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PA Trip
  • Jen Ritchey
Jun – Aug 2024

PA Trip

A 47-day adventure by Jen Read more
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    June 21, 2024
    Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Brussels

    June 21, 2024 in Belgium ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Today I set off for my grand voyage to the states! It was a long, stressful train ride from Berlin to Brussels - I had to make a switch in Cologne and for some reason we were super late into Cologne. We sat just outside the station forever and a bunch of us who needed the connecting train all bonded over trying to get on. They kept telling us we would be too late and the other train couldn’t wait for us, and when we got in the app said the other train was leaving in 1 min! So we all ran and tried to get to the other platform in time and luckily that train was late and came a few min after we got there! Perfect timing as the next one was not for 2 hours!

    Then just a quick evening in Brussels. Last time we were here I was not a fan as all the people were angry and awful, but this time was much nicer. I took a little walk and found some fun things, in the morning some very friendly people were chatting with me as I walked to the train station, overall it was a pretty good overnight stop.    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Southampton Day 1

    June 22, 2024 in England ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Today I got up and took the Eurostar to London and then on to Southampton (where my boat leaves from!) The train to London was very nice, the one to Southampton not so much. There were no places to put large luggage so I had to stand the whole time, which was fine as it was just over an hour, but it was so hot! No AC, no windows, just hot hot hot! Oh well. One positive of standing by the door is that when it stopped I could get the fresh cool air!

    The walk to my hotel from the train station in Southampton was…not the amazing. I did take a walk after I checked in and it was the same. It was fine, but nothing special and it felt really grungy and dirty. I was also looking for some beverages for my boat in case I get seasick, but most of the grocery stores were lacking. They had lots of alcohol or sugar free soda but not much else. I did find a few nice buildings and some fun tiles on the sides of buildings (they were small - maybe 6 inches). Then I had ordered food for dinner that I was looking forward to...and they delivered something else because they were out of what I ordered? It was odd. So not the best first impression of Southampton!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Southampton Day 2

    June 23, 2024 in England ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Today is boat day! But first I had all morning to explore the city more so off I went. I found a sign for the city walls so I followed that around which was fun. There were just pieces here and there, some you could walk on top of, some along the bottom. I went down to the water and had a sit which was pretty nice. The weather was perfect - not too hot, not too cold, sunny with a little breeze. Then I ended up by the one mall and there were lots of signs to go see Big Sara! With dinosaur footprints so of course I had to follow that! And there is just an allosaurus dinosaur skeleton in the mall which is fun. Glad they had the signs all over! After lunch it was off to the boat!Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Queen Mary 2 Setting Sail!

    June 23, 2024 in England ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    This afternoon I headed off to the boat to New York! It took almost an hour from the time I got there till I got to my room, which considering how many people there were was not bad. I thought it was going to take a lot longer than that. They obviously know what they are doing, and I was wearing my mask the whole time as I do when I am inside and ready to take it off if someone needed to see my face to verify it is me and all. Well, I had a hat on as well and the lady at check-in was looking like she was trying to figure out if it was me or not against my photo and I started to say "oh, do you need me to take off my mask," but I didn't get that far cause I took off my hat as I was talking and she said "oh, there's your hair" and that was good enough. It made me laugh.

    I got to my room and it is pretty nice. The balcony is huge! I did a few laps on the upper deck you can walk around on (and it has lots of comfy looking lounge chairs to sit on!) and found the pool (which looks bigger in the photo - it is pretty small), and some spare propeller parts at the front of the ship. We started sailing and it is so flat I cannot even tell we are moving unless I see the water. It is also silent - I can only hear the water and people on deck and stuff. I have never been on a ship this quiet and Raymond was looking up info about it and said it was just retrofitted last year with a fancy new engine in a soundproof room which is really nice. Also all the freshwater is supplied by three seawater desalination plants! Crazy! So fancy!

    I was reading in my room when it got loud all of a sudden so I went to my balcony to spy and this little boat came up right under my balcony and picked someone up! I was like what in the world?? And I told Raymond and he was just like that was probably the harbor pilot. I guess big boats don't drive themselves in and out of the harbor - there are special people in each harbor that do it instead because they know the currents and depths and all of that. I learned so much today! I never knew that was a thing!

    I didn't explore that much, I kept going up to the buffet area to get water and tea (which is where you get to the outside deck from) and ended up doing a lap outside every time cause I would go spy and well once you start walking around you have to spy on all sides right? I did so many laps I didn't explore much else, but that will be for tomorrow. There is a sign on deck that said 3 laps is 1.1 miles, 2 laps is 1.1 km so I did at least 3.3 km (I can't remember how many times I walked around out there, but at least 6! But that and all the walking around town this morning was a lot of walking).

    Sunset was pretty nice - I am on the wrong side of the boat for it, but I looked out and the sky was pretty so up I went for another walk around the deck! The sunset reflecting on the propeller parts was fun. And when I was coming back in I thought I would spy on the buffet again and found a banana chocolate mousse cake thing that I could eat - and it was super tasty! So far the food has been pretty good (though they had a different chocolate mousse cake thing earlier that was...not great. And I was too hungry when dinner got here to remember to take a photo of that - I ordered room service as the buffet wasn't what I wanted, but I am happy with all the vegan options they have!).

    The weather tomorrow is supposed to stay good so hopefully it does! If it is like this the whole time that would be perfect, but I don't really expect it will be. We shall see! It is a fun adventure!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Queen Mary 2 - First Day at Sea!

    June 24, 2024 in England ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    I woke up this morning at like 5am ship time (we will set the clocks back an hour 5 of the 6 nights so we are on New York time when we get in...which I have a hard time adjusting my sleep so we shall see how this goes...) and I was starving! Continental breakfast doesn't start till 6, and I didn't realize until later that I could have ordered some tomato soup from room service, so I waited till 6 to get some food and felt a bit sick by then. I figured it was because I needed to eat as I used to get really sick if I didn't eat soon after getting up, and once I had some fruit and bread I was much better, but I had ordered breakfast in my room so I didn't want to eat too much. I thought I had ordered a ton of food, but everything came and was so tiny! So that was good so it wasn't too much food.

    Then I had a lovely walk around all the outer top decks. It was pretty nice up top and no one else was up there that early. That is where you can play shuffleboard and they give dance lessons and stuff if it is nice out. It was sunny and beautiful!

    Then late morning it got so spooky out! Visibility was low and I loved it! We get a weather update every day at noon and today they said we are skirting around a low pressure area in the next 24 hours and the waves will get slightly bigger (10 ft they said which seems big to me...), but after that it should be smooth sailing again. So hopefully that is not too bad.

    Today I have been relaxing. I was surprised that I could still read since I can feel the boat rocking a bit, but it has been really nice. I love having my balcony door open and listening to the wave. Lunch was all the veggie - steamed veggies, veggie curry (which was surprisingly spicy!) and fried eggplant - yum! Then afternoon tea of a "scone" which didn't look great, but I thought I will try it and it was super tasty! The chocolate cookie was meh, and the other thing was odd. It had raspberry jam in it and I have no clue what the outside was made out of? It was light and airy, and not bad just not a texture I was expecting.

    After tea I went to spy on the pool and the water was not ice cubes! It was pretty warm so of course I had to get in, then sit in the hot tub for a bit! It was so nice. It is windy and cold outside, but wonderful in the pool!

    This evening it rained a bit, but not hard. Just enough to get everything wet. Dinner was pasta and lots of steamed and roasted veggies - so tasty! I love that they have so many veggies for me to eat! And a few different desserts - I decided to try a different chocolate mousse and a strawberry mousse. Neither were very good, but that's fine. I don't need dessert.

