To Margot, Lyn, Mary...

[BuddyP]

Sorry - Thought the attachment did not work. I was wrong. :)

[Norfolk Brit]

Did I see some J WORDS!?! in that picture? ;)

 

Ha ha, I'm back first, and have a few days to say whatever I want while the Aussies upset Scotland and Buddy and Annie are travelling. Hillster probably got home before us, but will be busy with the most beautiful baby in the world. I haven't even unpacked yet as couldn't wait to get on here - have had withdrawal symptoms without the boards, but decided to stay away so that my addiction didn't stop me doing anything on board.

 

And YES, I am wearing incredibly tasteful black jeans. IN THE COMMODORE CLUB. And I have lots more tales of jeans and MANY other things. Just to say, before I unpack, that I have never in my life laughed so much or met such fantastic people. Or had such an amazing trip.

 

Be back soon, once I've caught up.

[imacruizer]

Ha ha, I'm back first, and have a few days to say whatever I want while the Aussies upset Scotland and Buddy and Annie are travelling. Hillster probably got home before us, but will be busy with the most beautiful baby in the world. I haven't even unpacked yet as couldn't wait to get on here - have had withdrawal symptoms without the boards, but decided to stay away so that my addiction didn't stop me doing anything on board.

 

And YES, I am wearing incredibly tasteful black jeans. IN THE COMMODORE CLUB. And I have lots more tales of jeans and MANY other things. Just to say, before I unpack, that I have never in my life laughed so much or met such fantastic people. Or had such an amazing trip.

 

Be back soon, once I've caught up.

 

Welcome home, Mary!!! Can't wait to hear all those tales. So glad you had such a wonderful trip. Post soon. We have missed all of you!!!

 

Beth

[Hillster]

...Mary's DH, Hillster, the new! Mrs. Hillster, Baby Hillster, Buddy, Annie..have I missed anyone? Oh I hope not.:(

 

We all want to wish you a glorious and happy Bon Voyage. I trust you will be attentive during the muster drill so you know where your life boat is when those Aussie ladies open their back of tricks. And don't forget to check your beds at night, just in case it's your turn to experience their, ahem, charm.

 

xo, most sincere congrats to the Hillsters, and peace and love to you all.

 

Yours,

 

Thank you very much. I think I can safely say we all had a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed one anothers company.

 

Buddy and Annie are now enjoting the rain in London and hopefully the Aussie double act are in a Scottish pub enjoying the accents and listening to some bagpipes.

 

Pics and tales to follow.....

[patwell]

WELCOME HOME MARY AND HILLSTERS!!

 

OK, so maybe we missed you all a little bit....definitely we were pea green with envy!! Can't wait to hear the stories and all the fun...what a delight for you all that you hit it off so well. We've enjoyed the vicarious living thanks to Buddy but let's hear all the juicy stuff now...and I mean ALL!!:D

 

So happy the trip was all you wanted and that you all had the same kind of "Affair" that I did.

 

Cheers, Penny

Penny’s Affair to Remember QM2 Review

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=471053

[Wadadli1]

Hi Mary and Hillsters! Welcome home. We missed you. And we share your sorrow that the trip is over <sniffle>

 

Sir Martin was seemingly well behaved while you were away. Of course, things aren't always as they seem...

[BuddyP]

Hi Everyone,

 

We're safely at our hotel after a long bus ride from Southampton this morning. In order to not violate US law, we visited Harrods this afternoon. This is required of all first time US tourists to the city, we've been told. Fortunately we were warned of the prices at Harrods by our new British friends. I must say beef at 45 Pounds a kilogram (about $43 a pound) did seem a tad high to us. I think what they do is check prices in the US, then multiply them by 10. It's an easy calculation, anyway.

 

After much searching and a simple request to a clerk to take mercy on us poor Americans suffering from a cruel exchange rate, we did find a piece of luggage at a price we could swallow. We were tired and Annie's knee was killing her, so we did not take the time to look elsewhere. Other than that all we bought were a couple of books and a map of the UK (so we can see where our new friends live) as well as a small box of incredibly over priced crackers and some almost reasonably priced cheese to enjoy in our room.

