Where we are now
It has been so long since we last updated our blog that we have some major catch up.
As the last entry said we would, we spent five weeks in DC and Maine, with a touch of Tampa. This time was far more crammed with activities than either of us properly anticipated as we handled legal stuff required for the move, performed maintenance on our Maine house, further unpacked supplies in the Maine house, and reorganized everything else in the garage in a way we hope keeps it safe; all while running our day-to-day businesses.
On Thursday evening, May 22, we hopped in a rental car and drove to Brooklyn. We arrived in Brooklyn at about 11:30 pm, went right to bed, woke the next morning, found breakfast somewhere with internet so that we could do homework, and then drove to where the Queen Mary II was docked.
After a wonderful eight days crossing the ocean, where Stephanie saw dolphin and a sea turtle and I watch a whale breaching, we landed in Southampton, hopped on a train and are now firmly planted in Plymouth.
Exploring the World
While we were not converted into cruisers, we thoroughly enjoyed crossing on the big boat. We traveled by boat because it was the only way to bring Colby and we look forward to returning that way with him, but assume that will be the end of our cruising careers.
In preparation for the cruise, we had watched a few YouTube videos, which left us with the very depressing image of a bunch of stuffy 90 year olds waddling around in their tuxedos. As it turned out, there were a surprising number of folks from all age ranges. While the ages certainly skewed older and we might have been about average (though we would like to think of ourselves as well below the average), there were plenty of children and folks far earlier in their careers than we. And – truth be told – I enjoyed waddling around in my tux.
What folks say about cruises being one long buffet is absolutely true. There were fine dining, (very good) pub grub, and buffet options and one could eat at almost all times. The fine dining was truly excellent, the buffet was mixed, and everything else was in between.
There were a wide variety of activities in which to engage. We took part in everything from ballroom dancing lessons to yoga on the first weekend. Once the work week started, we mainly worked during the day, ate well for dinner and then hung out on the deck at night.
While Colby had to stay in the kennels, his life was not too dreadful. There were 14 dogs (and seven cats) in the kennels with two full time attendants, which meant tons of walks along the area reserved for the dogs. There were three times a day when we could visit Colby, though truth be told we only visited him in the morning and evening. From 7:30 – 8:30 pm, they opened about half of the entire 12th deck for the dogs and a surprising number of the guests would come up to enjoy them. While we brought his usual Hills Science Diet for seniors, we were told that all of the dogs could have as much of any type of food they wanted, so we asked for salmon and sweet potatoes and had huge & fresh supplies of both. At our request, we were given the fresh food in a slow feeder, but we used it as rewards as we practiced Colby’s training. (He is thoroughly spoiled, but still stoops to eating his dry food out of necessity.)
Boarding the boat was much easier as we were brought on before almost anyone else and guided directly to the kennels on the 12th deck. We were told that disembarking would be just as easy and that we would be the first ones off. As it turned out, we left the kennels after many other folks had long since disembarked. We then were required to take the elevators down instead of the stairs. A problem was that many of the guests from lower floors had figured out that they could better catch elevators going up, so the elevators were completely full by the time they got to us on the 12th deck. Eventually, we got down and off of the boat, but it certainly was not the easy exit we had been promised. On the other hand, there was virtually no customs as we disembarked.
We then hopped in a cab (with our two backpacks, Stephanie’s computer bag, Colby, and a big-ass, heavy, metal, collapsible dog crate. The cab driver looked up the price of the train fare, claimed that our train fare would be £660 and that he would charge us the same amount to drive us all of the way from Southampton to Plymouth. Between the facts that his quote sounded a LOT more expensive than we had anticipated, he was a terrible driver and the van was uncomfortable, we insisted that we were happy simply being dropped off at the train station. When we arrived at the train station, he hopped out quickly and had thrown our bags – including Stephanie’s computer bag – on the ground by the time we were out of the cab, though he was happy for me to haul out the kennel. All of that said, he was just about the only person we’ve met who wasn’t wonderful – mostly, people are incredibly sweet and helpful.