    Took a walk near sunset and found they put lights on in the bar area on the upper pool! There was no one up there cause the weather was not great, but still fun. And there was also a hint of sunset in the clouds. It was windy and not too cold, but then as I was finishing my walk it started raining and the wind was picking up. We shall see what tomorrow holds!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Queen Mary 2 - Day 2 at Sea!

    June 25, 2024, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Phew! This is a long one! Woke up this morning about 5am ship time (and we set the clocks back again last night) and luckily I was not starving this time. I did better eating smaller meals and snacks throughout the day yesterday which is good. It was sunny and gorgeous outside! I had my breakfast then went for a nice swim which was so much fun. The boat is definitely rockier than yesterday as it was like swimming in a wave pool. If you look at photos of the pool from prior days there is the pool then a big tiled area around it for the water to splash up on that has a high wall around it so the pool doesn't make a huge mess or loose all its water. Well it was so rocky the water kept looking like it could wash me up on the tile part as it was so high above the edge of the pool, then would get so low on the way back. It made swimming more challenging, I would swim and barely go anywhere, but it was fun. Afterwards I had a nice soak in the hot tub with a few other passengers and we were all chatting about our trips and lives which was nice. The one guy from the UK wanted to do like I am doing and come back on the later one, but he couldn't get 6 weeks off work so he has to fly back home.

    Afterwards I explored the lower inside decks which were pretty nice. There is an art gallery with some really nice pieces in, a theatre, I found a line dancing class which is not really my thing, but I might join them tomorrow for that just for fun. There is also a planetarium where they have lots of talks and show movies which was quite big. They haven't had a planetarium show yet, but hopfully they do as I would enjoy that. I also spied on the library which is quite large as well and they have all kinds of books in there. Then back to my room to read some until lunchtime.

    We get the weather update at noon and we are still going by this weather system to the north of us and the captain said the winds would pick up (they were 20 knots this morning, and would get up to 35 this afternoon/evening), but then overnight we should get back to calm waters for tomorrow. Well I went outside for a walk around the deck before lunch and it is definitely much windier! It was blowing me around a bit and the salt water was spraying up on deck 7 where I was walking! My glasses got covered with salt as so much sprayed in my face on the one side of the ship. Also I could barely get the door open to go outside when I went (and I really have to put some muscle into opening my balcony door)!

    After lunch I went to play some trivia and it was super crowded and a nice family asked if I wanted to join them so I did. It was just a quick one round of album covers and you had to write down the album. I knew 3 of the 12 that my team didn’t know, and knew the bands of some of the other ones, but not the album name which helped try and think of them. We did alright, but definitely didn’t win that round, but it was fun.

    Then I went to go walk around again before afternoon tea and the decks are closed off! Probably good since the wind has really picked up and the waves are kind of crazy and fun to watch! I keep standing out on my balcony to watch as I love it! I love stormy water and somehow I am still not getting seasick! Fingers crossed this keeps up!

    We did go across the mid Atlantic ridge today which gets over 11,500 feet deep!! It runs from South Africa to Iceland so that was fun to know even though you couldn’t see anything in the water :)

    After afternoon tea I went back to trivia again and there were not that many people playing so I played by myself and got 11/20 which is not bad! The winning team had 17, so not me, but still had fun!

    They said earlier that there would be be 8-10ft waves and all day I was like they don’t look that big…then this afternoon I went out on the balcony and was like oh, yeah, these are some big waves! Big peaks and low troughs! Every once and a while there would be a really big one and sitting here it felt like something hit the side of the boat. Like something bumped into my room.

    This evening a band was playing 70‘s music so I thought I would go check it out. At first I just watched as everyone was paired up and I was wearing a mask like always, but then I just said screw it! This is a good song and I wanna dance! So I found some space at the edge and danced the night away! It was so much fun!! Just let loose and did not care that everyone kept staring at me in my mask! I had so much fun!! I did all the things today! And now I am tired and heading off to bed! We shall see what tomorrow brings :)    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Queen Mary 2 - Day 3 at Sea!

    June 26, 2024 in England ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Today I woke up at 5am ship time again (and we did set the clocks back an hour again), but we don't set the clocks back tonight so hopefully I will sleep later ;) Today was the first day that was not bright and sunny in the morning! But by noon the sun had come out for a bit (it is foggy and grey again now).

    When I went up to get breakfast the deck was still closed off even though it was much less windy, but it was really wet so I didn't think I would get to swim today. However a bit later I thought I would check again and people were walking outside so I found the open door and went for a nice swim. I love being able to swim every day! It wasn't as rocky as yesterday, but it wasn't as flat as the first day and it was still a lot of fun!

    Afterwards I was rushing around as I was trying to get to a watercolor class, but by the time I got there it was already full. Oh well, maybe tomorrow I can arrive earlier and actually take the class! I did get a watercolor book from the library and might work through some of that tomorrow as well.

    Then it was time for morning trivia, which I played by myself, but there was another single lady sitting next to me playing. I was going to ask if she wanted to join forces, but she really looked like she wanted to be alone so I left her be. We did swap papers to check the answers and we were both like we should have teamed up! I knew things she didn't and she knew things I didn't (though we still wouldn't have won). She was like if we see each other again let's work together so that was nice.

    After lunch there was a music trivia round I thought I would go play. When I got there there was only a 4 seat table open so I sat there and shortly after this older couple came in that everyone working there knew and they sat at a table next to me for 2 people that had opened up, but I heard the lady say "but what about Adrian?" and she was facing my way so I waved to her and asked if they wanted to join me since I had room and they popped right on over. They were super nice and a lot of fun. They are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on July 6 and so celebrating on the ship. They have sailed on the Queen Mary 2 loads of times and they just love it! We also got 35/40 points on the quiz which was WAY more than I would have gotten by myself! I knew most of the songs, but wouldn't have come up with a lot of the titles or the artists so that was fun. We didn't win, the winner had 37, but we got close! And I really enjoyed chatting with them. They are another one that if we see each other again we can play a round together.

    Yesterday in the gallery I saw some pieces from the artist Philip Gray that I really liked, some oil and some oil pastel ones which I don't see very often. In the program last night I saw there was going to be a talk on him and it said he is considered the Bear Grylls of the art world so I obviously had to go check that out. The speaker wasn't very good, but the artist was really interesting. He paints underwater or while skydiving or things like that. Super cool and I included photos of the pieces they had in the gallery. If anyone is interested here is more about his adventures: https://philipgray.com/pages/extreme-adventures

    Then I chatted with my friend for a bit and then off to dinner. I had seen there was a comedy show this evening so I thought I would check that out and...it was not great. The guy wasn't terrible, but it was like he kept losing track of what he was saying so sometimes he would just not finish his sentence and sometimes he would repeat things in a way that really messed with the flow. That and his jokes were I think more geared towards the older audience as they seemed to love it. A lot of women are emotional and men don't care about anything kind of things. It was alright, but I ended up leaving after a bit as it wasn't for me.

    So then I thought I would check out the band tonight even though I was a bit tired and didn't really think I would dance. Well the band was definitely not as good as the one last night. The singers were...they enjoyed singing at least. If I was more awake I would have hung out and had fun anyways, but since I was sleepy I headed back to my room to read until bedtime.

