In August 2015 we took our first ever ocean cruise. You would think that living in Seattle, it would be a no-brainer to take one of the many Alaska cruises that depart from here. But we’ve never gotten that into our vacation schedule. Steven has been on a windjammer sailing cruise in the Bahamas many years before. Neither of has had been on a full-on cruise ship. Quite frankly, we’ve always thought why would you want to go on the exact same vacation with thousands of other people? On the other hand, there was always the allure of the glamour of a transatlantic crossing from the days before the jet age. With a fascination for the Titanic and having missed out on the Queen Elizabeth 2 before her retirement, it was time to check off a buck list item.
The initial push came from our dear friends in Texas, Kevin and Charmaine. I’ve know Charmaine since college, though we hadn’t kept in very good touch until the days of Facebook ‘reunited’ us. Her husband Kevin had been in the Navy and had sailed all the world’s oceans except the Atlantic. He brought up the idea of doing so for his milestone birthday. It just so happens, this year is a milestone birthday for me. Also a milestone for our unofficial anniversary. So why not go all out on a Grand Voyage?
It didn’t make sense to go all the way to England without spending at least some time on the other side of the pond. So what to do?
Steven had been doing recent on his family tree and found that he has Scot ancestry and Kevin did a study abroad program in Ireland during college. Our hope was to be able to go to both Scotland and Ireland. In early planning it became evident that both would not be possible in the time we had. So Scotland became the choice this time.
Of course, the trip became more and more complicated as the planning went along, but as they say, planning is half the fun.
In the posts below, please follow along on our journey. We’ve provided some glimpses of the people, places and things we encountered along the way. We hope you enjoy reading about our adventure.
Bon Voyage!
Steven & Kevin
