Our Air New Zealand flight from Auckland dipped over the blue sea of the
California coast.



" 26 miles across the sea, Santa Catalina is waitin' for me,...Santa Catalina,
the island of romance, romance,romance, romance".

From the air, Los Angeles spread out below.
A huge, sprawling, brown map, criss-crossed by endless freeways,snaking out of
sight, into a hazy distance.



America. The dream.

We had grown up with it since television first brought it alive on the small
screen. The culture, the diversity, the black and white grainy tv shows full of


westerns and sitcoms like I Love Lucy, The Nelsons and Leave it to Beaver. The
Hollywood movie stars, the sheer size of it. Now we were here.

The dream came true.



LAX - is this not the busiest airport in the world? Is it one of the oldest? It
is old looking, dull, grey and grungy.

We were warned about the high security in America and approached the security
passport control with a sense of discomfort, trying to look like what we were an
innocent couple of tourists on our first big visit to the USA. With a smile, we
approached the uniformed female, armed with a glock. They all had glocks!

We were fingerprinted and eye-scanned - watched by the line of people behind us,
all had the same look of discomfort, but we were through, no worries and on our
way to Long Beach, California. This was the first of many bus trips and our
first indication of the sheer size of the country.

The large black man who accosted us for money at the exit was probably one of
the best dressed of all the beggars who preyed on us throughout Europe and
America.



"Signs signs, everywhere a sign" even signs which said SIGNS!!

Hooters, Wells Fargo, Chase Bank, Dunkin Donuts, Gold's Gym (now that one sounds
familiar, did Arnold train there?) Wal-Mart, Western Union, Tires, Foodmart,
Halloween (fast approaching, I never saw so many pumpkins on this trip!) Bails
paid - and my special favourite - Land of the Giants! That one may indicate a
sporting team but as our first meal was about to be consumed it may have had
more to do with the sheer size of things, food, people -...

STEFANOS PIZZA 429 C. Shoreline Village Dr. LONG BEACH Ca.

This is what we had when we arrived, after a long bus journey from LAX.



1 garden salad - 1 HUGE salad, a MOUNTAIN of salad consisting of lettuce upon
lettuce, tomato, cheese, croutons and dressing. Everything has dressing.

1 spaghetti and meatballs, a veritable tower, big and spicy

1 lasagna with sausage

1 glass chablis - in a HUGE tumbler, what we would call a pint!

4 slices of toast, no butter

Coffee - no milk, you have to ask for regular milk - on the side.

Cost : $26.59

Well... that was a long trip!!



A description of our accommodation at Long Beach follows:



The RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Queen Mary was built in Clyde Bank, Scotland.

On her maiden voyage in May 1936, she was considered the grandest ocean liner
ever built.


During her heyday, the elite high society considered her the only civilized way
to travel


After four years carrying pasengers and mail between Southhampton and New York,
in 1940 the Queen Mary was drafted into service in WW11.

She became a troop carrier and hospital ship operating under the alias "Grey
Ghost". She was so named because her entire body from bow to stern and hull to
funnel was painted grey for camouflage as a defence against German U-boats.

In 1943, she set the record for carrying the greatest number of people, (16,683)
in a floating vessel, a record that still stands.

The Queen Mary continued her service as a troop ship and bride and baby
transport until 1947.



During her war service, Winston Churchill was a frequent passenger of the Queen
Mary. It was aboard that he signed the D-Day agreement and planned the D-Day
invasion. The Queen Mary went back into passenger service in 1947 and served
another 20 years, known as "the stateliest ship on the seas".

In the early 1960s, all passenger liners began to lose money. Jet air travel was
becoming the primary mode of transatlantic transport, so The Cunard Line decided
to put Queen Mary up for sale. The largest bid came from The City of Long Beach
California at $3.45 mill.

She set sail on her last great cruise- a 39 day voyage- on October 31, 1967. She
arrived in Long Beach on December 9, 1967.

Because she was 8ft too wide to fit The Panama Canal, she had to go down the
coast of Sth. America and around Cape Horn, crossing The Equator twice to get
there.

Between 1967 and 1971, she was transformed into a floating hotel, convention
centre and tourist attraction.

The Queen Mary re-opened to the public in 1971. In 1993 the ship was placed on
the National Register of historic places under the designation "With historic
significance".