 

Tomorrow we are off to tour the city. The rain held off here today, and we're hoping for similar luck tomorrow.

 

I've attached a picture of the newly renewed weds and the poor priest who now has to live for the rest of his life with the responsibility for conducting that act. :)

 

Thanks again everyone for sharing the best vacation of our lives. We miss you all already. I doubt I was the only one with a lump in the throat when we departed. It is impossible to say in words how much we enjoyed your company. We treasure your friendships, and we thank you for being a part of our lives.

 

Buddy

[BuddyP]

evidence of the jeans mentioned earlier, as well as some candid shots of our last time together. Even the sunset Thursday night said goodbye in a most kindly way. :)

[travel-to-go]

 

Just to say, before I unpack, that I have never in my life laughed so much or met such fantastic people. Or had such an amazing trip.

 

Ah! But you haven't yet met the REST of us! You'll laugh! You'll cry!

 

You'll go into hibernation and change your address and identity!

 

Karie,

who would stalk these cruisers if she could afford to! Just to see...

[travel-to-go]

evidence of the jeans mentioned earlier, as well as some candid shots of our last time together. Even the sunset Thursday night said goodbye in a most kindly way. :)

Wait! I'm confused! All those arms sticfking up! I can't tell which one is Margot!

 

Thanks for the pics, Buddy. Now quick. Before the Aussies get near a computer..... Post the GOOD ones! <snicker!>

 

Hillsters! Hope you got a little honeymoon in amongst the baby duty. Some people choose to do that the other way around, so they can enjoy the honeymoon without drool ..well, at least baby drool, on them. But hey, like they say on the billboard for South Of The Border (a really kitschy motel on the border of South Carolina with over a hundred cute billboards leading to it)

"our honeymoon suite is HEIR conditioned!"

 

And congrats to Buddy and Annie, the newly re-weds!

 

Missed you all, and wished I could've been along, if only to meet people as crazy as me!

 

Karie,

who hopes to have folks as much fun on whatever she ends up on, My luck, I'll have Malcolm lecturing me on my attire the entire trip! (Love you Malcolm!)

[Wadadli1]

evidence of the jeans mentioned earlier, as well as some candid shots of our last time together. Even the sunset Thursday night said goodbye in a most kindly way. :)

 

Whoa! I thought for a minute this was going to be the braided armpit hair picture...then I realised they have their left arms up, not the right. Whew!

[patwell]

Whoa! I thought for a minute this was going to be the braided armpit hair picture...then I realised they have their left arms up, not the right. Whew!

 

I thought they braided BOTH armpits....did I miss someting here?:rolleyes:

 

Cheers, Penny

Penny’s Affair to Remember QM2 Review

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=471053

[patwell]

Buddy...Wonderful picture of the renewal and what a wonderful memory to have for you both. Anja emailed me that it was a lovely ceremony.

 

And great pictures of the others too...you've been super to send all of these to those of us who are landlocked!! Isn't it something to have made such great friends and all thanks to our silly little forum posts. Truly, this is something special that starts right here in a silly thread that takes on a life of its own...can't wait to hear more.

 

Enjoy your London tour and do travel safely back home.

 

Cheers, Penny

Penny’s Affair to Remember QM2 Review

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=471053

[Wadadli1]

I thought they braided BOTH armpits....did I miss someting here?:rolleyes:

 

Cheers, Penny

Penny’s Affair to Remember QM2 Review

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=471053

 

Maybe yes, maybe no. It was the right arm that was going to be up, in order to share with those of us who were left behind, the glories of the braided hairs.

 

Secretly, I'm just waiting for a big enough picture of Baby Hillster, so I can oooh and awww over the precious baby.

[travel-to-go]

 

Enjoy your London tour and do travel safely back home.

 

Cheers, Penny

Penny’s Affair to Remember QM2 Review

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=471053

 

And honest!

don't worry about the violent weather we've had here in Connecticut! It didn't really hit your town that bad! <G>

 

Karie, who was just getting used to wearing shorts and grumbling about the heat when it turned into cold, rainy and miserable again!

