My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
In April of 2020 I had a one way ticket to London. After my contract on the Golden Princess I would spend a few days in Sydney and then come to the UK to see as many friends as possible- I would visit Lauren in her hometown of Liverpool, I would visit Rose and I’d go to Prague which had been sitting on my list of places I wanted to go because I hadn’t been before. Matt, my favorite boss and Cruise Director, had invited me to come visit him in England, but he might have been meant to go on a ship. Throughout the Pandemic Matt kept asking me when I was coming to visit even though the borders were closed. When the cruises started up again we sailed on semi-parallel itineraries on different ships in the Caribbean often going to the same ports just off by a day or two. There was one day in six months when we would both be in Fort Lauderdale on the same day, but that was during the month that there was no crew shore leave. When our vacations aligned, it was finally time to come visit. Matt told me to come over Easter Weekend because Jarred would have extra days off due to the bank holiday.
My flight from San Francisco to London left at noon on Wednesday and arrived at 6:30am (which was 10:30pm Pacific) on Thursday. I’d managed to snooze for about an hour on the plane and I was determined to power through and stay awake until night time in my new time zone.
Matt and I had both spent the winter in the Caribbean, so I’d had plenty of sunshine and was fully prepared for gloomy English weather, but the sun came out for the Bank Holiday weekend.
We went out for lunch at a place Matt and Jarred loved because it was very American- they took your order from the table rather than the bar and there were unlimited sodas and visits to the salad bar. I ordered a cheese tart with a Jack potato, excited to find out what that would be! It turned out to be a baked potato, which explained why the waitress had suggested having it with sour cream.
Back at the house, the weather was sunny and warm so we pulled the cushions out of the closet and lounged away the evening in the back garden. Matt and Jarred’s lodger Carly joined us, and I enjoyed myself so much that I forgot to take pictures for the next three days.
We took Matt’s dog Maggie for a walk around the corner to visit his Mum and Dad in the house they are renovating. I also got a tour of the house he grew up in which is now owned by his sister.
The big event on Friday was to go to an English pub to celebrate Matt’s Nan’s 88th birthday. Matt is really close to his Nan and I’d heard many stories about her on the ship. It was really neat to get to meet her in person.
On Saturday Matt and Jarred hosted a BBQ in the back garden. There were burgers and sausages, corn on the cob, plus grilled Haloumi cheese and asparagus. We were joined by two of Matt’s very funny pregnant friends, Cheryl and Holly (one of them brought their partner). After chips (crisps) and dip to start, it was impossible to eat everything that had been grilled. Holly made a fruity creamy dessert with marzipan that was delicious, and then we grilled marshmallows for the closest thing we could put together for smores. We substituted digestives for graham crackers, the marshmallows were striped in three different colors and the English chocolate was superior to Hersheys.
Sunday Morning we woke up early (before 9am) to take Maggie, Matt and Jarred’s little dog to Lydiard Park so she could run around off leash before it opened. She got more exercise than expected when she started chasing a dog three times her size– we were all impressed by how she was able to catch up! When we stopped for coffee and scones, Matt gave me an etiquette lesson on the order of cream and jam. I took this picture to see which of my British friends would point out my mistakes:
Sunday afternoon we had another very British experience: One of Matt’s family friends (Auntie not by blood) was turning 90 and she had extended an invite to her birthday party. It was in a clubhouse on the side of a sports field. It was decorated with balloons and there was a spread of catered finger food. Jarred helped me select the tastiest choices. The walk back to the house was about an hour, so we broke it up with a stop at a pub along the way.
Monday was the day for our big day out. I’ve done lots of the typical touristy things (London, Oxford, Bath, Stonehenge, Devon) so we struggled to think of something new and interesting to do. Matt’s mum suggested the Caen Hill Locks. I love locks and canals. When she suggested we could go up there and walk up and down the locks and have a snack on the side of the water, all of the other choices fell to the wayside.
The drive through the countryside was beautiful and was even more fun with Maggie on my lap.
We rounded the corner to the locks and a boat was just pulling up.
One of the guys manning the lock pointed out that I looked like I wanted to open it– Boy did I!
I pushed on the big gate opening the lock for the boat to pass through and then closed it again.
That night we had dinner at Matt’s favorite restaurant in Swindon– Kenzo.
The food was so good. It was fusion so I wasn’t entirely sure what I was eating. As is my usual experience with Matt, we ordered more food than we could possibly eat and all of it was delicious.
Each night we watched an episode of Australia’s Married at First sight – a ridiculous reality TV show that completely sucked us in.
At the beginning of May, Matt will be joining the Enchanted Princess in South Hampton. He requested me and I requested to go back to the Enchanted, but head office said no. I’m really glad I got to hang out with my friend and see where he is from, since it is once again undetermined when we will see each other again.