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We've dropped off Jeep MK2 and checked in with a nice 4 hour wait till our boarding time so I thought I would write a final post about yesterday. On our way from Anaheim, we had a couple of hours to spare and it was a beautiful day so we decided to make a stop at Huntington Beach before checking in at the queen Mary.
This was defiantly our kind of beach. Miles of white sand coast, surf and cheap on street parking! It even has a section before you get onto the main beach with fire pits and litter bins so you can spend your day sun bathing and finish it off with a regulated fire/bbq without being told to move on (like in UK).
The Queen Mary was our next and final Stop permanently moored up at Long Beach. This ship is a historical wonder and although various parts around it have obviously changed, they have attempted to keep it as authentic to the glory days of the mid 30's when it had its maiden voyage. ALERT.....BORING FACTS BIT!
After checking into our room, we went on the audio tour where we both got a headset
directing us around locations on the ship and giving us information as you delve deep down into the engine rooms, on the bridge, through the huge grand salon and on board swimming pool. It seemed quite busy as they were obviously setting up for 4th of July weekend celebrations which I'm sure would be fantastic here.
The ship started in the 30's as a luxury ocean liner 3 times the size of the Titanic being the most extravagant way to cross from Southampton to New York costing a whopping 1500 Bucks! (in comparison, this was about the price of a large house back then so was usually exclusive to the rich and famous). During the second world war it was drafted in as a service ship, painted complete "battleship grey" and would transport troops, POW's and the families of American GI's after the war was over. At one point it carried over 16500 soldiers in one crossing, a record that still hasn't been broken today. It was decommissioned in the 60's when plane travel took off and was auctioned and bought by the Long Beach city where it has been moored up since.
OK so boring facts over,
we stopped for a quick bite to eat then embarked on the "ghost tour" as I'm sure most people know the ship has a huge reputation for sighting of various paranormal activity. The guide took a group of us around the most active parts of the ship including the swimming pool area, a door in the old engine room, an old disused room and the vary stern of the boat where they kept pow's, many of which died being transported.
This was brilliant and we got to learn loads of actual historic stories of deaths that have occurred on the ship. Somebody asked which hotel rooms had activity and the guide said he had a list that he used to give out on the tour but started to get in trouble because it would freak the guests out and they wouldn't come back! Mandie the curious fellow she is, decided to research this list on the net and she discovered out of the 300+ rooms on the boat used today, 15 of them had sightings. Guess what?.. our room A110 was one of them that many sighting of an old man sitting on the corner of the bed. Consequently
Mandie didn't sleep very well. I however slept like a solid log HA.
Having a few hours after check out before we had to return the car, we decided to check out long beach which ws another beautiful costal city which we wished we could have taken more time to investigate.
So they we have it, its been a brilliant trip. We've travelled over 3000 miles, eaten lots of twinkies, jerkys, icecream sandwiches, Cheetos, bear claws and funyons. Ive shouted the c-word at other drivers more than my entire life put together and annoyed Mandie countless times by repeatedly locking the Jeep so it made a "parp" sound which I happened to find hilarious.
Thank you for reading and collectively looking after Ellie and if you have a spare 2 weeks i'd strongly recommend it. JUST DONT USE A TRAVEL AGENT!
Peace out.
Dan and Mandie.
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Tony Austin
non-member comment
Hello and goodbye and hello
Hello for the last time and goodbye to your trip in the United States. It's been fun reading your account and following your progress. And looking forward to saying hello again when you get back!