    The weather update for today was more of the same for the next 24 hours. The wind was 20 at noon, but they said it would get up to 40 this evening/tonight and it definitely started to pick up before dinner. It is for sure windier than last night as I can feel the boat rocking more. I didn't realize how windy it had gotten so I was going to walk a few laps outside before dinner, but when I went up the deck was closed. I thought the back might be open and was going to spy and I thought I could get there from a higher deck (deck 2 is on the water - that is where all the shows and bands and stuff are. I am staying on deck 4, deck 7 is the outside deck and where food and trivia are. I rarely go above that as there is not much up there except the library and more cabins). So I headed up to the next deck and couldn't get outside and ended up going up to deck 11 and there was a sign for a panoramic elevator and I thought oh that sounds fun let's find that (I never did find it). So I walked the length of the ship on that deck...and by the time I got to the other side I was like I need to get down lower as I am starting to get motion sick! It was crazy how much it affected me a few floors up as compared to where I am staying and spending my time! I went down a few floors and then I was fine, but man I am glad I didn't book a room up there. They are the fancy rooms and there is no way I could stay in them without my pills at least. I got back to my room and was fine, still no pills or anything needed so yey for the cheaper lower decks!

    Oh, they also told us that tomorrow at 8am we will be passing 200 nautical miles north of where the Titanic is. Raymond was asking where I was on a map if Google Maps would show it so I sent him a screenshot of it when he asked in case anyone else is interested as well :) Tomorrow we will also be passing a small island so we shall see if I see that (it will be on the other side of the boat so I will have to keep an eye out).    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Queen Mary 2 - Day 4 at Sea!

    June 27, 2024, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

    Today was a lazier day than the prior ones. I slept until 6:30! Even factoring in the no time change last night I slept in! And it was much nicer to wake up so close to breakfast! When I woke up the ship was rocking more than it has this trip. Really all day it has been rocking back and forth and it is harder to walk in a straight line.

    It was fairly foggy when I got up (the first photos are normally my view when I wake up), but by the time I went to go swim it was clearing up and the sun was coming out. My swimming buddy wasn't there this morning (another lady is always swimming when I get there! I did see her later in the day so she must have had something going on this morning) so I had the pool to myself and it was cold! Not freezing, but definitely colder than it has been and super windy! The wind kept trying to blow all my things over while I was swimming! My towel kept blowing into the water so it is a good thing they just have towels for you to grab! By the time I was done my ears were freezing so I sat in the hot tub with my warm headband on :)

    After swimming I hung out in my room and did some simple watercoloring from this book I got from the library. I was going to play trivia this morning, but it was so crowded I couldn't get a seat! I thought oh well, I was wishy washy on goin anyway and I can go walk around and then relax in my room some more. Really I didn't do much today besides walk the deck, paint, and eat food. It was pretty nice out most of the day even if it was really windy (they did say overnight it was gale force winds that slowed us down so we are trying to make up time today and tomorrow), and I chatted with Raymond a bit this afternoon. It was sunny when I called him and I wasn't facing the window, it was behind me, and after a few minutes he said it looks so sunny there and I said yes it is! And I turned around to show him the water...and it had gotten so foggy! After we spoke I went for a walk around deck again and it was crazy how foggy it was! It came on so suddenly.

    Then this evening I had to go sign up for self disembarkment and when I went down I had to go by the theatre to get there and I had forgotten they were having a broadway show tunes show this evening and it had just started so I thought why not pop in and see what it is? Well I ended up standing at the back for 45 min and watching the whole thing! Now it wasn't the most amazing dancing and singing, but it was decent and the songs were fun and one of the better shows I have seen on the boat.

    So yeah, not much super exciting today. It's just nice being able to look out over the water! They did say there might be dolphins or whales this afternoon, but we didn't see any. I did see some birds that I could not figure out what they were. They looked like puffins, but no orange beak and they were light brown and white! Maybe they will show up again tomorrow and I can get a better look and figure out what kind they are! We will be closer to land so might see more...we shall see!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Queen Mary 2 - Day 5 at Sea!

    June 28, 2024, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

    Phew! Today was a day! I am so tired and ready for bed, but first an update. I woke up this morning to super foggy. After breakfast I went for a swim and it was chilly! Not super super cold, but cold and windy! I took some video as the pool, while not super hot, was steaming and the hot tub was really steaming! You couldn't see anything! And I was the only one in the pool again. The sun was trying to come out when I left the hot tub, but it wasn't looking good.

    I got back to my room and took a quick shower and opened the bathroom door...and it was sunny and gorgeous outside! I was like wait what? It was just so foggy I couldn't see the water! And now it is sunny and clear! I don't take that long in the shower...and then we had a sunny day the rest of the day. It was chillier - they said it was only 13 at noon as opposed to 20 like it has been, so I had to bundle up to walk around in the sun.

    They told us earlier this morning that we will be getting in about 4 hours later than expected as the gale force winds the last 2 nights put us too behind schedule we will miss our tide window and we have to wait for the next one, which worked out for me. I was a little worried I would get off the boat and to the rental car place before they opened...and I didn't want to just hang out in a random spot in Jersey that I don't know with all my things in the early morning. So when they said we wouldn't be arriving until 10:30 I thought okay, perfect I just need to change my pick up time...and realized the place I was going to get it from closes at noon so that would be pretty tight. We were originally going to arrive at 6:30 and I could get off at 7, so if we get there at 10:30 and get off at 11 I still have to go through customs and border control and I have no clue how long that will take. I didn't want to chance getting there too late so I switched to getting a car at the airport as that was the only place that was open later on Saturday so that should be good. Last time that was easy peasy so hopefully it is this time as well!

    Then this afternoon I had some banking issues to deal with which took forever and Raymond and I were trying to sort everything out. Banking in Germany is often annoying because you have money, but it might take a few days before you can access it which drives me crazy. This was one of those things and it was super annoying. We finally figured everything out like 2 hours later so then I was like I need to go walk around! And decompress and chillax. So had a nice walk, had afternoon tea, played some music trivia with that older couple I played with the other day which was super fun. They are so nice.

    Then I was in my room and sending my friend a message and looking out the window and the water had calmed down so much and I noticed something disturbing the water and was like what was that?? And then saw it was dolphins!! So of course I then had to put on all my warm layers and head outside to patrol! I kept walking back and forth and saw so many little dolphins swimming around! And then on the sunny side there was something in the sun reflections on the water and I couldn't tell what it was because it was hard to see because it was so bright. Well it finally got to where it was closer to me and out of the sun...and it was a shark!! That was so cool! I walked around to the other side and he was over there too! I was like what are you doing shark?? I also saw lots of jelly fish and this evening I saw a seal pop its head up and I think a little bat flew by? I don't know. It wasn't a bird, but are there bats that would be this far offshore?

    So that was a lot of fun and a lot of walking/standing until I got too hungry and had to go eat something. When I was walking around there was another lady walking as well and whenever we would cross paths we would compare notes of what we saw and where. At one point she was like I still have to pack and eat some food and all the things, but how am I supposed to do that when there are aninals to see?? I was like exactly!! How am I supposed to do anything else? We were kindred spirits :) There was also a guy sitting on the sunny side and he asked if I saw some dolphins on the other side and he was saying all of them that he saw there. Then after dinner I went back out and he was still there and I asked him if he had seen any more and he said not since I left so I didn't miss anything. I walked around a bit more and another guy was walking and asked if I had seen any dolphins recently as he was out earlier as well and I was like nope! He was like yeah they were everywhere and then suddenly they were gone! We chatted a bit and it was nice talking to a few people about all the fun animal sightings!

