Our trip, in photos

Our trip across the Atlantic and in England was fantastic. Each day we did something new and wonderful. To try to type up everything would take forever, plus nobody would want to read it all, so instead, I’d like to share some photos, and I’ll write a caption for each:

This was our room on the ship. E and I joked that we were in steerage, because we were paying the lowest fare. We got a very comfortable and very tiny inside room, so we had no windows. However, we did have a king sized bed, a mini bathroom with shower, a small desk, and built in closets so we could unpack. We loved our little room.

The Queen Mary 2 had a lot to do, and a lot to explore. We could go to lectures, classes, wine tasting, planetarium shows, relax near the handful of pools, or read in the library. E and I loved the library, it was very classy and comfortable, plus it was on the front of the ship, so you could sit in a number of cozy chairs and look out towards sea.

One of our favorite parts of the ship was the observation deck, which was located right below the bridge. Each morning we would head out to the observation deck to get a reading on E’s GPS so we could track our progress across the ocean. Many days were foggy and the sea was black, but some days it was clear and beautiful, which is unusual in the north Atlantic. And see those things at the bottom of the photo? They are extra propeller blades, stored on the deck like modern art.

One of our favorite things to do on board the ship was high tea every afternoon. We would dress up, and head down to the Queen’s Ballroom for tea. Waiters would walk around with teapots always eager to fill your cup. There were also waiters with finger sandwiches, scones with jam and clotted cream, and a dessert tray. All of this was wonderful. E and I always tried to sit near a window; the Queen’s Ballroom was located low in the ship so you looked out the window at almost the waterline. One day, while sipping tea, I watched dolphins, and other days I just saw the dark churning sea beyond the five paned glass windows.

I’ve mentioned before, we decided to bring Chuckanaka along with us, who is E’s Ugly Doll. Chuckanaka is a worrywart, just like E, hence the reason we brought him along. Well one night we decided we better get a few photos of Chuckanaka on board before heading to dinner. I took this photo of the two worriers, and I love it. He looks so cute and happy, and E doesn’t look too shabby either!
Like I said before, some days the sea was dark and the air foggy. E and I liked these days just as much as the sunny ones, it made us feel like we were really on the open sea. E snapped this photo of me one morning after doing our GPS reading, I like this photo because I look like how I was feeling: happy.


Once we got to London we had a great time exploring the city. We had been here before, so many things felt familiar to us. The next three photos I took with my new camera with the zoom. I like them because they are all subjects of millions of tourist’s photos, but because I zoomed, they might be a little more interesting.

Here is Big Ben (Big Ben is the clock, not the tower):


Here is the London Eye. I took this photo from across the river, in front of a statue on Westminster Pier. I like the horse statue in the foreground, the London Eye in the background.


And this one is the Tower Bridge (the most famous bridge in England). One day E and I took a boat to Greenwich to see the National Maritime Museum and stand on the Prime Meridian, and I snapped this photo on the way back up the river, right after we had passed under the famous bridge.

After two days in London we headed out to the countryside. Our first stop was Lacock Abbey, an abbey that was built in the 1200’s, but has been more recently used for filming Harry Potter movies. The Abbey was magical, it truly was, and this photo is my favorite out of about 900 that I snapped. I hope you like it too.


In addition to old Abbeys and abandoned castles we visited, we went to a lot of gardens. Both E and I LOVE gardens. It might sound weird, but they are honestly so beautiful and magical. English gardens are like nothing we have in Utah. In the five days we were in the country, E and I went to at least half a dozen gardens, each better than the last. Here are a few photos of some of the gardens, and if I can figure out how to upload a video on YouTube, I’ll post a video I made here of one of our favorite gardens.




The Cotswolds are towns that look like they are straight from a storybook, it is honestly hard to imagine people living in these towns. Each is tiny, with a church in the middle. This is a photo I snapped of a typical Cotswold town.

And the cottages have just as beautiful gardens.

We stayed in the town of Ebrington, where we had a thatched roof cottage as a little garden in the back. We are about to enjoy cocktail hour when I took this photograph.

Right behind our cottage was the local church. One night the bells were ringing and ringing, for about an hour, later we found out it was the bell ringing class! Anyway, the church was surrounded by really old and spooky grave stones. Most were covered with moss and were about to tip over, which of course was fun to photograph.

After spending five wonderful days in the country, we returned back to London. We still had our geobug DinglePup, but luckily there was a geochace near by, and we found it in a really creepy graveyard not far from my aunt and uncle's flat. This woman was on a tomb, and it really looks like she has been crying. I might print this photo and pull it out each year around Halloween.


One the last day in London we woke up early, and met our cab driver outside at 6:30 am (we had hired a car service to take us to the airport). The cabby was acting odd, shaking around and driving aggressively. I was still tired, so spent the most of the cab ride with my eyes closed. E, the worrier that he is, was not at all relaxed, and soon he said "Baby!" followed by a swear word or two. I opened my eyes to see us hit the car in front of us. Luckily E and I both had our seat belts on, as well as the cab driver. We hopped out of the car and realized that this was bad, how were we going to catch our flight? Only a moment later another cab driver pulled up and asked us if we were on the way to the airport, he would be more than happy to take us. Thankful for the ride, E and I hopped in the car, and didn't even think of filing a police report until hour later when we were already on the way home. Thank god nobody was hurt. Here is the photo, but I want you to keep in mind, our trip across the Atlantic and England was fantastic, not even a car crash could overshadow that. Plus, now, when people ask "how was England" we can say "we had a smashing time!"

Oh, and another thing, Violet had a great time too, she has a full album and a lot of photos on her blog. Her link is to the right, called Violet's Blog.