[Worldtrippers home] [2025 Crystal-Viking]
We spent a lovely two nights being hosted by our friends Tim and Sharon at their cottage house on a 500-acre farm. We mostly sat and talked, or went for walks. Our original intention was to take them out to dinner one night, but Tim ended up cooking two fabulous dinners. Tim is a brand marketing consultant, and we spent some time brainstorming ideas for a campaign he is working on.
Yesterday, May 8, the two of us drove down to Southampton for lunch with two of Viking’s enrichment managers. The drive was supposed to take an hour, but we gave ourselves an hour and a half. We’re glad we did, because we still showed up 10 minutes late. Gail drove and Russell navigated, and Britain’s roads did not make it easy for either of us to do our jobs.
British country roads are narrow, winding, and not clearly marked. Roads are labeled with numbers instead of names, and turn-offs do not include simple information such as “North,” “South,” “East” or “West.” Instead, a sign will indicate “A343 to Middle Wallop.” Middle Wallop may be 60 miles past where you want to go, but you need to know to turn there anyway.
Then add that we’re driving on the opposite side of the road. Then add that our brand-new rental car had no navigation. Then add that the international e-sim card in our phone was not giving us any cellular service. We spent a lot of time making wrong turns and missing turns. And once you get on a highway going in the wrong direction, it can be miles before you can find another exit to turn around.
Fortunately, we had a terrific lunch and chat with our Viking managers. We continue to have a strong working relationship, and we have a full schedule of lecture cruises booked over the next two years.
We finally left Tim and Sharon’s house at noon today. We were to make a two-hour drive from Fernhurst (near London) west to Melksham (near Salisbury and Stonehenge). Sadly, for many of the reasons indicated above, our drive took us more like four hours. There were several times we had to pull off the road just to gather ourselves and try to figure out where we were. Due to the winding roads, we often had no idea what direction we should turn when we got back on the road.
Our goal was to drive to the home of Kathy Stearne, another lecturer who is a Viking Resident Historian. Our biggest challenge was actually finding her house once we eventually arrived in Melksham. Fortunately, she had sent us a photograph that showed her house currently covered in scaffolding. That was the only way we recognized it; otherwise we would have driven right past it.
Kathy is hosting us for two nights. In addition to a warm greeting from Kathy, Gail was greeted with two wonderful things. First, Kathy has a large, deep bathtub with unlimited solar hot water. Gail took a long soak to relax away her road stress. Second, Kathy has a kitchen, which gave Gail a rare opportunity to cook dinner for everyone. (Cooking is one of the things she misses the most when we are on a cruise ship, second only to missing family.) Gail assembled what Kathy had in the kitchen, and cooked a wonderful dinner of fish and potatoes.
When we leave Melksham two days from now, Gail’s plan is to drive north to Scotland. The map says this should take eight hours. But if it took us four hours just to do a two-hour drive, Gail’s idea may be wildly overambitious. We will need to take another look at the schedule.