    I was going to go check out the band this evening, but after all that standing/walking watching the animals my feets are tired. So I came back to my room and packed what I could then went back out to watch the sunset. Tomorrow I get off the boat! I can't believe we will be in New York already! Not sure how much I will update after this, but if I have something fun to post I will :) I head back to Germany the end of July so I will probably post more photos from the boat then.    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Queen Mary 2 - Arrival in New York

    June 29, 2024, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Last night I was soo tired I fell asleep in my clothes...so I woke up a bit early. Luckily breakfast was early today because we were supposed to get in at 6:30 and start debarking at 7 (which is when it normally started). So I had some breakfast and went to walk around the deck...and saw a whale! It was just a small one, but it came up a couple of times before it swam away. Super fun! Also while we were trying to dock there was a small tugboat that came and pushed our front end so it will turn! Docking did take forever - we were right next to it for a very long time before we actually were docked.

    We got to dock just before 10:30 and they kept saying not to line up to get off the boat, wait to be called. So they said after the boat was clear they would start letting people who are carrying their own luggage off (which I was). So I was waiting and waiting for them to call us and eventually they were like if anyone else is carrying their own luggage off to come now so off I went. There were a lot of people and customs seemed like it was going to take forever as we weren't moving at all, but luckily shortly after it started moving quickly. It took about an hour to go through everything, then about an hour in the taxi to get my rental car and then a drive to my mom's house.

    The boat ride was a lot of fun. I loved being on the water and no motion sickness! Which is still so crazy to me! I mean when I got in the taxi I was texting Raymond and pretty much instantly started feeling motion sick! I expected a lot more on the boat! So it was a great way to travel over here. Seeing my mom again was great! And I am here for Christmas in July on Hallmark! So much fun to still be had!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    The first days in PA

    June 30, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    I meant to update this more regularly, but oh well. I am now :)

    It is so nice seeing my mom again and getting to spend time with her! It has been pretty warm and humid, but the first day we did go down to the river to walk around a bit. It has been forever since I have been down there so it was nice to explore.

    We also stopped by Son's Ice Cream as they have some vegan things, one being dole whip, but it was mango flavored at the moment! I am allergic to mango, and I don't know if there is any actual mango in it but I didn't want to test it out. I got some cotton candy italian ice instead which was delicious! Plus their spoons turn color when they are cold which is fun (and I have never seen that before).

    My mom's friend lives nearby and invited us to come swimming in her pool whenever we wanted so we went swimming one day which was so nice! I really wish I had a pool, or access to a not crowded outdoor pool to swim laps every day. I love it so much! And her pool was perfect to swim around in or just relax. She is very friendly and it was nice meeting one of my mom's friends I didn't know before this.

    Now last time I was here the kitten here didn't really want many pets or attention from me, which is fine, but I love giving pets! This time though she is much warmer towards me and will tolerate my pets to a point. And my mom had some appointments in the morning and while she was gone kitty even sat on my lap! This was a huge win and I loved it!! I love having kitty in my lap to give all the love to!

    Besides all that we have been doing a lot of shopping and just having fun together. It really is so nice seeing my mom again and for such a long time!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    PA Trip - Looking through some things

    July 4, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Today we spent the day going through the photo albums and such that my mom has that were my grandfather's. It was so much fun! He saved so many things and it was really interesting looking through them all. We found this double-sided wooden puzzle of the US which we of course had to put together, his old silk maps he carried when he was flying in the military (which my mom thought he had gotten rid of and earlier in the day remarked on how she wished she still had them so that was pretty cool that we found them!), and lots of tourist brochures which were fun to look at.

    He also had a lot of photos and info from Berlin which I enjoyed seeing how it is different now (the one page said to fly into Tempelhof airport which as long as we have lived there has been closed and is just a big field people hang out in.

    There were also some newspapers and magazines from the moon landing which was really interesting and lots of travel photos. We spent most of the day looking through everything and I really enjoyed it. Lots of his military stuff was really interesting and I just really loved looking through it all and spending the time with my mom going over everything. Such a fun day!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    More PA fun

    July 5, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Not many photos in this batch, but a couple I thought I would share. We did go out for lunch (black bean burger for me and super tasty fries), went and got frozen yogurt at Sweet Frog (which had a ton of vegan flavors! And was so refreshing on a hot day). The fountain is at a shopping area where we spied on the craft stores. We also started watching Reacher and I was sitting in the chair and kitty decided to sit with me instead of my mom!! That was pretty perfect - Reacher and a kitty to pet! Win win win!

    One day we went through my sister's photos which was fun, We found some really nice ones from her wedding which I didn't have and haven't seen in forever so that was nice.

    There is also a place here that has vegan wings so we went out to try that (and get a salad to be "healthy" of course). The wings were so good! We definitely need to go back for more before I leave!! Besides all that just lots of shopping!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    A few days in Virginia

    July 8, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 34 °C

    My mom couldn't take off the entire time I was here so I went down to visit my friend Dave in Northern Virginia for a couple days while she worked. It was so nice seeing Dave again! I think the last time I saw him was in 2016 when he came to visit Berlin so it was really nice. It was also a heat wave with temps over 100 so yey! Perfect timing for us to hang out outside...

    There was a crepe place I wanted to try out and the crepe I got was HUGE. Like I have never seen one that big before! I couldn't eat it all, and normally I think crepes are not that filling (and kind of expensive for what you get), but I had to take half home with me. We also did a bit of shopping I wanted to do and I saw a cybertruck in the wild! They look even sillier in person...

    We really spent most of the time swimming in the hotel pool! It wasn't huge but it was big enough and not that busy in the afternoon (with some shade in the deep end). Swimming and being in the pool is really the only reasonable thing to do outside when it is so hot out! Plus we both love swimming so win win win for us!

    The last night as I was driving back to the hotel after watching a movie at Dave's place and there was a crazy thunderstorm with so much rain and thunder and lightning! And afterwards I stopped for gas and there was a lovely rainbow!

    The day I got back from visiting Dave was a trivia day where my mom normally plays and it was nice out so they were holding it outside so she wanted to go. Now I love trivia too, but I was sooooo tired (I think I swam a bit too much the prior day), but you know went along cause it would be fun even though I was a zombie. It was shark week and they had shark week drink specials so my mom ordered one and it came with a little shark toy. When she picked it up to take it out it started spewing blood! So much fun!! We didn't end up winning, I think we came in third (there was a tie for second and with all the tiebreak things we ended up in third place), but it was fun and I definitely would go again if it is nice out!

    A busy few days, but a lot of fun seeing my friend again and meeting the people on my mom's trivia team I didn't know already!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Pokemon Go Fest in PA!

    July 13, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    The weekend after I got back from visiting my friend was Global Pokemon Go Fest! This is like my favorite weekend of the year and I went up to Long's park to play as there was a meetup where if you checked in you got a few things in game so I wanted to go do that. There were people lined up for something so I lined up and got a pin! Fun!

    The park was perfect for playing as it took me about an hour to walk around the whole thing walking slowly which gives the Pokemon time to refresh. It was also a great day for the pokemons as I caught way more of the ones I wanted than I normally do!! Plus there were lots of other people playing, but not crazy amounts, which I enjoyed. It was super hot on Saturday and I ended up driving from spot to spot playing a bit in the park in the afternoon as I was dying. Sunday morning was so humid it was awful, but by afternoon even though it was super hot it was more bearable somehow walking around. I also headed up to Lititz Springs park to check it out as someone said that was a good area to play, and it was nice but a bit small. It was still fun to see.

    It was a great Pokemon filled weekend! I caught all the Pokemons and I had so much fun! Sunday was a day you needed other people to play for some of the things and in Berlin I normally spend a lot of time waiting around for other people to join, but here I could always do the things when I wanted as there were always enough people around! It was great! I thought maybe I should come back for Go Fest every year!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Shopping & Food!