The train ride to Plymouth was beautiful. Unfortunately, the Plymouth train station is about a 30-minute walk to our flat. We tried walking together, but the kennel was just too difficult. We have a collapsible cart with wheels for it, but it still slides. The cart is great for shorter, smooth distances; not for long distances on city in England known for having the most cobblestone streets. In the end, Stephanie and Colby walked and I took a taxi for the kennel. Traveling with the kennel definitely is proving more difficult than with the dog.
Our routine has settled into us waking at around 7:00 am, having breakfast and then working with our French tutor for an hour. We then walk straight to the docks for the fish that came off of the boats during our French class, walk home to put the fish in the refrigerator, and head to the shared workspace. We tend to arrive at the shared workspace at somewhere between 10:00 and 11:30 am, depending on whether we have French that morning. We work at the shared space until they kick us out at about 6:30 pm. Stephanie often does a little more homework while I prepare dinner. We often go out for a pint before bed. A great British improvement over Ireland is that the bars serve good food after dark and I can enjoy a wonderful dessert while Stephanie drinks her cider or beer. On the other hand, the British do not offer Stephanie the wonderful flights of whiskey she enjoyed in Ireland.
This past Saturday was another workday as Stephanie continues to work through a massive pile of work. While she plowed through Market Street activities, I drafted a budget for the next year. I was slightly disappointed to see that our financial bottom line was not as strong as I had expected it to be. My assumption was that removing both of our mortgages, one of our car insurances, and maintenance & insurance for one of our houses would have moved us well into the black. Stephanie explained that my surprise was simply because I did not pay sufficient attention to our pre-nomading expenses, and that putting two-ish kids through college is a huge expense that did not go away (Stephanie adds that this is a rather kinder way of wording her actual point). Fortunately, our move to Maine will likely grant Erik in-state tuition at some point in the not too distant future.
Digital nomad life & learnings
If your digital nomading includes taking the Queen Mary II, we have a few helpful hints.
First, Cunard (the folks who own the QM2) say that they book their kennels out two years in advance, but it appears that they have plenty of cancelations and we booked Colby with just under a month’s notice (Stephanie isn’t convinced this is accurate, but we agree to disagree). Second, the experienced cruisers all explained what seems to be common knowledge that the closer to embarkation date you wait, the cheaper the tickets.
Second, other than a $238 charge (total – $119 per person) to cover tips, taxes and maintenance, and $396 for two people (4 devices total) for 7 days, for the stronger internet service, you really do not need to spend any additional money once you are on the boat; though Stephanie enjoyed a well-earned drink most nights.
Third, the internet is strong but unreliable. We were easily able to have video meetings, other than when our internet suddenly stopped. Fortunately, losing the internet usually just entailed reconnecting and logging back in; but it was a pain in the ass and occasionally very poorly timed. (Stephanie’s assessment of the internet quality is less kind, but again – agree to disagree.)
If you want to work outside of your room, Deck 3 has a row of chairs by the windows on both sides by Stairway B. Decks 2 has the same thing, in the same place, but with tables. We worked on Deck 2. Stephanie says that these rows of chairs are where the signal is strongest on the boat (having researched this because, well, she’s a researcher.) The tables on Deck 2 are also right by the internet café (no food, just computers), but that room is both near the front of the boat and does not have windows, so there is a lot of rocking without giving your eyes a reliable point of reference. Two tables on each side of Deck 2 have outlets. The outlets are on the British electric system, so you need an adaptor. We shared our adaptor with one man who said that the boat had thrown away his adaptor when he boarded, which sounds absurd; other than that he was well supplied other than not having an adaptor.
Once we got to Plymouth, catching a taxi was a challenge. You can either stand in a line with about one taxi showing up every 10-ish minutes, or you can call a phone number (we were told, however, that this was unusual, and the taxis were normally there but were caught in some kind of traffic jam). When I called the number, I was told that it would be about 30 minutes. In the end, I decided to wait for a taxi to come to the stand (and strongly suspect that a man who gave me advice also gave me his place in line).
