Go to gate 50

I’ve managed to keep up my early morning walking regime on the top deck where I’m normally the first to appear while it’s still dark. I’m then joined by a woman in a yellow t-shirt who walks the opposite way…

So I’ve now crossed the Atlantic on a ship. Tick. The remaining four sea days before reaching our first port of call in St Maarten were more enjoyable largely because the weather improved as we ventured further south. Some of…

After being dropped at Waterloo by Bangladeshi taxi driver, Kabir, I boarded the train and immediately struck up a conversation with Tony (58) from Sydney who happened to be on the same cruise. 30+ years working with Qantas, he retired…

We had a much needed sea day before the next stop in Cartagena, Spain. I spent my time in the retreat and got speaking to Ron (78) from Stoke on Trent. He’s on the ship with his ex-wife who he…

For Pisa and/or Florence the ships dock in Livorno, or Leghorn in English, an Italian coastal city in the Ligurian Sea (the leghorn chicken originates from Tuscany). The choice was Pisa or Florence and I chose Pisa (12 miles away)…

It think country number 76 deserves a blog of its own because it was quite fabulous. The second smallest country in the world to the Vatican, with a bulging population of 38,000 (Goodson Park could hold them all) comprising about…

Our first port of call was the lovely city of Alicante. I was due to go on an excursion to Guadalest but three hours on a coach was less appealing than a colonic taster session so I went freestyle and…

The three sea days sailing toward the Mediterranean provided an opportunity to acquaint myself with Britannia and the P&O way of doing things. This was also the first time I’d cruised from a UK port and the first time I’d…

I awoke alarmingly early on the final day and was still perplexed by the lack of tartar sauce served with my fish and chips in the hotel restaurant last night. I mean this is France. They’re supposed to know about…

I left the hotel with a heavy bag around my shoulder and schlepped to the car park a few hundred metres away. There was no helpful man to assist me in my moment of need. I knew the car park…