were very good.  The wines by the glass were somewhat limited but I discovered that if you order a bottle, they will keep it for you for the next night, so did that.  I ordered a French wine from Graves, it was very nice.  We also had 2 more guests join at dinner, one of them being a guest speaker today.  He's a professor of history at Cambridge and today's he's giving a talk about St Petersburg. We also had a older fellow from Florida.  When we asked what he used to do he said " I don't want to go into that."  So I guess he's trying to be the mystery man!  After that I saw a play they were putting on.  It was a musical and actually wasn't bad.

Woke up this morning to smooth seas and just a beautiful day.  When out for a walk and lost track of the distance.  3 laps is a mile, so I think I did somewhere between 2 and 3 miles before I needed a coffee which I took on on the deck and enjoyed the view.  I came back to my cabin and ordered room service breakfast and am updating the blog while I wait for it.  The sun is on my balcony, I think I'll have my coffee out there.

Might get to the Canyon Ranch spa today for a steam/sauna/hydro-therapy pool.  If not there, there is a small pool on the top deck with a retractable roof.  Due mainly to the wind, the roof is still closed.

Day 1

Interesting day to say the least. Quick update:

-    Internet charges are very expensive so worked out a process to write everything (emails, blog updates) in a word doc, log on and as quickly as possible cut and paste!

-    Embarkation: I got to the terminal very early, but a porter was there to take my luggage and I didn’t see it again until it was in my room.  Very nice.  They hadn’t opened the check in yet but when they did, everything went quite smoothly.  If I was to do it again, though, I would arrive later, avoid the early crowds and probably just waltz through the boarding.  There was security but wow, they were nice!  Airports could learn a thing.

-    I unpacked and went for some lunch.  There is the main restaurant and the buffet.  I just had a light plate from the buffet.  The salad options were quite nice.

-    I explored the ship a little and then went to the gym for a brief workout before we did the safety drill where they go over the emergency procedures and then show you how to put on your life jacket. Ok, I admit that I felt a little nervous then.   But it was nothing that the small bottle of complimentary champagne in the room couldn’t solve!  Nice touch.

-    There was a sailaway party as left Southampton.  By the way, the weather was spectacular, 20 degrees and sunny.  Could not have asked for better.  Anyway, not really into the party scene, I walked around the top of the ship and took some pictures and videos. 

-    Next stop was the Chart Room, a nice bar mid-ship that had a very nice group of women playing their violins and cello.  A glass of red wine, nice music and the scenery of the English coast passing was very relaxing.

-    I had the late seating at dinner and a table for 6.  There was only 4 of us there, all travelling by ourselves.  A nice mix of people: A Canadian, a young American who is heading home on break from studying distilling (!), a Parisian woman going to visit her boyfriend in the New York and an elderly British woman going to visit her sister in New York. I think the vegetarian meal I had was better than the lamb the others had.  I had a fresh salad followed by the spanikopita  on some tomato coulis.  I was the only one having wine which seemed a little odd.  That might have thrown them off because it arrived late. 

-    Watched the show after which was a singing and dancing bit, very relaxing.  I went back to my room after, set the clock back an hour and went to bed.

Ok, the main question: Could I feel the movement of the ship?  Absolutely!  I was very surprised.  It’s usually quite subtle but when the ship turns, as it did coming out of Southampton, it was very noticeable.  And sleeping, the room creaks a little as it rocks you to sleep!  I must admit that I’m not used to it yet.  I haven’t gotten sick..yet…but it does make me wonder how it would be if the seas were really rough.

Woke up to more smooth seas, temperature of 13.  Went for a walk on deck with a coffee.  Very pleasant but windy. It didn’t keep the joggers inside though.

More to talk about but will save some for another update.  Besides, there is a lecture on rocket science coming up and wouldn’t want to miss that!

Embarkation

I was emailing with Rob this morning prior to sailing. He is pleased with his room, has already hung up all of his clothes and was admiring the bottle of champagne and truffles? canapes? as part of the welcoming. Here is a picture:

I then received a second email that he had already went to the gym, participated in the safety drill and after that was over, promptly cracked the bottle of champagne!

I think he is off to a pretty good start :).

I do think men have it harder packing then women do. All those suits and shoes, they take up a ton of room. Rob left with two suitcases, which was a pretty hard thing for him to do considering his dedication and continued commitment to carry on luggage only.

I'll provide updates as I receive them, and want to thank everyone that has signed up to support Rob for taking this spectacular trip.

Spring in London

I've traveled to London many times but Monday was one of the nicest days I have ever seen.  It was approximately 20 degrees, sunny and perfect for sitting in the park or eating dinner outside, both of which I did.  I stayed at the Washington Mayfair Hotel, which I chose because of it's location, close to Hyde Park and Green Park as well Sheperd Market. I have stayed there before but was pleased to see it had been renovated since the last visit.  The rooms are no longer looking tired and are instead, nicely modernized and quite pleasant.  The hotel is cheaper than the others in the area and represents very good value now.

Off to Southampton shortly.  If the weather stays like this, I can't ask for anything better for the sail-away.

Flying Tomorrow!

Last day of work yesterday before the trip, followed by a nice send off from a few friends.  (You'd think I was going to climb Everest instead of being pampered for a week!) Thanks to Sandra for organizing the event, it was a fun night.

For those that don't know, Sandra is not coming with me on this trip, I'm flying, or rather, sailing, solo.  Why is that?  Well, she may be a guest blogger here so she can answer in her own words if she chooses, but I think it's safe to say that she didn't have the same level of enthusiasm for the trip as I do.  So we decided that I'd do it as a sort of test drive.  If I think she will like it, then we will do the next trip together.  If I think she wouldn't like it, well, no harm done! 

Flight leaves tomorrow night to Ottawa to London.  I'll have a day to walk around there and then Tuesday morning will take the train to Southampton.  Quite interested to see how they board some 2500 people. You'd think it would be a nightmare but I'm told it's much more pleasant than flying, which really doesn't take much.

Interesting fact of the day:  westbound transatlantic crossings have 25 hour days as you set your clock back an hour every night (except for first and last).  Another reason I chose westbound over eastbound.

Made a couple of changes to the blog.  Added a news feed and also crammed in a few more ads.  (Gotta pay for the trip somehow!)  Oh, and I found a way to allow anonymous comments, so you shouldn't have to use a google or yahoo ID to comment.

My next post will likely be from the ship!