[Hillster]

 

Hillsters! Hope you got a little honeymoon in amongst the baby duty. Some people choose to do that the other way around, so they can enjoy the honeymoon without drool ..well, at least baby drool, on them. But hey, like they say on the billboard for South Of The Border (a really kitschy motel on the border of South Carolina with over a hundred cute billboards leading to it)

"our honeymoon suite is HEIR conditioned!"

 

 

We did thank you. We were able to drop our daughter off at the nursery so we could have a few romantic meals together. Todd English was excellent, we had a lovely table for two looking out over the ocean on one night and excellent food in the Britannia restaurant on the others.

[MoonNyl]

Boo, scared you all didn't I? Here we are in Scotland and even with the rain every now and then, the wind that sends you flying into everyone else and the heating that they insist in keeping up around 400 degrees, we love the place. Toured around this morning, took lots of pictures and did some shopping. Listened to the accents, ahhhhhh how wonderful, heard some bagpipes and saw a few kilts blowing in the wind. Miss all our Cruise friends very much and wish we could have shared Scotland with them. Another trip this afternoon as we want to go to Grey Friars Kirk and see where the legendary Bobby rests. Once we are home we will be online posting like the crazy aussies we are.

 

Ah pub calls and we must answer. Catch up with you all very soon.

 

Margot and Lyn - Ach aye the nuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!! :eek:

[Norfolk Brit]

We are planning another special event. Our little group has been kind enough to agree to join us for dinner at Todd English next Monday to help us celebrate our 30th anniversary, which coincidentally is on that date.

 

Hi everyone, I love this quote Buddy; it truly was incredibly kind of us to agree to join you for dinner at Todd English - a huge sacrifice;).

 

What a fabulous evening that was; just wish I was still there. If there are any Americans with influence reading this, Buddy should be your next President and Annie would make a fantastic First Lady. Hope you're enjoying London, and have a safe flight home.

 

Arms in the air.................

[travel-to-go]

If there are any Americans with influence reading this, Buddy should be your next President and Annie would make a fantastic First Lady.

 

Mary,

I LIKE Buddy and Annie! Why would I want to do that to them! <G>

 

Karie,

who would rather eat ground glass than be in politics!

[BuddyP]

Hi everyone, I love this quote Buddy; it truly was incredibly kind of us to agree to join you for dinner at Todd English - a huge sacrifice;).

 

What a fabulous evening that was; just wish I was still there. If there are any Americans with influence reading this, Buddy should be your next President and Annie would make a fantastic First Lady. Hope you're enjoying London, and have a safe flight home.

 

Arms in the air.................

 

Hi Mary,

 

Thank you for the kind comments, but quite honestly I would rather be beheaded at the Tower of London than be president of the USA!

 

We had a fun day in London yesterday. We saw most of the highlights of the city and had a great ride on the London Eye. We were so tired when we got back to our room that we ordered room service for dinner. It was difficult to eat without someone putting the napkin on our lap, but we managed somehow.

 

I must say that I don't understand how anyone can afford to live in London. Manhattan is an absolute steal compared to London! The prices of everything were simply breathtaking. The exchange rate is tough for us right now, but even with a better rate the cost would be brutal. I read somewhere that it is the most expensive city in the world. They weren't kidding! Still, it was worth every pound. What an amazing place!

 

We are now back home in Connecticut. We had an early departure from the hotel and arrived at Gatwick with no problems. Sunday morning is a good time to travel in London! The flight home was smooth and uneventful, as was the 3 hour drive home from the airport. All is well here, the house survived our absence.

 

The driver we had to Gatwick was complaining about your gas prices. We returned to the highest gas prices I have ever seen here - $3.29 per gallon. That converts to about 42 pence per liter. Quite the bargain compared to the 96 pence per liter we saw everywhere in London!

 

I had a laugh when we got home. I turned on my regular mobile phone (I had a GSM phone for Europe) and there was a text message from Lyn! Rest assurred they are well in Scotland. To my amazement, they have yet to be deported - or arrested.

