Oxford Street, Southampton
Having really loved our travels through the South Pacific in the Fall of 2024, we kept an eye out for other, similarly wonderful itineraries.
That particular cruise was fabulous in part because we took our 14 year old grandson and his friend along. Having two young teens in tow, we rode bicycles in Bora Bora, kayaked in Moorea, made friends through geocaching and generally enjoyed seeing the world through their eyes.
It was also great because we were on the Zaandam, the smallest ship of the Holland America Line.
This time, we went for an itinerary that offered several countries that would be new to us. New places are what always appeals to us - not a place we already know.
“What do you think of this?” I asked Kees and read him about stops in Madeira, Spain’s Canary Islands, Namibia, South Africa… He agreed that this itinerary sounded very attractive. But this cruise was offered by Cunard, a British line we knew nothing about. “Posh!” was the reaction of most people we asked if they were familiar with the company. However, the price was right, the itinerary wonderful and we’d end up in Malaysia in winter without having to fly there. And so we booked.
And that’s why we flew to England in January. Traveling for nearly three months, we were relieved to be able to keep our cabin-luggage-only with us. At Heathrow it was freezing cold and the bus station was open to the outside. We had 3 hours to wait and settled in at a coffeeshop. Pretty soon, an off duty bus driver plonked down in the seat next to us. He started talking to us and kept up a steady monologue and for the next 2 hours.. I felt like we were in a candid camera episode. He was hilarious, telling us about his childhood, where we grew up in Scotland, about the state of the world, what he thought of Americans (and how much he liked Canadians) and much more. After two hours he had to head for his bus. He jumped up, hugged us both goodbye and made us promised to come look for him in Edinburgh. “You’ll find me in a pub there, they all know me!” said this driver confidently as he swaggered off to drive his bus. At least we’d only seen him drink coffee.
Using the great Rome2Rio app, we found our bus from Heathrow to Southampton where we had booked a room upstairs in a local Pub. It just looked great, and very British, on their website, and more fun than a generic Hilton. And it was perfect. A spacious room with a good bed. The pub, The Grapes, was located on a pedestrian part of a main downtown street full of cute eateries and pubs. Even a great breakfast restaurant just steps from “our pub”.
Little did we know that the pub had a connection to our cruise. Sort of.
It was walking distance to our departure pier - just across a road and a small park. But in reading the wallhangings in our pub and an adjacent restaurant we learned that Cunard, “our” cruise line, was part of the original White Star Line. And the ship that departed from the very same pier for its maiden voyage, was also from White Star. That ship was called.. the Titanic. Yikes. Turned out that, on the morning of April 1, 1912, three brothers had been celebrating the fact that they had secured jobs on the departing ship. In the very same Pub, The Grapes, they had some drinks before walking to the very same pier. Being a bit unsteady on their feet after a few drinks, they waited for a train to cross the tracks between the road and the park while walking to the pier. Those few minutes wait caused them to miss their boat… missing out on their new jobs! But we all know what they also missed out on… It was a strange feeling to walk to that same pier to catch a ship from that same original line. All we can do is trust that our voyage will end on a happier note.
It rained when we boarded with our little bit of cabin luggage. The process was swift and well organized. Soon we found ourselves in our small but cozy, inside cabin with a large kingsize bed and enough storage space for our stuff for a 42 day voyage. We couldn’t wait to see new places and head for warmer climates, away from blustery England in January!