The tour has begun

Now I've not only arrived on the ship but also in the blog. It's not so easy with the internet here because you have to buy internet packages, and it's all quite complicated. That's why there are some internet managers in the library who help us oldies when we don't know what to do. So now I'm connected with you and doing fine.

Thanks again to everyone for the many calls, text messages, short visits, and even lovingly designed gifts before my departure. It's great that you are so interested in my journey. I'm really happy about that.

I'm sure you were already waiting for a sign of life from me, but as strange as it sounds, the first few days on board were busy: setting up the internet, participating in a lifeboat drill with a life jacket, booking excursions, clarifying questions, joining the guest relations welcome cocktail, and of course unpacking and settling in, which took a long time with all the luggage. My 5 suitcases + a smaller one for the hotel overnight stay in the Atlantic all arrived undamaged and were in my cabin 10 minutes after me. The entire embarkation was first-class organized. I've never boarded a ship so quickly and smoothly, despite strict security and passport checks. In Hamburg, we also had a sail away party, which was very cold on the aft deck. There was currywurst, champagne, warm blankets, and a DJ who heated us up with lively music. Solveigh filmed the departure from the dock, and with light signals, we were able to recognize each other despite the darkness.

By now, we have already left Southampton behind us and set course for the Atlantic with New York as our destination. At the sail away party on the aft deck last night, there was music again, champagne, and a fantastic fireworks display during the departure. It was pleasant with 9 degrees Celsius, and we didn't have to freeze as much as in Hamburg. Those who wanted could wave a Union Jack, and as we passed the pontoon with the fireworks, "Rule Britannia" was played in a very patriotic way. That was followed by Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York," which was very emotional and created a great atmosphere among the guests!

So now I'm really on a world trip or a "World Voyage" as the British say, and I'm starting to feel a bit at home.

But let me tell you step by step: The start at the Hotel Atlantic was very successful as an introduction. A modern and elegant room, nice little gifts from Cunard, and then the gala dinner in the banquet hall. You can see photos of it in the gallery. Udo Lindenberg didn't show up, but one of his many paintings, which he painted and gave to the hotel, was hanging in the corridor. So indirectly, I'm still connected to Udo through the photo!

The evening was very nice, good food, and a short guest lecture about the history of Cunard between the courses. Then, via video conference, the ship's management welcomed us, the captain herself. You read that right, it's not a typo, our captain is female. That surprised all of us, and she's also the first woman in this role at Cunard. She's from Denmark, originally from the Faroe Islands, and speaks German quite well and excellent English. I'm excited for the captain's reception. Nice conversations and a small show program with music and dance rounded off the evening. The singer musically introduced the different stops of the journey, although she looked strange, like Maya the Bee, in my opinion. My neighbor said she was already wearing our life jackets. See for yourself in the photo.

Above all, you get to know some fellow travelers on the world trip, interestingly, many of them are solo travelers, so I'm not an exception. Of course, our conversations revolved around why we chose this trip. That couldn't have been more different for my two table neighbors. The gentleman on my right was a young man in his early thirties who had this trip as a lifelong dream. He saved diligently for 2 years, accumulated his vacation days, and arranged a job change to have a 4-month break. I was impressed. The other gentleman on my left was the opposite, he didn't plan the trip at all, but he was at an exhibition where he took a Cunard catalog and showed it to his son. His son told him to go on the world trip, so he decided to go within two days. He's now trying to see if this is something for him. I think it's quite brave with a 4-month journey. Yesterday, I met him and asked him how it's going. He said he didn't expect such stress for the first few days, spent over 2 hours unpacking, and was under time pressure with mandatory events. But he seems quite funny so far.

It's a different story at my table in the restaurant, there's a couple from Chemnitz, where the husband doesn't really like the trip and seems quite grumpy. His wife, a very resolute woman, told me that he only decided to go on the trip 4 weeks ago. When I asked him why he didn't like cruises, he didn't answer me, so his wife gave the answer for him: 'He does like cruises, just not with me'. That could become tricky for them during the 4 months! Maybe I'll witness the first murder on the QE2! Wait and see, as they say in English. I'm curious.

Then I met people from Hanover who are on their third consecutive cruise with the Queen Elizabeth. They seem to be quite well-off as they sold their company and are now living a beautiful life. They already know everything and see this whole journey as an entertaining variation of their lives. It's another life concept!

So you see, there are various reasons or constraints for being on the ship here. But there are really many who have already made a world trip. They can give great tips, for example, I now know the best spot to be during the Panama Canal passage.

I think I could already write a small novel about the many conversations and amusing little incidents. It reminds me of Günther Jauch, who sees the success of his quiz show in the fact that 'God's zoo' is so diverse. Today at breakfast, a German lady told me that she always brings a tablecloth with her when she travels because it gives her a feeling of home and calms her down. So, I don't have anything like that with me, but I really like it here without any homey requisites, everything is very relaxed but organized and considerate, everyone is very friendly. The staff is always friendly and in a good mood. If they see that you're wandering around or looking disorganized, they politely ask: 'Are you fine?'