    July 15, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 34 °C

    One day my mom suggested we go up to Kitchen Kettle Village in Intercourse, PA which was really nice! Lots of cute little shops and things. We spied, got a few fun shirts, had a soft pretzel and drinks, and made a new cow friend! It is a touristy place, but really cute and I was surprised that the prices were reasonable.

    We've also been swimming more at my mom's friend's pool since it has been pretty hot outside, another black bean burger for lunch on my mom's birthday, Son's finally changed their Dole Whip flavor to pineapple which is delicious! So refreshing and yum!

    Then there is a liquid vegan egg to make scambled eggs and such that you can buy here that we loved last time we visited so I bought some to make breakfast sandwiches. I was talking with my mom and she suggested trying it to replace eggs in our PA Dutch pot pie recipe so we tried it out...and it worked so well!! It was just like I remember pot pie being!! That was pretty exciting as it has been forever since I have had that as it is mostly egg noodles and I never found a good replacement for the eggs that make up most of it...so yey! Eventually we should be getting the vegan egg stuff in Europe, but who knows when that will be...When we do though pot pie will be mine once again!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Saint Peters

    July 19, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Today we went to Saint Peters for lunch at the bakery with my aunt and uncle (unfortunately we forgot to take a photo all together and my uncle had to leave to get back to work after lunch). It was such a nice day and a really nice area. The bakery has seating in the back along a small river/stream valley which was lovely. You could hear the water, but couldn't see much of it with all the foliage, but it was still really nice.

    For lunch I had a roasted vegetable wrap and a vegan peanut butter cookie -both were super delicious!

    After lunch we chatted more with my aunt and then went to a new location of a Goodwill store up by her house which was really nice. We all ended up getting a few things so wins all around! It was a really nice to see my aunt and uncle again and it was the first day it wasn't super hot and humid so perfect weatherwise too!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Market fun

    July 19, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    When I got to PA I had looked up vegan options in the area and found a vegan bakery, though it didn't have a storefront. It said they would be selling at a market stand one weekend so we headed up to check it out! And the market was... disappointing. Like 8 stands only which...is not much. The few stands did have some nice things which was good. And we got all the cinnamon rolls and scones! Plus it was along the Northwest Lancaster County River Trail which looked really nice. It was pretty humid so we didn't walk that far along the trail, but there were lots of people riding bikes and walking along it (and the trail goes farther than I expected it would!).

    My mom had asked her one coworker for vegan restaurants he liked and he had listed one out near where this market that he said was his favorite so we decided to stop in for lunch. They had a really nice patio and as we were leaving they were setting up for some live music which would have been nice. It would have been perfect for hanging out and having some drinks. I got the avocado Reuben which was amazing! Really one of the best things I have eaten on this trip! I loved it so much! I definitely will have to try making it myself when I get home!

    After that we went downtown as I had seen some Lancaster T-shirts that I wanted to check out that I had seen from the car one day. In the area there was the small Heritage Press museum which I wandered through. Lots of old printing presses and there was a guy there printing some things and when I took a photo of the smaller ones he came over and asked which one was my favorite and I pointed out the biggest one was super cool. So then he let me print something on that one, the oldest one they have, telling me which levers to pull and things to turn which was fun! We then went over to another self inking one and I printed the red one with that! He put them both in a folder and told me not to touch them till tomorrow as the ink needs a lot of time to dry. It was super tiny, and I wasn't there for long, but the guy there was very friendly and you could tell he loved talking about this stuff. It was really fun and interesting I would definitely stop by again!

    We also went by Son's again and I got peach Italian ice and my mom had cherry! The cherry was so flavorful it was hard to taste the peach afterwards as it was a lighter flavor, but both were very tasty!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Spooky fun & Fun in Strasburg

    July 20, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    My last week in PA started off with some sleepy kitty sitting with me! She hadn't been as open to my loving as she was before and we had thought it was because I left to go visit my friend then came back, but really it was because I was not sitting in the right spot! If I sat in the chair instead of the couch she might come over and sit in my lap! So that was pretty nice!

    Then my friend Suzi came up for a visit and some spooky fun! We went around to all the stores looking at the Halloween things they had - I got these cute ghostie kitchen towels, and it was a lot of fun! And so nice seeing her again! Last time I was a zombie so it was great to catch up and have all the adventures!! I can't believe how much spooky stuff was already in the stores and if I lived here I would have purchased so much!! We don't really have Halloween in Germany (though it is slowly getting bigger and I might find a few decorations and stuff in October) so it was fun seeing all the things. Most were way too big or heavy to fit into my suitcases!

    My mom and I went to Seinfeld trivia on Tuesday night as she is a huge Seinfeld fan and some of the other people on her trivia team wanted to go. It was held at a brewery in Strasburg and the location was pretty nice, though there were a ton of bugs (and sitting at a picnic table for hours is not the most comfortable). I know next to nothing about Seinfeld except what everyone knows (we watched like 2 episodes the week before and that is all I have seen since it originally came out, and I don't even know how much of it I saw then). It was fun even though I was no help, and I did wander around and spy on the Choo Choo Barn which was right next door. A fun plane also flew overhead while we were playing! We did not do very well, not terribly, but not winning either so we headed out after the last round.

    Then we went back to Strasburg to try out the creamery the next day as they had vegan flavors. I tried the Caramel Macadamia Nut which...was alright, but nothing special. It wasn't very creamy, more icey, and didn't have a lot of caramel or macadamia nuts in it. Still it was nice to sit and have some ice cream (even if it started raining while we were there)

    We then did a bit of shopping and went out for Thai food as I love it so much (yes, I got two things because I love both dishes and I can always have the rest as leftovers!). It was rainy off and on all afternoon and we just about finished when it started raining a bit again so almost perfect timing. Still it was some pretty fun days!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Last Days in PA!

    July 25, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    My last days in PA started with lunch at Arooga's again for the vegan wings as they were so tasty! They had these cute little crochet guys at the front desk.

    Then we headed up to Elizabethtown to spy on a toy shop my mom loves and a candy shop (and she remembered a museum that was nearby once we got there as well!) We had looked up the candy shop and it opened at 1 and we got there around 2 so that was perfect. It was fun inside, though the music was a bit too loud and I do not know how they can listen to that all day! I was ready to be done with it by the time we left as it was really intense cutesy music - one song was I am a gummy bear and it was a lot. It fit a candy shop, but was like super hyper kids on candy vibe. My mom said that last time was like circus music I think? Which fits, but man how do you listen to that for hours??

    Then we went to spy on the toy shop...and it was closed! That and the museum didn't open until 3 on Thursdays!! The only day they open so late! So we wandered around a bit and were debating if we wanted to wait around or head out as we had plans later and I decided we should head out so we can get some ice cream or italian ice from Son's second location! They had a fun giant beach chair out front too! I had swedish fish flavor which was pretty good.

    Then it was off to head home to get ready for the second trivia of the week! This was the one we had gone to the prior 2 weeks and it was so fun! Almost everyone on my mom's team made it out and we came in first place!!! So much fun! Her trivia team is super nice and I really enjoyed going and playing with them. I wish we had outdoor trivia in Berlin!!

    Then Friday we went back to Trio's for the avocado Reuben which I loved so much and they accidentally gave me sweet potato fries instead of the salad I had asked for. Their sweet potato fries are also probably the best I have ever had! They are thin like shoestring fries so they are crispy and delicious! It is such a good restaurant! Their food is amazing! I will definitely have to go back again next time I am in town!

