Oh, I seldom change boats mid ocean

 Starting from where I left off on the last post. Cruising out of New York Harbour is something I really really recommend. It was actually the first thing I booked for my trip and dictated most of my route. (*Squints at an early draft of a route which would have had me flying into Chicago and heading out to the Dakotas in MARCH*) 

As we left Brooklyn and watched the Manhattan skyline disappear into the horizon I had this strange sense of finality. I’m planning another post about my feelings of the US and my trip there, but as I watched Manhattan disappear into the waves I really felt like I would be ok if I never went back. 

The idea of spending 5 days on a floating hotel, with my own room and bathroom at the end of 9 weeks of travel honestly sounded like heaven. As you may have noticed that I enjoy travelling slowly, and found a Transatlantic crossing to be a really lovely way to do so.
So began 5 days of attempting to eat as much as humanly possible.

One of the side effects of going on a Cunard boat was that they had two formal nights, the first of which was the “Red and Gold Gala'' so I was scrambling around for what to wear. I was quite annoyed that I'd decided I didn't need the formal red dress I'd considered packing. Luckily I have a red scarf and necklace my mum had made that were both red. I had also packed a convertible dress which turned into an absolute godsend as I wore it every single day.

Unfortunately on the second day I woke up with a headache so I did not go to the zumba class at 9 like I intended. Instead I went back to bed after breakfast. I ended up mooching around all day because I was feeling exhausted and clumsy as a side-effect of my prodrome and then of course got a bad case of insomnia. I decided to go for a quick walk on the deck at night to see the stars. I remember reading in one of my favorite books as a child that the best place to see the stars is out at sea and given we were off the coast of Newfoundland I thought I'd take advantage.I was on the very top deck so going for a late night stargazing was easy. I don't know if it was because of all the deck lights or it was cloudy but I couldn't see very much. Which now that I think about it the book had been set on a 21 foot yacht and not a 3,000 person ocean liner.

I had chosen the room in a slightly tipsy, anxiety fueled hase an about the Titanic when I rage booked the trip back in November so while the sea is very smooth I could feel the roll of the boat much stronger in bed than anywhere else.

On day three of the passage I woke up again with headache again but I was determined to go to the gym, mostly to work up an appetite rather than any strong desire for cardiovascular health. Raising my heart rate can make my migraines worse so I took it very easy on the treadmill mostly so I could get my news fix as the treadmill is basically the only source of external news as there's no free wifi on the boat. 

After lunch I ran into a group of historical costumers I'd made friends with the day before at lunch. They were having a swimsuit meet-up in one of the pools so they were all in 1910s bathing suits which was fun. They then invited me to their dance session before dinner so I was desperately trying to cobble together something vaguely 1910s which they appreciated. All of the group looked amazing as they had a 1910s fancy dress evening so a lot of the women were wearing harem pants and saris and several of the men were wearing orientalist style costumes. I also had my first ever experience ballroom dancing and the men leading me. They were all gentlemen and took the stepped on toes with plenty of grace.

I learned the one step, waltz, an Austrian dance I can't remember the name of, and feared for my safety pinned skirt during the foxtrot. It was actually a group tour I'd seen advertised just before I left but couldn't go on because the dates overlapped with my cruise tickets. Also, I came close enough to a breakdown making one suit for an event just before I left, I think I would have been sectioned if I'd tried to make enough for a 6 day cruise which included several themed evening events. They were all so welcoming and I kept joking that I bribed my way in by telling them about Goldhawk road and the Walthamstow notions market.

By day three I had just started carrying a notepad and pencil because I was being asked for so many tips and recommendations about where to go in London and the South East by other guests at meals. It made life easier and pleased people that they were getting advice from a "local".

Most evenings the boat put on some form of after dinner entertainment so one day I headed to the club in the boat where they had a band playing followed by a silent disco. If you've never experienced a silent disco I highly recommend them. Everyone is issued a headset that plays music, and most will have a few different radio channels playing different music so from the outside it looks like, to quote sliding doors, "some kind of sponsored epileptic fit". But the great joy of it is once people realise that everyone looks ridiculous and everyone's dancing to a different beat so people who are a bit shyer typically are more willing to loosen up a bit. Alcohol helps too.

During the passage I seemed to have been adopted by a group of elderly ladies I dubbed the Golden Girls. They’re a group of ladies going to London to see some West End shows who I've met a couple of times at meals and a few of them have decided to adopt me, to the extent that I'm beginning to worry that there may be a custody battle in Southampton.
I keep hearing the phrase "I must introduce you to my grandson" or "my granddaughter is coming to visit next year, can I give her your details", so I've been passing along my recommendations on what to do and my "boyfriend in the army" has made a reappearance. For those of you who don't know, it's relatively common for women who travel alone (especially in more conservative countries) to wear a wedding band, whether they're married or not. I've discovered that the best way to stop questions about where the mystery boyfriend/husband is is to say that he's on deployment. It's always kind of amazing how the unspoken bro code means that even creeps will back off if you claim to be in a relationship, especially if "husband" is in the "army". 