My room attendant or stewardess Shirley is super nice, an Asian woman who has such a smiling face that it makes you happy. It was funny that yesterday I couldn't open the door with my card, and Shirley immediately came to help since she always has something to do in the hallway. She asked for my cabin number and tried it herself, which also didn't work. Then she said, 'here lives the doctor', which I didn't understand at first, and when she looked at my boarding card, she exclaimed, 'Oh, you are the doctor', whatever idea she had or has. In any case, she is extremely precise, after the morning cleaning, there are completely new towels in the entire set again during the turndown service in the evening, which I get double because of the double cabin. They are very afraid of infections here and pay great attention to hygiene. The disinfectants are really distributed everywhere by the staff, otherwise you can't get past them or you are constantly asked to use them, for example, no afternoon tea or restaurant visit without hand disinfection. They are more afraid that we will get an epidemic on board than that we will sink.

Solo travelers are taken care of particularly well. I didn't realize that before. At the reception in the Commodore Club, which is the bar above the bridge, with a great view, the guest relations staff were introduced, but not in the usual way where everyone is introduced one after the other, but everything was very private within the framework of a champagne reception with tasty canapés. I only noticed later that all the social hosts had picked out their guests according to their age, sat down with them and became 'friends', and then introduced them to a 'colleague', so now they have two reference persons. When I meet my second social host, Laura, she greets me so exuberantly and asks how things are going, what I'm doing, etc. Well, it wasn't really my thing to have this kind of support, to be able to call them, to go shopping with them in New York, etc., or to be entertained by them. I tried to make it clear to them without being rude, and then they said, 'Oh, no problem, you can be on your own, but we don't want you to be alone' - all right, got it!!! I'm definitely not feeling lonely here.

So, it's not boring here, especially on sea days, whether with a social host or without one. By the way, yesterday I was in the art gallery for a lecture about Jack Vettriano, which was very interesting. A highly interesting biography, presented completely freely and casually amusing by Sam, the gallery owner.

The British are also very communicative. I've spoken more English in these 3 days than in the whole last year. The best opportunities for conversation arise in the elevator. After a short conversation with an Englishwoman, she suddenly asked me what my first name was, she said her name is Yvonne. She explained that then we could greet each other nicely if we should happen to meet on the ship at some point. Unusual, but actually a good idea!

In the meantime, I have the feeling that I've already walked kilometers on the ship, also because I take many photos. Therefore, I'm sending you my first pictures of the ship. The ship is about 300 meters long and 32 meters wide, can accommodate 2090 passengers and about 1000 crew members. It's still quite new, launched in 2010, and renovated in 2014, so everything is in excellent condition. The shipping company had some problems with the name. The English queen wanted to use the Roman numeral for two, as officially in her name, while Cunard preferred the Arabic numeral because it really is the second Elizabeth built by them. The old one from the 60s was decommissioned. Then the Scots, who played a significant role in building the ship, came to Cunard's aid: because for them, it really is the first Queen Elizabeth, they agreed on the Arabic spelling. But the queen coped with it and christened the ship herself in October 2010 and was apparently very impressed.

The style for the QE2 is a return to the Art Deco of the 1930s, the time of New York with the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and Rockefeller Center. That's why there are patterns and beautiful designs with various woods and photos of these buildings and the time. You can see this in the staircase, foyer, and bars. The library is the largest floating library in the world, with a spiral staircase and a globe. Every day starting at nine, you can pick up quiz questions and crosswords there, which are really difficult to solve. But it's also very British, with a portrait of the queen, an English pub, and a ballroom. That's the trademark of the Queen ships.

Finally, if you still want to follow my many explanations, now the action part for motivation:

On the way to Southampton, still in the Channel during dinner, it became spectacular because suddenly there was a complete power failure throughout the ship. It was pitch black for a short moment until the emergency lights came on and people turned on their phones to use them as flashlights. Then, the captain quickly spoke over the loudspeaker, reassuring everyone and promising to report back in 10 minutes. I found it interesting that my table neighbor started googling and showed signs of slight panic. Googling doesn't help, just a displacement activity, I thought, but it shows how dependent people have become on it. Even after 10 minutes, the technicians still hadn't found the problem, and we were told to stay where we were and not walk through the ship. Nevertheless, some people, especially many German guests, fled in a panic, probably to get to their life jackets. Crazy! Shortly afterward, it became bright again, and everything was 'restored,' as our captain informed us. She had repeatedly said, 'we are in safe condition,' but people don't understand much English, so some Germans were panicking and already saw themselves as the next Titanic victims. They imagined that this had happened on the Atlantic and already saw themselves on the Titanic cemetery in Canada. The only damage caused by this incident: the espresso machines were apparently permanently broken because the orders couldn't be fulfilled anymore, and you could tell that the kitchen was quite thrown off track. So, an exciting experience and that already on the 2nd day.

Maybe you get a first impression. I can already promise you that I will have a lot to report and a lot of photos for you. There are really many beautiful motifs here.

More soon, now that everything is working with the internet, transferring the pictures takes a very long time, but they will come, I promise!

Take care!