    Then we headed back home and when we got home there was a rainbow in the clouds! We saw that one day we were swimming, but it wasn't as strong of colors as this was! I don't think I have ever seen that before so that was fun! My aunt came down for a visit which was nice. We sat outside in the shade and it was perfect! Not too hot, a little breeze, I loved it! Then we went off to the Brasserie for dinner as I loved their fries (the place I originally wanted to go took the thing I wanted off the menu this week so this was the backup plan). My aunt came with and we took all the photos together! It was such a nice day and I was glad I was able to see my aunt again before I left!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Heading Towards Home

    July 27, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Man I cannot believe that 4 weeks went by so quickly! It feels like I just got to PA and now I am on the boat again heading home. It was so so nice seeing my mom again and getting to spend so much time with her! Right now I am thinking how was a 2 week visit ever enough?? How did we do all the things in that time?? It was really hot most of the time, but this past week was gorgeous which was wonderful! So nice to have a finally few days that we weren't dying in the sun. It was so sad saying goodbye, but on the positive side it will be really nice seeing Raymond again as it has been forever! It's just a bit sad knowing I won't see my mom again in person for a while...

    I left after breakfast this morning and drove up to drop my car off and taxi to the boat. Getting on board seemed so much quicker than it did in Southampton even though I got lucky and it was only 50 min from when I arrived until I was in my room (Southampton was an hour so not that much longer). When the taxi pulled up it was nice as there were people there collecting the luggage that took my bags out of the car for me and off I went to go through security and check in. It was pretty easy peasy (and there was a nice stained glass looking mural on the one wall where the pups got to check in). After security we got in line to check in and when we entered the line there was a lady handing out boarding numbers (so you can board once your group number is called). I got 63. Some people in front of me were somehow 67! And then just after I got through a second lady came to hand out numbers and I guess the first lady just gave her the bottom half of her stack or something so some people not far behind me got group 89 from her!! That is so much higher! I don't know how I got so lucky, but the people in front of me in group 67 had to wait to be called, but they had just called 63 when I got there so I walked right on. So glad I didn't get group 89!!

    I got to my room and unpacked my carry on bags and thought I would take a swim, but went up to spy and see if it was busy. Well, it was super sunny and warm, no one in the pool, but I had forgotten to pack my sunscreen in my carry-on! So I was like no swimming for me...but by the time I got back to my room my bags were there! I thought I would unpack first as I like to get that out of the way right away...and then I was so tired I called Raymond to chat for a bit and then just relaxed until dinner. So many boats and helicopters went by which was kind of loud for chatting! Oh, and we were talking about trying to see animals and he asked if I had seen anything yet and I was standing on the balcony and looked down at the water while saying no and there was a little sting ray or some kind of ray right there below my room!! So exciting!

    For dinner I just ordered room service soup as I didn't feel like going up to the buffet and then I was falling asleep at 7 so I went to walk around the deck for a bit and it was gorgeous out! The sun was going down so it was getting a little cool, but I was still fine in my shorts and t-shirt. There were also a lot of dragonflies in the area where there were windows on the sides which was odd. But so far so good on the boat!

    I forgot to take a photo of the room when I first got in, but it is the same as on the way over, but everything is on the opposite wall. So the bed is on the left wall when I walk in instead of the right. I realized once we started moving that if I sit with my back to the wall on the bed or the couch then I am facing towards the back of the boat, or the wrong way! On trains and stuff I always try and sit facing the direction of travel as that helps to not get motion sick, but we shall see how this goes facing the other way. I do sit sideways on the couch mostly so I can see outside and I'm still feeling fine right now so hopefully it is not an issue. Wait now that I am thinking about it I think it was that was on the way over too - I would be facing the wrong way on the bed. Odd I never noticed that then!

    It is not that late, but I am exhausted so I am going to go to bed early. It should work out well since we move the clock forward an hour tomorrow so maybe I can try and stick to a "normal" routine and not end up staying up all night in the future! We shall see! 10 days to Hamburg & home!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Queen Mary Day 1

    July 28, 2024, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Today I woke up at 7 which was really nice. I went to bed early last night, but I forgot I have an alarm that goes off every hour until 10pm so that woke me up and it took me a bit to get back to sleep. But this morning was gorgeous and was nice walking around on deck. Then I actually made it to the watercolor class which was so much fun! There were a few rows of three tables for two people a bit apart from each other, and I sat at the one on the end, a couple from Mexico who now live in DC sat at the middle table, and a guy from the UK sat on the other side. He was really funny and the couple was very nice and we had a great time. The Mexican guy wasn't going to paint, he said he couldn't draw or paint, he could only draw buildings and the UK guy was all if you can do that you can do this! The UK guy had been on the boat a while and had taken the classes every day and so we bullied the other guy into trying. Well not too much bullying, he caved in and decided to try pretty easily. I think he had a good time too. We all had so much fun.

    I don't know that I love the picture, I didn't love the example one the lady had, but it was fun painting again after such a long time! I am definitely going to go again tomorrow and hopefully my fellow passengers will be there as well. The painting tomorrow looks so much more difficult than the one today so we shall see how it goes!

    I thought the class was only an hour long, but it was two hours! I had eaten breakfast early and I am trying not to eat all the things so I didn't have a giant on, just fruit and bread and veggie bacon and sausage. Well...tomorrow I will definitely have to have a snack before class! By 11:!5 I was getting really hungry and starting to get sick. I thought it was just because I needed food, but then I came back to my room and dropped my stuff off and then I was fine so...maybe motion sick because I needed food? I don't know. We shall see how tomorrow goes and if I start feeling sick again! It doesn't make sense that I would as it is on a lower deck and more towards center and I'm fine in my room that is up higher and farther forward...

    After class I ate way too much at lunch as I was starving, but there were these delicious spinach turnovers that were very tasty...so then I was so full I didn't want to do anything and I sat and read for a bit before chatting with my friend online (which was really nice as it has been forever since we chatted!). By the time we were done chatting I was trying to decide if I was hungry enough for dinner or if I wanted to go walk around deck some, and I was standing on my balcony looking at the water and a dolphin swam by right under my balcony! Close to the top of the water so I could see him! Well then I had to go up on deck and spy on the animals and there was another one that swam by as soon as I got up there! I was too slow with the camera, but if I see more maybe I won't be next time!

    I wandered the deck some, but didn't see any more and then decided I should eat some food before it got too late. I was going to spy on the show downstairs, a dancing thing, but I have an advanced copy of the new book by one of my favorite authors so I have been sitting here reading instead.

    Oh, and this morning when I was walking around 8 (when I normally was swimming on the way over) there were so many people in the pool! It was full! I wasn't going to swim today, give myself a bit of a relaxing day, but if I had wanted to I would have had to wait for someone to leave! Plus there were a lot of people jogging on deck which I don't think I saw anyone jogging on the way over. So maybe this is a sportier group this time. We shall see tomorrow if they are still swimming and jogging if the weather is not as nice!    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Queen Mary Day 2

    July 29, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 38 °C

    Wow what an exciting day! I got up at 7 and had some breakfast then went out to spy on the pool and only one other person was there so I went for a swim! She didn't stay that long after I got in so it was my pool! And the boat was really smooth so the water was barely moving, not like on the way here. I also sat in the hot tub for a bit and it felt much warmer than on the way over. On the way back to my room I realized that the door next to the towels at the end of the pool didn't say private or anything so I went in to see where it went...and found it just opens onto deck 6 and all the rooms. That is good to know so if it is windy and cold I can just sneak out there and into the pool instead of walking along the open deck on 7! There also were not as many joggers - I saw one while I was swimming and another one this afternoon. That is still more than on the way over (I don't think I saw any), but significantly less than yesterday.

