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July is my birthday month and last year I took a trip in July and decided to keep up the trend every year as much as possible!  All three of these experiences in the title above were bucket list items, which is how I travel, ticking off experiences from my bucket list.  It’s a long list!

If you are new here – welcome!  Those of you that know me are familiar with my enthusiasm for travel and travel hacking to keep it affordable and, well, for the sheer challenge of it!  When I take notable trips, I like to share them with you because it’s fun to log my key memories and maybe they will inspire or be helpful to you.

From the original Queen Mary permanently berthed in Long Beach to the 2004 built Queen Mary 2 – I took the leap and did the iconic Transatlantic Crossing, something different than crossing the Atlantic or Pacific on a repositioning cruise (also fun).   Before jet travel the way, one got to/from Europe was of course by ship.  There were many lines – British, French, American (the SS United States is still afloat, berthed in Philadelphia at this writing) with memorable names such as the Noramdie, Mauritania and the infamous Titanic and Lusitania (torpedoed WWII).  Today there is one purpose-built Ocean liner remaining, Cunard’s Queen Mary 2.  She was completed in 2004 at Chantiers de l’Atlantique, Saint-Nazaire, France after an infusion of cash into the line when Carnival Corp (US/British) bought Cunard from Trafalgar. The Trafalgar ownership of Cunard had been a disaster for the line, which was dying on the vine, as it were.  Carnival took a gamble building the Queen Mary 2 (an ocean liner with cruise ship features-lots of balcony cabins) and by all accounts it has paid off handsomely for the line and for the many happy passengers that cross or cruise on her.  Cunard today have a loyal following with their “four Queens”, the Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth (not the QE2 20th century ocean liner which is permanently berthed in Dubai as a hotel and entertainment attraction) and Queen Anne (launched 2024).  If you’ve done any cruising, you know different cruise lines have different styles and aesthetics, and Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 is quintessentially old school British and delightfully so.  She is an elegant and active ship, while old school there is nothing stuffy about her crossings, the aura of the singular is a main attraction about sailing on her.  People check books out of the library, find appealing places in steamer chairs on the promenade deck or in comfortable English roll arm sofas or wing chairs inside… attend talks & movie screenings, line dancing class, work out at the well-appointed gym, go to the also well-appointed spa…there is so much to do and so many places to eat great food – Golden Lion pub! – I for sure want to cross again and repeat the experience.

The Queen Mary 2 crosses the North Atlantic back and forth from New York’s Red Hook Terminal in Brooklyn to Southampton, London for 6 months of the year.  The other 6 months she does various cruise itineraries as designed by the line.  As such, departing July 6th my ride to London took 8 days (instead of 8 hours by plane) and here are some excerpts from my diary flowing through to my stay in London and my Ultra Long Haul flight home in the Qatar Q-suite (most highly rated business class).  Hope you enjoy!

Departure from New York was spectacular, it was a beautiful day with Manhattan, East River and the Hudson, Statue of Liberty and the Verrazzano Narrows bridge in clear view.  Fun fact: Queen Mary’s iconic black and red funnel was purpose built at a lower height to accommodate sailing under this bridge and it must be at low tide!  When not roaming around the upper decks at sail away to get best views I also spent some quiet time in a teak steamer chair on the promenade deck with a cup of tea and fruit crumble with custard as tugboats and New York Skyline slid past…

Good morning!  … North Atlantic 18 hours out from New York …  A little James Taylor and Eric Clapton softly playing at breakfast in the Corinthian lounge.  The eggs Benedict were perfect and little pots of jam very civilized. Very British leaning ship feels like I’m in London already!  Wish I could bring you home a meat pie (delicious) and mushy peas! Or fish and chips from the golden lion pub…. Super comfy beds.  Food and service wonderful. The library is huge 10,000 volumes and burl wood paneled 🤩I love the different personalities of ships.  Have a great day!!

…I just saw a one woman tour de force play “The Poetical life of Philomena McGuinness” …she played a WWII Irish nurse in London – it was brilliant.  How does she remember the lines?!  They must bake 5000+ scones every single day on this ship and serve at least equal number of those tiny pots of strawberry jam and real clotted cream…afternoon tea is a big daily event across multiple venues served every day 3pm sharp.  Tea served in the Queen’s Room includes white gloved waitstaff parading in … the sandwiches yummy, scones buttery soft and warm, pastries exquisite…

Good morning!  Captain just made his daily noon navigation announcement, and we advanced another hour (3rd time) to accommodate the time change en route. We are traveling at 20 knots on the great circle track following the curvature of the earth shifting course a few degrees to starboard every so often.  We’ve traveled 1700 miles 1300 to go.  We are 600 miles south of the southernmost tip of Greenland over the Labrador trench ocean depth about 11,000 feet. Sunny and gorgeous 61 degrees light breeze we’ve left the fog behind should be clear to the English Chanel now.  Exceptional weather it’s been like a lake or just a light swell.  Bumped into the captain in the elevator he said these calm conditions can happen even in winter but this crossing exceptional so far

They have a bridge viewing gallery occasionally open very 😎.  those sculpture looking things are spare propeller blades for the azipods!  Diesel and gas turbines power the generators the electricity from which powers the 4 pods which propel the ship.  The old propeller shaft propulsion was left behind many years ago.  The newest ships being built are fueled by LNG.  Did line dancing today…

QM2 max speed is 32 knots, faster than most cruise ships.  She’s built with a very high hull and stronger steel (promenade deck much higher up from water line than regular cruise ship) in case she needs to manage high seas – one of the ways in which as an ocean liner she’s designed a bit differently than a cruise ship.  She does 25 or so of these crossings every year and must withstand the sometimes-rough Atlantic.  Cruise ships only cross 2x per year when they seasonally reposition.  Have a great day!!

