We arrived in Southampton on Monday after a trip that could not have gone more smoothly! We had four bags to check, two of them overweight, and when I explained to the British Airways reception person that we were travelling for four months and that John was teaching and the books are just heavy, blah, blah, blah... she said that since he was a teacher, and since the weight was from books, she would not charge the overweight charge, only the extra bag charge, but could not guarantee the same on the return trip. Take that, Air Canada!!! We were so anxious at that point to end preparations and just get going, and it was lovely to be treated so well by an airline.
After an early arrival at LHR, we were met by our driver and had an hour and 15 minute car ride to Southampton. After check-in we set about trying to stay awake and managed to do that until about 8pm, and have had the usual time adjustment since then.
Southampton (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southampton) is an interesting mix of old and new. There are pieces of castle walls surrounding the old part of the city and new buildings and shopping centres that abut those walls. Inside the walls are neat and tidy buildings of flats with lovely gardens and window boxes. Southampton hosts many families on their way to cruises that leave from the docks across from our hotel, and we have seen many of them as we have wandered through the town and shopping areas.
Last night there was a reception for Semester at Sea where we met many of our new shipmates. John and I both came away feeling very positive about those we were able to meet, a couple of whom were on our last voyage. This morning we had an orientation session starting at 8am and met others. We have some large families sailing this time - one couple bringing three children, another with five and another with seven! There are several others who have one or two, so we will have lots of young ones, something we really enjoyed last time. There will be 23 lifelong learners on this trip and 579 students, about 150 fewer than last time, which will be nice. The ship was fairly crowded last time.
Our bags are downstairs waiting to be loaded and we will be shuttled to the ship starting in a couple of hours. (Although there are docks across from our hotel, the dock from which we are leaving is further down.) John and the other faculty and staff are still in orientation meetings - they let family members go after the introductions were made this morning.
So I will sign off for now, and be back on later once we have internet access on the ship. Until later.
