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Published: December 29th 2008
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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 find a small wine bar offering interesting snacks and wine tasting. We tried local wines which came out with four glasses on a wooden tray with a small taste in each glass, underneath each glass were the tasting notes. We had fun trying to distinguish the wine flavours before reading the tasting notes.
The plane left on time, after flying to LA Ron said it became more evident why the Americans call the internal flights cattle class, we had been spoilt with Royal Jordanian flights. We arrived on time and then found ourselves waiting for over an hour
for a shuttle bus to Long Beach. The shuttle took the long way along the coast to drop off others, we finally arrived at the Queen Mary near midnight.
We had booked a first class cabin which we found to be spacious and Ron was thrilled to find it still had the original fittings. The bathroom was a little worn but serviceable, the toilet flush was very interesting. The toilet flushed by pushing a large lever it then made a lot of groans and moans before a large gush of water flushed through, considering it still worked it was a testament to how well the ship had been built in 1935.
The next morning after a basic breakfast and a bit of confusion at the reception desk we finally organised a taxi to a nearby dock to get a boat to Santa Catalina for the day. We were lucky the weather was very pleasant and the one hour trip went smoothly. We arrived at the picturesque town of Avalon, we found it to be a very pleasant, clean seaside town built around a pretty little harbour. It was a nice surprise to find such a lovely place to
spend one of our last days on holiday.
We walked along the beach, had a lovely seafood lunch sitting next to the water, ate ice creams and browsed the small shopping centre - perfect. We took the boat back late afternoon and finished our day with pizzas in Long Beach. There were not a lot of endearing features to Long Beach and in retrospect we felt we could have stayed longer on Santa Catalina island and got the last boat back. We finished the day with a night cap in the lovely art deco lookout bar on the Queen Mary.
The last day saw us walk around the ship and we took the ghost tour which had been included in our booking. The tour took us to some interesting areas including the pool, the engine room and the old steerage class. Before leaving Ron took a historical tour with an excellent guide, while I waited in one of the lounges.
The Queen Mary is showing her age, we both agreed it would be difficult and expensive to turn her into a modern hotel without loosing the historical features. Some parts have been restored well, while others leave
something to be desired. If you are interested in ships it is well worth staying but if you are after a 4 star hotel room, stay somewhere else and visit for the day.
We left late afternoon and travelled by shuttle to LAX for our long flight home via New Zealand. We were allowed to disembark at Auckland for a couple of hours and checking out the duty free shops we bumped into Scott and Carla, who we last saw in New York. We had not been expecting to catch-up with them as we thought they had left the day before from San Fransico, but it was just the confusion of crossing the date line and losing a day.
After 8 weeks and a day finally arriving home to Melbourne we found ourselves stuck on the plane. Tullarmarine was under going renovations and we were supposed to alight on the tarmac, the stairs were no where to be found even though the pilot had contacted the airport to have everything ready. After 40 minutes waiting for stairs to arrive, even the pilot announced he was not happy and to top it off when the stairs arrived they had
to take two goes to align them.
We were very pleased to finally see Mark who had been patiently waiting for us. We both agreed that the trip had gone extremely well, above our expectations. Going back to work would be tough after such a big trip. But back to work we both will go, after all we need to save for our next adventure.
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