2,100 miles travelled, 900 to go as of noon today. Gorgeous day, smooth seas.  It’s dark only from about 10:30pm – 4:30am… the sunsets and sunrises (if I’m ever up for them this early) are so beautiful at sea.  The horizon is dramatic like a line drawn with a ruler

We are just south of Ireland.  We pick up the English Channel pilot at 3:45am Saturday (in 6-ish hours). We dock Southampton Sunday morning 6am.  1 more day on board!

The coast of England in sight, we are in the channel.  Last night the chamber trio at the bottom of the grand staircase on the 2nd gala night was playing Stairway to Heaven…

Debarked QM2 this morning train to Waterloo in central London from there I knew my way to my “home” via underground The Resident Kensington a simple but nice (highly rated on Expedia trip advisor) my current favorite, it’s a converted residence as many of these small hotels are.  Reasonably priced not always easy in London and great location for walking to areas I love.  Like the V&A museum for lunch which I did straight away it has this amazing lunch room I’ve got the picture as my desktop and iphone screen saver, here it is again.  I make a lunch time pilgrimage there every time I’m in London.  From here I’ll just be doing this and that some old things some new, see a play.

Saw a production of Richard III at the old Globe in London the other day all females cast the woman playing Richard was fierce they all were!  It was riveting – I’m up in the cheap seats which is how I do London theater (!) though the still cheaper seats are down in the pit standing room only 3 hours didn’t think I could do it after walking around town so much but would have been fun because it’s interactive there

Tea and Victoria cake yesterday at a cafe on the gorgeous walk to Petersham Meadow along the Thames in Richmond.  This is where I would want to live in London ✨😍 lots of green space in Richmond protected by the National trust dates back to the 1500’s when an in-debt duke gave his lands back to the crown stipulating only that he could live there until his death and it should never be sold appears to have worked.

And now I’m in Doha; plan to nap and reset in the Al Mourjan lounge “sleeping room” so I can enjoy my 01:30am departure to LAX!  I flew here from London (6-hour flight, 24,500 points + $173 economy booked through BA) to catch Qatar Airways award winning Q-suite business class ultra long haul nonstop flight Doha to home – Los Angeles!  I travel hacked this experience sending 94,500 points (+$148 taxes and fees) from my Amex Membership Rewards account to British Airways, to purchase the seat on their partner airline Qatar.  This was less costly in points than if I had sent the points and booked it through Qatar directly.  Tricks of the travel hacking universe!  If you want to learn more, check out my past blog posts about travel hacking and be sure to sign up for The Points Guy newsletter where I learned the bulk of my skills.

This flight was amazing! Everything I hoped it would be.  The service on board was top notch crew highly trained nothing slap dash about it!  They gave me a birthday surprise!  The food was delicious the suite very comfortable best sleep ever on a plane (ear plugs and eye cover provided plush purple quilted velvet blanket).  High end Diptyque amenity bag.  Food was delicious the barramundi for dinner with Arabic spices – wow. And fresh berries with lime syrup for dessert I must find that lime syrup recipe.  And every time a new tablecloth and napkins and the little candle (battery) I ate my way through the flight these days you have meals when you want them I ate 4 times (well 16 hours! )🤭 slept soundly for 5 plush hours didn’t want to sleep more and miss the fun. The Al Mourjan business class lounge at Doha airport was spectacular too, and massive.  I showered checked into a sleeping pod ate a bite … wow.  Doha airport like Anchorage big night ops tons of flights going everywhere – Beijing, Washington, Cochin, Munich, Bangkok, Cape Town, Los Angeles … between 10pm and 3am!

My ride was the the A350-1000 ultra long haul. Max thrust take off out of Doha (my avgeek self-talking …) you can hear it in the engines and feel it – kind of like max AC vs regular AC in your car.  The hot 93 degrees at 1:30am thinner air and heavy fuel and pax load requires more flap extension on wings as well as full power to get airborne.  Fun fact most take off’s are at what’s known as “take-off thrust” not max power thrust, easier on the engines.  Max power is only used when the math of heat, aircraft weight and runway length require it.

This LAX flight at 16 hours is #18 on list of 20 ultra long haul flights.  Qatar’s longest is Doha Auckland.  The #1 is Singapore’s New York to Singapore (19+ hours).  Then Qantas New York/Sydney and London/Perth….