    Then, after a small second breakfast so I wouldn't starve before the end, I headed off to watercolor class. Today's picture was more loosey goosey and I am not good at that. I have realized I am not good in a group class setting where we are all doing the same thing. I get too rushed like I have to finish it up before the next step, especially when everyone else seems to be keeping up, when really I should just take my time and finish later if I have to. I can remember what she says to do and do it in my room afterwards. So it was 2 glasses of wine and we started with the red one and I didn't take a photo after class, but it looked so so bad. Like so bad. Not good at all. We started on the yellow one when I started feeling sick again, not horribly so, but something about that room makes me motion sick after a while (or painting in that room does). So I only did a bit of that and I was realizing I was rushing so I made sure to slow down and take my time and it came out much better. I still didn't get it done in class time, and I left right after she showed us the last part, but it was still fun. The Mexican couple did not return, but the guy from the UK was there.

    I forgot yesterday the UK guy was talking about how good this boat is for sailing around the world. He was saying they have more things they can put out to stabilize the ship in rough seas than other cruise ships and that it is faster so it can go around the storms, instead of through them, and not lose time. All very interesting and maybe why people were upset we got in late coming, but I imagine it is hard to make up time against a very strong wind blowing right at you!

    We had set the clocks ahead yesterday at noon, and the captain does an announcement every day at noon with the weather and such and made sure to mention that. Plus it was listed multiple times in the itinerary for yesterday and all the clocks all over the boat are adjusted. Well some people showed up to watercolor class an hour late thinking it was 10 when it started and we told them it was half over and there is another one at 2 and they were just like but it said 10??? We were like the time went forward and he was all no one ever said anything about that! Like how do you miss that? Just not listen or read the paper you literally have in your hand right now? We were like it moves forward again today at noon so you will need to set your watch ahead 2 hours! I don't know if he will as he didn't really seem to get it for some reason. Oh well.

    I don't love the time change at noon...it makes the day feel so much shorter! All of a sudden it is 1 and then I am like well I need to eat lunch so I don't eat dinner super late, but then I am not hungry at dinnertime as I had lunch "late" and it is a mess. Plus I look at the clock and I am like how is it 3 already??? I don't really know why they do it this way, but I prefer overnight as then I don't notice it (and that is what they did on the way over)! Tomorrow we don't skip ahead so that will be nice, but we must the other 3 days to get on UK time by Sat.

    After class when I got back to my room I was feeling much better. If we do have a rockier day like we did coming over I don't think I will be able to go to class...but I can always paint in my room.

    The noon message from the captain was very brief today as there was a medical emergency and we were rerouting close to an island in Nova Scotia where the coast guard could come with a boat or helicopter to get the person off the ship. I hope they are okay!! And if it were to happen it was lucky it was now when we were still close-ish to land and not in the middle of the ocean where I don't know what you would do. So this afternoon they asked us all to stay off the balconies and the decks and not take any photos while the coast guard came (it was on a boat as I did pop my head out after an hour just to spy on the water a minute and the boat was just getting there. A helicopter was flying around as well, maybe a backup?). So it took a while but we are now back on our way to Southampton. I was planning on getting off and wandering the town while we are there, but we shall see tomorrow if they say we are behind schedule or not (if they mention it - they didn't mention it today).

    When they made the announcement that the coast guard was coming and please stay inside I realized I had almost forgotten to go do my UK immigration passport check. They have someone on board to check your passport and I was supposed to go down this afternoon and do that so it was lucky I remembered! (I am sure I could have gone tomorrow when other floors have their checks too if I had forgotten). The lady was super nice and it is handy that they do that on board to save time. I wish they did that for the US too! The photo of the room is the restaurant I would eat at if I ate with other people inside, and is where the passport check was taking place, and the watercolor class takes place on the level I was on and off to the side.

    I also signed up for the bus transfer to the train station in Hamburg as it was cheaper than a taxi would be, I won't have to wait for a taxi, I will probably be able to get off the boat later but will have priority debarking so they will make sure I get to my train in time (and I should be there at least a half hour before my train leaves) and I won't have to lug my suitcases off the boat! They will do that for me and I will just have to get them onto the train! That will be great as the boat is carpeted and the suitcases do not roll very well on carpet! It should be perfect.

    This afternoon I spent finishing my painting (and fixing it so it is so much better than it was!). I am really glad I went to this class! Even though I don't think painting in the class setting is for me, I am loving painting in my room and getting back into it. Friday is a makeup day to finish anything we started and didn't get to finish, so I might try and do this painting again myself that day and see if it comes out better by myself...we shall see what else we get up to first. But it is so much fun sitting here, looking out at the water, and watercoloring!

    I also finished my book that I had from my favorite author and it was so great! I loved it! On the boat over I didn't read that much, there was too much to do, it was all new and exciting and I did all the things. This trip I am like I will swim in the morning, then paint and read and relax and wander the deck all day. I could do the trivia, but today I was like eh. I would rather read or paint. So it is really nice. Maybe one day I will do some other things, but right now this is making me happy.

    It has been so foggy all day! It was pretty foggy when I woke up, but after I came back with breakfast it was even more so. All day now it has been that I can barely see any water when I look out my window. Right now it just looks bright white. It's not until I get closer that I can see water. When I got up and opened my balcony door I can hear the horn blowing every 2 minutes (on the way over when we hit fog we did get an announcement that they have to do that since visibility is low). My other room was farther back and I couldn't hear it, and I don't know when it started overnight but if I had slept with my balcony door open it would have woken me up. It is not crazy loud and I started to tune it out during the day, but loud enough. I keep the balcony door open when I am in here as it is still warm outside and it is nice listening to the water, but don't sleep with it open because it is warm and very humid so too sticky to sleep. I close it and turn on the AC to cool the room down (and I need it pretty cold as the blanket in the room is so so so warm!). I also realized today that I have a watercooker in my room and don't need to go upstairs and get hot water every time I want some tea! I don't know why I kept forgetting that, but it is nice I can just make it myself in my room (and just bring the mug back when I get food).

    So there you go - my exciting day! Relaxing, but a lot of fun! Can't wait to see what we will paint tomorrow :)    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Queen Mary day 3

    July 30, 2024, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌬 16 °C

    Today was another great day! I got up and it was still really foggy out. I had a small breakfast at 7 then went swimming. I was the only one in the pool, but just as I got out someone else came to swim so it was perfect timing. I normally swim back and forth for 15 min, I try not to stop, which is a lot when you are not used to swimming. On the way over I did stop a lot at first, but slowly built up to longer without. Yesterday I managed the 15 min alright, though I was tired by the end. Today I was thinking about who knows what and lost track of time and swam for 20 min! That doesn't sound like a lot, but my arms were noodles by the time I got out! The pool was also very warm, a bit too warm! I tried sitting in the hot tub afterwards, but that was way too hot and I was overheating so I headed back to my room. I think it is all warmer because it has been so much warmer than the way over! And so much less windy!

    After a small second breakfast I headed to my watercolor class and today was so much fun! We painted a whale! I am not happy with the water, I knew I should have left that for later, but the rest of it I think it pretty good. The UK guy wasn't there today, but the class was way full, moreso than prior days, so some new people sat with me who were very nice. The one lady was saying that the last teacher was not very good (I think that was the one on the way over) and a lot of people complained about her so maybe it was okay I missed those. She was also saying that this teacher was the best one she has had on a ship. One of the other ones just set like some fruit or a plant on the table and said here, paint this and then read a book or something. Which...that is not helpful! If you don't know what you are doing you can't just paint something! So I am petty happy that we got a good teacher on this trip. She is staying on past when I get off so that is good. She is really helpful and always comes around and answers questions and tries to help where she can. I've really been enjoying the classes!