 

I found a couple of pictures from Portugal that I thought everyone would enjoy. They are attached.

 

Time to call it a night. We're beat from all the travel, but we still have a warm glow from the best vacation (holiday) of our lives.

 

Back to reality tomorrow. :(

 

Buddy

[travel-to-go]

Welcome home, Buddy, and Annie!

And happy anniversary! again.

 

Karie,

who recognizes that arm (she thinks!)

[BuddyP]

Welcome home, Buddy, and Annie!

And happy anniversary! again.

 

Karie,

who recognizes that arm (she thinks!)

 

Thanks Karie!

 

This morning I feel hung over. No, not alcohol related. Just all the travel and time changes and the reality of being back in my office. Like all things this too shall pass. :)

[MoonNyl]

Be afraid, be very afraid, the Aussies are back - exhausted - thought new avitar was appropriate as this is how you feel after such a long trim. Here is the latest update on our adventures. After, as usual, a series of adventures in the "catching the connection flight" department. We arrived at the airport in Scotland in plenty of time to do our "on forward" luggage check in - Not about to happen. Apparently our travel agent had made a mistake and our tickets did not entitle us to an "on forward" luggage agreement. This of course meant we would have to collect our luggage in Heathrow and then take it to check in for Emirates and our flight home. Sounds easy really - NOT. Our flight from Scotland was delayed by 1/2 an hour, we finally left and arrived at terminal 1 at Heathrow at 7:00pm (should I mention here that our flight back home left from terminal 3), then of course had to wait a further 1/2 an hour for the luggage to arrive. We grabbed our luggage so quickly I think there are still a few injured people lying around the luggage pick up area - well we could not help it if they got in our way, we did yell "Out of the way, Crazy aussies late for connecting flight". If they did not take us seriously it is their fault. I have to tell you, I did not know that from terminal 1 to terminal 3 was a distance that would normally equate to getting across a very large city in peak hour traffic.

 

We dragged and pushed our luggage to terminal 3. I have never seen so many lonnnnng corridors that join equally lonnnng corridors full of people wandering to their next connection like they have all the time in the world. I do believe there may have been a few more casualities in that section and if so, I apologise, but you should have listened when we warned you we were tired, anxious, late for our connecting flight and aussie to boot.

 

After 6,000 security checks (OK an exaceration but when you are watching your time for checking disappearing at a great rate of knots it seems that way) (please take note that our flight home was leaving at 8:30pm and we were required to be there 90 minuties prior to that so we could check in our luggage?) We got through the security nightmare then faced another long corridor to get to the check-in desk. Got there as they called for boarding, we were both purple in the face, exhausted and no longer had the will to live, how could a 24 hour flight home be any worse than this? Oh did I mention that, now, one of my arms is about 6 inches longer than the other as a result of towing my luggage from here to eternity (or terminal 1 to terminal 3) for those who prefer it, and yes it is my favourite picture posing arm.

 

We did not sleep on the way home and arrived (after two sunsets and two sunrises - I'm so confused) at 6:30am Wednesday morning to, you guessed it queues and more security checks - bring it on, I'm not scared of some guy in a kaykai uniform! Had a coffee, let our families know we were on our way home then hijacked a taxi cab to take us home. I'm sure Margot went straight to bed for a well deserved sleep, I could not sleep so did the washing, cleaned the house, allowed the pets to adore me and tell me they missed me - Sophie was happy to see her Nan home (yes that is the hairless dog). By the afternoon both my daughters and the 4 grandkids were here and we spent a lovely afternoon/evening catching up. It is now 11:49pm and I think that sleep might finally be coming my way. Stay turned for the ongoing adventures and lots of pics of our holidays. Glad you all stuck around while we were gone.