This weekend, we took a wonderful walk along the Plym Valley Trail. The trail was often beautiful, but the highlight was watching Stephanie’s face when she realized that we were about to take a double decker bus to get there.
Funny & unexpected moments
A week long boat ride also enables one to make friends in a way an airplane ride cannot. We asked to be seated with other people for every meal and possibly made one good friend. Terry, we are serious about offering you use of our Maine house some week, and about inviting you and your wife to join us wherever in the world we happen to be – and we are so looking forward to pictures of your adventure, which sounds so fantastic! We also learned how some people almost literally spend their entire life on cruises, traveling around the world. Finally, we did not realize it ahead of time, but the cruise community seems very embracing of the LBGTQ community.
Photo & Video Gallery
Resources & recommendations
We have found our favorite shared workspace to date. THINQTANQ is located in Fairbairn House on Higher Lane in Plymouth. Everyone is tremendously friendly and helpful. They are extremely responsive and well priced. Perhaps best of all, everyone is very respectful of volume but we do not have the same library sensation we experienced in Galway. Folks are regularly having meetings at their desks and just not talking at an annoying volume. THINQTANQ also seems to have weekly evening outings that are most enjoyable. Last week, we went to a restaurant/pub that had tons of board games to play (called Twisted Board Game Café Bar) and this Wednesday they are hosting a walking tour of Plymouth. The one downside at THINQTANQ is that they are the first to say that we cannot have a key until we have been here for three weeks. Their reasoning makes complete sense since we could show up after hours and steal everyone’s computer equipment and they want to be sure we are not fly-by-night, but having to pack up at 6:30 pm when that is only 1:30 pm in DC and Massachusetts can be really disruptive.
Once again, Stephanie found a great apartment (assuming you do not mind walking two flights of stairs). It is listed on AirBnB as Flat in Plymouth, hosted by Emma, and so far it’s the most well-appointed AirBnB we’ve ever stayed in. It’s truly hard to come across something that should be here but isn’t, and Emma could not be more responsive or nicer. We are located at 3 Barbican Court and are right by the old port from which the Mayflower left for America – and if there’s one drawback it’s that with so many options for live outdoor music and dining so nearby, Friday and Saturday evenings can get rather noisy. Still – completely worth it! There are tons of great restaurants in the area. We love having breakfast at The Cornish Bakery, and dinners or desserts at Armando Lounge. The highlight is that we walk most mornings to the dock where the fishing boats come in with the fresh fish to buy our dinners. We go to R&G Seafoods, where they are very friendly and fillet the fish for us. We have found that the boats arrive at around 10:30 am, so we go after our French class.
Our French is oozing forward. Stephanie has been working with Duolingo for our four months and I have been for about three (Stephanie noted with some disappointment that according to Duolingo, “level 26 in real life means I can chat a little, if someone is patient and ready to help”. Hope the French are as nice and helpful as the English and Irish!) We also started working with a French tutor Celine Dutoutnier three days a week (plus homework) and we hope to survive by the time we get to France in just under a month. We will continue working with Celine while we live in Paris, but then I will switch to Italian Duolingo.
Talking about going to Paris, we have significantly changed our schedule; in large part to address complications around getting a dog from England to the mainland. Our first surprise was that we cannot bring a dog on the train through the chunnel (the train that goes under the English Channel). We were not concerned when we learned that fact because we figured we would just take a ferry. Much to our surprise, dogs seem only to be allowed on the ferries if they are in a car; they cannot walk on. In the end, it looks like we will end up renting a car and driver to drive us through the chunnel to Calais, and then take a train from there. But then, the next bit of information is that dogs are not allowed on the train from Calais to Brussels. We can travel with Colby from Calais to Paris, so that is what we are going to do.