I did end up attending the lectures the Golden Girls have been inviting me to. Which was very interesting, I've only been to one so far which was by a film promoter. But after about 90 minutes with them where they're answering their own questions, handing me pull outs from week old newspapers, and trying to hook me up with their grandsons I typically started looking for an escape. I've been using all my public school charm to extract myself, my goal was to try and get my sewing project finished (I did not).
I looked very seasonally confused as I was sat at the indoor pool, in my swimsuit, sunning myself sewing a wool garment.

We're assigned seating at dinner so I've been getting to know the same group for the last week. Two of them are retired teachers who joined me at the silent disco the other night. Another couple are also retired and enjoy cruising so have decided to spoil themselves on the Queen Mary. Finally there are two other women by themselves, one is a German lady who poorly earlier in the week and had to isolate but has now recovered enough to join us for dinner. The other is a linguist who seems to develop a new allergy at every meal. She's very interesting to speak to but I'm beginning to wonder what she can eat at all.

On the final evening it was the 20s gala so I went and bobbed my hair and did my makeup and fished around my wardrobe to see what I had that would pass as 1920s. I eventually settled on my blue and white polkadot wrap dress. I think the makeup and accessories are what sold it as 20s but I think it read as more 30s, so we'll just say I was dressed as 1929. 

I joined the ragtime group again for their pre-dinner dances, where I usually try to play the wallflower because strictly speaking it's a private event I'm gatecrashing and I don't want to take up all the gentleman's attention so the other ladies don’t have a dance partner. I am about half the age of younger ladies in the group, single (and not in the widowed sense), have a charming English accent, and am a newish person in the group so I usually get several offers for each dance but I've been trying to direct them to the other ladies as many of them have been looking forward and planning this trip for over a year.

The band played again after dinner in a public session so I accepted more offers to dance from the gentlemen. I think many of them are enjoying being able to teach me some of the different dances, I've now also learned how to swing dance and foxtrot. I think I also made some inroads with the organisers of the trip by agreeing to be put on their newsletter and agreeing to ask if anyone in my costuming group would be interested in doing a similar cruise so I'm now loaded down with cards and slips of paper with contact details scrawled across.

There's something to be said for running into a group who are equally nerdy about a specific topic as you are. I've been chatting away with people in the group about the horrors of sewing silk charmeuse and showing them my project where I'm playing around with an 18th century stitch called the English stitch.  Hours of entertainment there. It's nice because once we've skipped over the cursory small talk you're able to use words like "did you use a pattern or draft it yourself" to get your foot in the door. I'm still very much a beginner at historical costuming but I spend a fair amount of time reading and researching the theory so I can at least talk somewhat knowledgeably about the topic.......it also helps that I was able to direct them to Goldhawk Road and tell/warn them about Macculloch & Wallis. 

I spent the morning of the last day in the Commodore club which is one of my favourite places on the boat. Hidden away on the fore of deck 9 it provides wonderful views and is usually quite quiet as long as the people trying to sneak in a stealthy nap don't start to snore too loudly.

I had been making an effort to attend most meals and sit at one of the shared tables. It's been interesting because you get to meet lots of different people. Lots of people have commented that they think my travelling solo is very brave but as I've said before I don't always appreciate such comments, I think mostly because I don't really know how to respond. I've also been asked a lot about which country I prefer, the US or UK. I've disappointed many American by informing them that I generally prefer the UK, in large part because of the welfare state and the fact that I actually have more rights in the UK than I necessarily have in the US. However I’m having great fun informing them in my best public school accent, that part of the reason why I feel this way is "I'm one of those frothing at the mouth socialists you hear about. Excuse me waiter, please may I have another cappuccino?" 

On the final day I ran into a couple who I'd met a few days earlier at breakfast and joined them and their daughter, who's about my age, for afternoon tea. I decided that I would try afternoon tea at least once before I got off the boat and planned lunch accordingly. This is because I'm on the early dinner seating so my meal slots are 8-8:30 for breakfast, then lunch at about 1pm (which is actually 12 because that's when the boat jumps forward an hour), then the option of tea from 3-4pm and finally dinner at 6pm. There is a later dinner seating but I wasn't allocated to that one. This is why on several days I went to the gym to work up an appetite and joining the costuming group for a turn around the room (although I tried to be the best wallflower I could) was necessary. 

Because it’s still 2023 and the British government hadn’t quite worked out how strikes are supposed to work, my train was cancelled. Luckily my aunt and uncle very kindly picked me up from Southampton. So I woke up early to have my last three course breakfast and said goodbye to the friends I'd made before disembarking and headed back to the real world. 

Luckily no custody battles occurred.