 

Cheers - the Lyn part of MoonNyl - home at last ahhhhhh zzzzzzzzzzz

[BuddyP]

Be afraid, be very afraid, the Aussies are back - exhausted - thought new avitar was appropriate as this is how you feel after such a long trim. Here is the latest update on our adventures. After, as usual, a series of adventures in the "catching the connection flight" department. We arrived at the airport in Scotland in plenty of time to do our "on forward" luggage check in - Not about to happen. Apparently our travel agent had made a mistake and our tickets did not entitle us to an "on forward" luggage agreement. This of course meant we would have to collect our luggage in Heathrow and then take it to check in for Emirates and our flight home. Sounds easy really - NOT. Our flight from Scotland was delayed by 1/2 an hour, we finally left and arrived at terminal 1 at Heathrow at 7:00pm (should I mention here that our flight back home left from terminal 3), then of course had to wait a further 1/2 an hour for the luggage to arrive. We grabbed our luggage so quickly I think there are still a few injured people lying around the luggage pick up area - well we could not help it if they got in our way, we did yell "Out of the way, Crazy aussies late for connecting flight". If they did not take us seriously it is their fault. I have to tell you, I did not know that from terminal 1 to terminal 3 was a distance that would normally equate to getting across a very large city in peak hour traffic.

 

We dragged and pushed our luggage to terminal 3. I have never seen so many lonnnnng corridors that join equally lonnnng corridors full of people wandering to their next connection like they have all the time in the world. I do believe there may have been a few more casualities in that section and if so, I apologise, but you should have listened when we warned you we were tired, anxious, late for our connecting flight and aussie to boot.

 

After 6,000 security checks (OK an exaceration but when you are watching your time for checking disappearing at a great rate of knots it seems that way) (please take note that our flight home was leaving at 8:30pm and we were required to be there 90 minuties prior to that so we could check in our luggage?) We got through the security nightmare then faced another long corridor to get to the check-in desk. Got there as they called for boarding, we were both purple in the face, exhausted and no longer had the will to live, how could a 24 hour flight home be any worse than this? Oh did I mention that, now, one of my arms is about 6 inches longer than the other as a result of towing my luggage from here to eternity (or terminal 1 to terminal 3) for those who prefer it, and yes it is my favourite picture posing arm.

 

We did not sleep on the way home and arrived (after two sunsets and two sunrises - I'm so confused) at 6:30am Wednesday morning to, you guessed it queues and more security checks - bring it on, I'm not scared of some guy in a kaykai uniform! Had a coffee, let our families know we were on our way home then hijacked a taxi cab to take us home. I'm sure Margot went straight to bed for a well deserved sleep, I could not sleep so did the washing, cleaned the house, allowed the pets to adore me and tell me they missed me - Sophie was happy to see her Nan home (yes that is the hairless dog). By the afternoon both my daughters and the 4 grandkids were here and we spent a lovely afternoon/evening catching up. It is now 11:49pm and I think that sleep might finally be coming my way. Stay turned for the ongoing adventures and lots of pics of our holidays. Glad you all stuck around while we were gone.

 

Cheers - the Lyn part of MoonNyl - home at last ahhhhhh zzzzzzzzzzz

 

Hi Lyn,

 

Welcome home ladies!!!!

 

Your description of Heathrow brings back memories of our first visit to Europe in 2004. That airport is huge! We walked what seemed like miles just to get to customs from our arrival gate. We did a similar trek for our return flight. It was a very warm day and to our astonishment and discomfort the airport was not air conditioned except at the gates. We were soaked in sweat by the time we completed our march to the gate. Not a very hospitable situation if you ask me.

 

We found Gatwick much easier to negotiate. The terminal area (except for the shopping area) is old and in need of some renovation, but it is easy to navigate and involves much less walking. It will be our airport of choice for future visits.

 

Hopefully your long journey did not include any unfortunate incident like you endured on the way to England. That's about as bad as it gets.

 

Enjoy your rest. It will be fun to see your pictures!

 

Buddy

[Norfolk Brit]

Welcome back girls, and hi Buddy and Annie.

 

Will e mail you both tomorrow with photos (been out all day, so running late tonight and not very good at photos so they may take a while).

 

Missing you all; have a good sleep Margot and Lyn

 

What a nightmare at Heathrow:eek: