Children's Itinerary Calendar

This is a simple thing - well, the process of uploading to Google Drive so I could link it took a bit of figuring out, but here it is.

I created this calendar for my grandchildren to use to follow our trip around the world. I printed copies for each of them and will leave the Cunard brochures with them as well. It's rather rough around the edges - the calendar is based on Excel but is NOT user friendly. For some reason, there are blank pages for January and June that I can't get rid of. I think it's kind of cute for the younger crowd.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bwkvur1zlw-VODlEeGYtVXNKMVE/view?usp=sharing


Let me know if you have any problems opening the document - once again it's a work-in-progress.

Ft Lauderdale webcams

This is a trial for using a Notepad app for this blog. I've been using yahoo offline, but thought I'd try this out. Using Photo Editor app to crop this screen shot

off the bow of the QE IN Ft Lauderdale seemed to work also.

This Notepad app seems to work well offline for cutting and pasting into blogger - better than the Office Suite Pro app. I will need to remember to do all editing offline, though, otherwise I'll use up my ship internet minutes really quickly.

I also like this Ft Lauderdale webcam picture

of the QE this morning (posted on the Cruise Critic Cunard forum "Live from the 2015 QE World Voyage).

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=45344117#post45344117

A number of persons will use this forum, so you'll get a wide view of life on the ship - especially good for those of you (many) who can't imagine spending this much time on a ship :)

Two weeks until we fly (this swipe type corrected to "flee", which might be accurate as we had another 20 degree day with 5 inches of snow yesterday) to California to join this voyage. Starting to seem real.

Queen Elizabeth has left New York harbor

We watched her back out from the pier in Manhattan - all dark and lights. Then watched as she slowly sailed away down the river to the Verrazano Narrows bridge, past the Statue of Liberty.

Approaching Manhattan

Foggy, icy day in NYC

MS Queen Elizabeth docked in Manhattan - Bridge Cam

reading blogs and (re)packing :)

It's been fun reading Scrapnana's daily blog, A Winter Crossing, and her daily account on CruiseCritic's Cunard page (just found that today). I have finally given up on the two large checked bags plan. I think we could have made it work, but I finally got to thinking how heavy our 50 pound bike cases are and thought maybe it would be easier to have 40 pound cases instead, which will also abide by the Cunard 20 kg limit, even if it means 3 bags (Southwest airlines allows 2 bags free for each of us). That will give some expansion for all the "stuff" we find along the way. Having toured by motorcycle for many years and more recently by bicycle, we're pretty good at only buying small souvenirs :).

Hoping to see (via webcam) the Queen in New York on Sunday :).

Sounds like the weather is continuing to impact the QE (hurricane force winds and 30 foot seas don't appeal to me) - late into NYC, a day late to Fort Lauderdale, skipping Nassau, Bahamas. Some are glad to have the extra time in NYC (staying an extra day) and another day onboard before FFL, but travel issues for getting back home. I'm thinking that maybe winter crossings would not be my thing :). Hoping for the best for our Pacific crossing next month, but will be well prepared with my variety of remedies :).

PDF files from Google drive

Please check this link. Let us know if it works.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PMW16M0trbzBaZVk/view?usp=sharing

As I keep checking the QE bridge cam, we're taking care of little things here and there.

In the meantime, to allow Stan at least a little bit of luggage space, I'm starting to remove some stuff from my stash. I'm not sure it's making a lot of difference since I seem to have other things to put in. But, at least I'm trying. I do think my day-to-day daytime attire will get repetitive. I've lived out of a backpack for two + months on numerous trips but we didn't see the same people every day :)

I think our port planning is about done - now, whether we'll remember anything by the time we get across the Pacific remains to be seen. We used to power tour, but have learned to take life a little slower. The GPS is loaded with places we'll try to see and my inch-thick hard copy pages may or may not get looked at again. We'll have a great time regardless.

Our friends think we are crazy - most have never been on a ship - maybe our lack of proximity to the oceans has some bearing on that. But to spend 3 months on one is way over the limit and generally inconceivable to most.

It looks like the QE is still alongside in Southampton. You can see the ropes to the pier on the bridge cam. It also looks like there might be a fuel barge there as well on the port GPS locator.

This is supposed to be live at 22:33 Southampton time. I also checked the Southampton vts site and it does not show that the QE has sailed (gives the QM2

The link below is the ship's bridge cam and below the image is a link to location. Unfortunately, the Seascanner site is giving scheduled location rather than actual.

http://www.cruisin.me/cruise-ship-webcams/cunard-cruise-line/queen-elizabeth.php

I'll be excited to hear that you are underway - see you in SFO.