James has one week off school for Thanksgiving holidays and Louise has taken the week off work so we are all off on a road trip to San Antonio. Monday morning after we strategically packed our bags in to the volvo, without an inch to spare, the six of us set off on our road trip to San Antonio. We stopped for a lovely lunch at the East Side Cafe in Austin, the food cooked with the freshest of ingredients, much of which was grown in the gardens behind the restaurant. Late afternoon saw us arrive at our motel in San [View Full Entry]

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Ron drove mum and I to the airport, Mum and I were off to Dallas to see Louise, Colin, James and Lachlan for four weeks. The trip to Dallas from Melbourne took around 25 hours via Sydney and San Fransisco. When we finally arrived we were very happy to be picked up from the airport by Colin and the boys. Louise was at conference and was due home that night. Louise and Colin have a beautiful home in Southlake, a lovely area around 40 minutes drive from the centre of Dallas. The homes in Southlake are all large, Louise explained they [View Full Entry]

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No problem getting a taxi in New York this time as we ordered one through the hotel receptionist, we had a good run to the airport. After being dropped off at the American Airlines terminal we found out we were leaving from a new terminal ten minutes walk away. At the new terminal there was only self check-in available and then a large disorganised queue to check-in the luggage, people where trying to sneak in around the sides causing all sorts of grief. The new terminal wasn't bad for American standards, with a couple of hours to kill we manage to [View Full Entry]

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After being back for a month we have finally got around to typing up our New York blog. Only one more blog to go, Long Beach and the Queen Mary. We arrived in New York early on the 16th, the QM2 docking in Brooklyn in sight of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Sadly the QE2 had left us and sailed on to dock elsewhere. It took a few hours to disembark, pass through customs and find a cab. The cab took around 45 minutes to travel to our hotel Inn414, which we found was only a few minutes walk [View Full Entry]

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QM2 10th - 16th October Comfortable spacious quiet cabin, lovely after the small noisy cabin we had on the QE2 Undertaking the traditional transatlantic crossing with no ports meant we had 6 days at sea to enjoy the ship, daily routine went something like this: - Fresh fruit, pancakes or French toast for breakfast - Walk around the deck three times (1.1 mile), sometimes spotting dolphins - Enjoying seeing the QE2 sail next to us, we felt privileged to undertake the tandem crossing with the QE2 on its last voyage to New York - Trivia - Lunch in the dining room [View Full Entry]

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We arrived early morning at Newcastle and were soon on our way as we had organised for “Kenny’s Canny Car Hire” to drop off a vehicle for us. Susan and Chris were going to visit with Chris’s mum for the day so Lyn and Ken decided to spend the day touring with us. We decided we would try a TomTom (GPS) for the day as we thought we would venture further afield and tour Durham and surrounds. We were soon on our way navigating through Newcastle, after a few confusing instructions delivered from the TomTom we found ourselves on the motorway [View Full Entry]

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After arriving at Queensferry early in the morning and anchoring near the Fourth Bridge, we went ashore by lifeboat and were pleased to see Ian from Doodlebus waiting on the jetty. First stop was the Royal Yacht Britannia, it took a little finding as it was hidden from view by a large shopping centre. We were all given audio sets and as you travelled around the yacht you were able to press the appropriate number on the set to get an interesting commentary. I found it surprising that there was only one double bed on the yacht. The bed had been [View Full Entry]

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Sunday 5th October We had a leisurely breakfast and our daily dance lesson before we arrived at Greenoch (Glasgow) around noon. It was a beautiful sail into Greenoch, up Firth of Clyde. We were accompanied by a flotilla of ferries, small craft, jet skis plus a navy war ship. There was large turnout on the dockside to welcome us, possibly because the QE2 had been built in the area. Throughout the day there was a gold coin donation to view the ship and apparently 20,000 pounds was raised for charity. The weather was fine and we were pleased we had organised [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 4th October After sailing overnight we arrived in Belfast around noon. We had organised to be picked up from the docks by a black cab to take a short tour. The six of us all squeezed in the cab, escaping the heavy rain. We had decided to take the political cab tour that explained the conflict between the protestants and the catholics in the area. The tour stopped to allow us to walk around some of the famous murals painted on the buildings, the murals visually depict the story of the conflict and suffering. One mural had a gun barrel [View Full Entry]

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At last an internet connection that works, sadly we could not get our laptop to connect on the QM2, they're upgrading the system next year which will hopefully solve the problem for others. We arrived in New York this morning and thankfully Hotel 414 where we are staying has Wifi so we are back in business. We have a lot of blogging to catch-up on but a Broadway show awaits tonight so we will try to type a little each day, we may have to complete our blog when we get home at this rate! Friday 3rd October Around noon we [View Full Entry]

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