9 January – and away

Spent yesterday wondering if I should have hired a car and driven to Southampton a day early, rather than taking the Cunard coach from Leeds. The snow was not moving and overnight temperatures were forecast to drop to minus 10.

Eventually, called the taxi company to ask them to pick up 15 minutes earlier.

6:30 am came around and the taxi tracking app said that the driver had arrived – but he was nowhere in sight. Fortunately, he had clicked his “arrival button” when he was approaching and turned up a couple of minutes later.

It was still well below zero and icy but the journey to the coach station went smoothly and we were here in half an hour, rather than the 75 minutes I had allowed.

The taxi driver was pleasant but his command of English was not great and not helped by his insistence on ending any statement with “init” (isn’t it?)

Despite having a bus pass, I have not used a bus for years and was unfamiliar with the layout and the area for coach pickups was not well signposted – until you knew where it was and then it was obvious. There was a Travel Advice office but that was closed. Gregg’s was open but there was a long queue, so I chose the adjacent newsagent’s for my enquiry. 

The attendant was a large, surly woman, who, if she had acting ambitions, could have made a good living playing “large surly woman” on TV, stage, or cinema. Her mumbled reply – my request for a repeat only made her more irate – indicated that my destination was through the door, at the side of her shop.

Just inside, there was a group of obvious “Cunarders” – all of a certain age, surrounded by baggage and discussing previous oceanic adventures.

The journey to Southampton was smooth and uneventful with two stops on the way. It took a total of six hours and we were deposited just outside the departure area. Boarding went smoothly, apart from two panics. We were told that we had to identify our luggage as it was taken off the coach but my suitcase was not there. It turned out that an over enthusiastic baggage handler had put it the conveyer before I got to it.

Check in started off well. The vaccination certificate was accepted without question but I was then asked for ESTA certificate for entry to the US. Of course, I had checked everything and we had valid certificates but previously, they showed up when the passport was scanned. On this occasion however, they wanted to see a physical copy. Quick thinking, as ever, I realised that I could download a copy to my phone and that would be sufficient. For some reason, the check in attendant was not impressed and neither was Lynne. Later, I had copied the travel documents to a memory stick but left it in my conveyor bound luggage.

No more mishaps and we were soon in the Cabin, then off to see the fireworks and on our way.