Land Sick

After nine days (eight nights) onboard the Queen Mary 2, I expected some adjustment would need to be made when we were back on land. I remember feeling that the world was still moving at various times during our Alaskan cruise, when we got off for shore excursions and at the end of our cruise. But after a transatlantic crossing, the experience has been a bit more intense.

We got to Southampton early yesterday morning. We got off the ship, collected our bags, and made our way to London before noon. Any time we were still - waiting in the queue to get our tickets for the train, waiting on the platform for the train, sitting down to lunch at YO! Sushi, or standing around waiting to ship our third bag home (another story entirely) - it felt as though we were standing on a motion base with movement completely out of sync with the world view around us. Even when we were walking, we found that we lurched from side to side and unexpectedly crashed into non-moving objects.

I have trouble with motion that I cannot see - caused by things like riding in the backseat of a car, trying to read in the car, particularly strong turbulence on an airplane, riding on a bus (especially a tour bus), or riding in anything facing backwards. So I found this continuing sensation of movement more than a bit unsettling. On the train to London, I started to get a slight headache, which is the start of my motion sickness.

But soon, we were off the train and lurching about the train station. As long as we were moving, things seemed tolerable. Stopping for lunch made me feel ill again. When we were waiting in lines, I started to intentionally move around, to keep from feeling sick.

After walking about six miles in London, we stopped for tea. Again, sitting down made me feel ill. It was with some relief that we started moving again. But when it was time for dinner, I was perhaps so tired that I didn't notice the movement.

We spent the night on the Caledonian Sleeper, an overnight train from London to Inverness. Craig had read that movement, such as riding in a car or train, could help ease the adjustment from sea to land. On the train this morning, we felt great. The train was moving, of course, but the motion we felt seemed to match. As we discussed this phenomenon, we decided we had successfully attained our land-legs.

Then we got off the train. Either the platform had a hidden motion base -or- we were not as recovered as we had hoped. We spent the morning walking around Inverness. (We walked over seven miles today. Though I'm not entirely sure how it was spread out through the day, I do think the majority was in the morning.) I felt fine while we were walking, but again, each time we stopped I felt the world moving out of sync.

This afternoon, we took a bus and a boat - crossing Loch Ness and visiting Urquhart Castle. We sat at the front of the tour bus and the ride was short, so I did alright with that. The boat ride was great, with big windows and open decks, so I didn't have any trouble with the motion. As we walked around the castle ruins, I wasn't expecting any problems.

Then we walked up a stone, spiral staircase so narrow that it was impossible to pass another person. About three flights up, we escaped the staircase for a room open to the air above and all around. All at once, the castle was both spinning and rocking beneath my feet, even as I stood perfectly still.

Imagine, if you can, you've spun around in a circle until you fell flat on the ground, like a child. Now, imagine that you've landed on the Star Wars ride - but your eyes are closed and the sound isn't playing, so you've only got motion without context; you can't anticipate which direction you might lurch in next. Finally, while all of this is happening in your head, you are, in fact, standing in the ruins of a castle, at the highest remaining point, with nothing but a few half walls and the occasional addition of a metal bar to keep you from falling into Loch Ness.

When Craig asked if I was alright, I naturally answered, "Quite comfortable. I'm quite comfortable here." We then took several minutes to enjoy the view so I could recover enough to attempt the stairs going back down. It was a fantastic view and a really unique castle to explore.

My apple watch says I walked over seven miles and took thirty flights of stairs today. I still feel like things are moving a bit when I sit still, but that may just be because we really haven't stopped. Of course, that's unlikely to change any time soon.

Quite Comfortable

I'm leaving most of the crossing on the Queen Mary 2 for Craig to post about. I loved every minute of the voyage and I didn't want that part of our adventure to end. It was so relaxing and wonderful. I was sad to leave the ship, even with such an amazing trip ahead.

But there is one phase from the ship that has a permanent place in my heart - "quite comfortable."

The first few days of our voyage were incredibly smooth. We met several people on board who had taken this trip before and all of them remarked on how calm the waters had been. I heard several people refer to the sea as a being "as still as a mill pond." While I can't make much of a comparison, having only been on one cruise in my life, it was lovely the first couple days.

In the middle of the night, the seas got much more...interesting. We woke up to find that nearly all the outside decks had been closed due to high winds. And the movement of the ship was beginning to make walking about, even inside our cabin, a bit challenging.

But at noon, when the captain made his daily announcement, he said something that struck Craig and I as hilariously funny. After telling us that the decks were closed because of "gale force 9 winds" and that we were experiencing "significant swell," he told us that the ship was traveling "quite comfortably" through the weather. He repeated the phrase "quite comfortable" several different times, in several different contexts. As if by saying it over and over, he might convince us of his truth. The ship was traveling "quite comfortably" and we were all "quite comfortable" and so on.

Indeed, we have been "quite comfortable" for every minute of our honeymoon adventure so far.

Embarking on our honeymoon

Our honeymoon adventure - a three week trip taking place nearly eleven months after our wedding - began with a flight to NYC. Before the trip, I spent a great deal of time figuring out how we would pack for a trip of this length. We settled on packing one big bag of formal clothes for the crossing, which we would ship home when we reached England, and two smaller, more manageable bags for our clothing during the rest of the trip.

The baggage drama began at LAX, as we arrived at the airport 46 minutes before our flight only to be told that our baggage couldn't be checked because they stopped accepting bags 45 minutes before the flight. The Skycap took our IDs and went inside, leaving us on the curb with our bags. Several minutes later, he returned with tags for our bags. We raced to board our flight, certain our bags would not arrive with us.

After landing at JFK, we made our way to the baggage claim. I was delighted to see Craig's orange and gray TUMI bag making it's way around the carousel. I spotted my TUMI bag a moment later, further along the carousel. (We had, thankfully, checked all three bags in Craig's name, making use of his Diamond status for priority baggage.) Craig plucked "his" bag off and we waited for mine to come around again. As we waited, we wondered whether we would recognize our third bag. This larger bag is a lightweight bag I bought for Craig for Christmas. It's a more generic bag that he hasn't had the opportunity to travel much with yet.

We spotted the new bag, checking the tag to make sure that it was, in fact, ours. We grabbed my bag as it came around a second time and headed out to the curb. Craig called an uber and we headed for our hotel.

Stuck in traffic several miles from the airport, Craig got a phone call from the airline. His orange and gray TUMI bag was still at the airport. We had taken someone else's bag. We made a painfully slow return to the airport to exchange the bag. Thankfully, the owner of the bag we had taken had actually taken Craig's bag off the carousel and gone some distance before realizing the bag was not hers. (She went to put some paperwork in her bag and discovered that her things were not in the exterior pocket of the bag.)

We only spent one night in NYC. Then it was off to Brooklynn to board the Queen Mary 2. First, a picture of us on land with the ship in the background. It's so large that it didn't fit in the picture!

Next, a picture of me with NYC in the background:

Finally, a picture of us with NYC in the background:

I didn't write much about the crossing, myself. Craig kept a detailed journal that he plans to guest-post here. I have a few thoughts I'll share in another post, but I think I'll leave the day-to-day for him.