    After that it was lunchtime, reading a bit in my room, and then the sun started to try and come out and it was so warm outside! I was on the warm side of the boat where the sun was trying to be so I went and was going to sit on deck for a bit...well everyone else had the same idea! My side of the boat was full of people, but the other side wasn't as it was colder so I sat down for a bit, but slowly the people started filling in the chairs. It was a bit too close together and no wind so I said eh, I will go read in my room some more.

    Then, since we didn't set the clocks ahead and I feel like I have all the time today, I decided to try out the afternoon trivia. I got there and there was a two person table that was open so I thought perfect! I will sit there! So I grabbed a paper and when I turned around a lady was sitting at the table. So I asked if she had someone else coming and she was very nice, but said yes unfortunately, so I wandered on. There are all of these couch areas where trivia is and there was one with a couple guys sitting on the one end so I asked if anyone was sitting on the other and no one was so I had a seat there. Well the first lady must have seen that I was sitting alone so she came over and asked if I was playing by myself and invited me to join them. They were very nice, but I was not that helpful as the trivia was so so hard! Much harder than on the way over!! I did have some instant guesses and they often matched the guy's guesses so we went with those, and there was one question that I knew the answer to that they didn't (Nirvana) so I gave us an extra point at least. But I had fun. And we did better than I thought we would - 11/20 is not bad when it was that difficult! They are playing every day and invited me to join them so I probably will do that the rest of the week.

    Today I have seen a lot more joggers than yesterday, and I don't know if I mentioned it but in the afternoons there have been a lot of people in the pools just hanging out so I am glad I get my swim in in the morning! Though it is 9 now and I am getting tired cause of all the swimming this morning! The fog came back around 6 and right now I can barely see the water even standing on my balcony! It is so foggy!!

    The show tonight was Tom Franek who plays piano and sings (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nInqwRxWGQI - this is a youtube video clip from another cruise) and I couldn't tell if I would enjoy watching it or not so I went to spy. Well the piano and singing were not very good, Raymond is much better at the piano, but he was actually really funny in between songs (and for awhile he was mostly just joking around). I laughed a lot and and had a lot of fun and he was way better than the comedian on the way over. Like he should cut out most of his piano stuff and just do that! But then he started just playing songs and it was not good so I cut out a little early, but I stayed way longer than I thought I would.

    Then there was a music bingo in the pub which sounded odd but fun so I was debating whether I wanted to go down and play. It didn't start until 9:15 which is pretty late when I am going to bed at 10...but I thought why not. I am here, let's do it! Well...the pub was soooo busy. It was packed with people and they said what the prizes were (tablet sleeves) and I was too tired to try and fight my way into the mix. I think it was busier than they expected as they were scrambling trying to get some more chairs set up for everyone, but I didn't feel like dealing with it tonight. Oh well, now I am in bed reading until bedtime :) Tomorrow there is a 70's music night so I hope I can stay up late enough to go dancing! We shall see....I think because of all the time changes everything starts much later than it did on the way here. At the very least I will probably go listen to the music.    Read more

  • Jen RitcheyTravelerPA Trip

    Queen Mary day 4

    July 31, 2024, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Not many photos today, but it was a great day! Was up at 7 and for the first time I could feel the boat rocking slightly. We've had really flat water up until now I couldn't tell we were moving unless I looked outside (on the way over it was way rockier in comparison and much windier! And cooler!) I had my early mini-breakfast, went out to have a swim and the pool on deck 6 that I normally swim in had too many people already so I went up to the other pool on deck 8 and no one was in there! So I swam there and it was really nice! They play music up there as there is a bar as well so it was fun listening, though I again didn't pay attention and swam 20 min! I was really trying to not do that as I was going to dance this evening, but oh well. I never used this pool on the way over as it was WAY windier up there (and it was really windy on 6!) so I might try and swim up there again. We shall see how the weather is. We didn't turn the clocks ahead yesterday so I am guessing that is why it was so busy so early...

    In class today we made some bookmarks which were fun, easy projects. The UK guy was back again which was nice. Apparently he goes to both of the classes even though it is the same thing both times (and he works on other paintings at the second class). He asked if I would come back for the afternoon one and I was like well...this room makes me a little sick so probably not. I just paint in my room. Also I was painting on the other half of the paper where I did my whale painting from yesterday as I had enough room and a lady came over and was like can I take a photo of your whale painting? It is so so good! It is amazing! I love it so much! I want to show it off to my daughter! Of course I was like yes, please do! But oh, that made me so happy!! That was such a high! So great day even if nothing else happened!

    This afternoon I finished up my paintings and read a book I love then went up to play trivia with the same couple again. It was much easier this time so it was fun. There was one question - how many red stripes are on the American flag? They both turned to me as they are British and I was like okay, let me think. They were like so how many stripes in total? Do they mean something?? I was like yes, there are 13, but are there 6 or 7 red ones?? So that was fun - I contributed again!

    This evening when I was getting food a lady came up next to me and said "Hello friend!" I was dishing up food so I said hello! How are you? And she was like good, blah blah, nice mask! And I looked and she was wear the same one I was! I was like oh! Yes! Mask buddies!! So that was fun. I always try and smile at the other people wearing masks, but they normally want nothing to do with that. I always wonder are they sick and have to wear it? Or taking precautions like me? But most sit down in the dining hall and take it off to eat so either way is not the best. But oh well. they can do what they want.

    It was not foggy this morning and a gorgeous day all day. There were some clouds and they looked so soft and fluffy, but with darker undersides and I was like they look like our watercolor clouds! I did want to get back into painting and this class is definitely helping! I like it as well because I go in and there is something we are going to be working on and we do it. When I am at home I will just look at things forever trying to figure out what to paint...but I am going to try and be more decisive and just paint the first thing I see that I like. We shall see how it goes.

    I wrote the above before the evening entertainment as I really thought I wouldn't do much. When I was boarding the ship I accidentally stepped in front of someone as I was reading the papers they gave me and not paying attention. I was like so sorry! Once I realized and we got to talking and she was very nice and I was asking about what she was doing on board and she is a singer! She would be performing! I was like oh, fun! And we talked about that some. She is on 38 boats this year! That seems like a lot, but it would be fun. Well she had her show tonight so I thought I would pop in and check it out. I really wasn't expecting much as most of the entertainment is not the best, but can still be fun, but she was amazing. I really thought I would pop down and spy and then come back to my room as I was kind of tired, but she was so great I ended up staying for the whole show. I was standing in the back dancing as she was singing such fun songs and people were standing in their seats dancing and the applause was so much more than I have every seen at one of these shows! Afterwards everyone was talking about how great she was so that was a fun surprise! She was also on season 20 of The Voice and was a semi-finalist - Dana Monique was her name.

    Since I was already dancing and ready to continue I thought I would go over to the 70's band and dance to that! I mean I like 70's music! well...they played a lot of not very dance friendly songs so that was a bit disappointing. Like slow, but not slow dance slow? I don't know. It was the same lady singer from the way over, but the guy changed and he was much worse than the last guy, but if they are fun songs and I can dance I don't really care (as long as it is not painfully bad which it wasn't). But these songs were just meh so I danced a bit and now in bed almost on time. Tomorrow they are playing big band music so I am going to have to go check that out as I do love big band music. Alright off to bed for me! Such a great day!!    Read more

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