We stayed here the nights of October 4 and 5, 2009.



This was a "real" ship. Original wood, all browns, long corridors leading off
into the distance, subdued lighting and so cold! It didnt take much imagination
to know what it must have been like to be a passenger, with 1930s music playing
in the background, as we


wandered the cold, silent corridors, holding onto the rails either side, to
steady ourselves with the rolling! It is in a dock, with water, no rocking.

Surprisingly few other people encountered. We were tired, jet lagged - and
argumentative! Not much inspecting of the room.

I watched in amazement as a extremely large woman attempted entry to her room
down the corridor. Hard not to stare at that spectacle.



Woken out of a deep sleep by a sound "WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP!!!"

It is midnight.

A robotic female voice alerts us with "ATTENTION, ATTENTION. THIS IS NOT A
DRILL. AN EMERGENCY HAS BEEN DETECTED. PLEASE GO TO THE NEAREST EXIT. DO NOT USE
ELEVATORS. REPEAT.....THIS IS NOT A DRILL..... er, we are ON A SHIP.

Stumbling in the dark for a light switch, throw anything on, NO TIME FOR
UNDERWEAR!!, getting one foot into a thong, WHERES THE OTHER ONE!!

I can hear Greg crashing around in the dark, we are completely disoriented,
expletives flung around. I flee, half panicked for the door, waiting for Greg to
come through.

He doesn't!. The dimly lit corridors are all DESERTED! Where are all the other
panicked guests, tumbling bleary-eyed from their rooms, sorry, cabins! Are there
any guests at all apart from us?

Greg is still in there!!

The alarms are still going 'WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP' very scary stuff. WHERE IS GREG??
Why is he not here with me, while the ship burns?!

A domestic ensued. He was grabbing stuff - like passports!!! Two patrolling
cops/security guards casually inform us that someone left a MIKE too close to a
sensor.

That was it? How come no-one was fleeing like us? Were we the only ones on the
whole floor?



Back in our room, we calmly went over procedures in the event of a similar
situation and went back into a troubled and restless sleep.

A similar situation ensued at 3 am the same night. "WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP"

This time, no panic, no argument, just calmly get our cases and walk out into
the dimly lit, empty corridor.

Calmly down to reception where I calmly lit into the Night Manager while a young
couple also enquiring, cowered behind us!

While he calmly tore his hair out, whilst giving little explanation, we calmly
went back to our room, on the look-out for wisps of smoke. We slept until
8.30am.





To be awakened, not by a smoke/terrorist/evacuate now/ alarm. Oh no. This time
it was the grating and whining and rumbling of what sounded like an INDUSTRIAL
DRILL on a building site! Right outside our door!

On opening the door, we were faced with a team of Mexican maintenance men,
wielding heavy machinery, wearing masks, setting up ladders and with the whole
area OUTSIDE OUR ROOM taped off LIKE A SCENE FROM CSI MIAMI!!!!



Greg rang the Manager, Norman, calmly and invited him to our room FOR A CHAT!!
He was pleasant and apologetic and said he would upgrade us to another room.



The upgrade, he did us proud. We trundled our cases along more endless ships
corridors until we hauled up in front of our door.

THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH SUITE. Right next to the WINSTON CHURCHILL SUITE AND THE
WINDSOR SUITE. We couldn't believe it.



This original suite, with original fittings, included a King bed (fit for a King
or in this case a Duke)/bathroom ensuite and adjoining suite, with writing desk,
ironing room and porthole windows with water views.

Masculine and very atmospheric. Reeking of it. A hospital ship, War ship, a
ghost ship!



We both saw something in the adjoining room. I saw a shadow move, but bright and
there were no shadows in here: Greg saw movement also in the room. He thought it
was me.

It wasn't..




Lots of memorabilia in the rooms, on the deck, guns which were never fired in
anger. Gloria Swanston, Edward and the Duchess of Windsor, Liberace.

They all sailed on The Queen Mary. Ghosts of the past, in the era of grand sea
voyages.

One Red Cross lady on board, it is stated, was sick for the whole four and a
half hours she sailed on it.

There were lots of children - a creche - a room with an old doll and a
blackboard...life vest drill with poor little ones wearing huge life vests.




And the elderly man in full Captains uniform, who took my arm in his for a photo
on the deck. I was actually surprised and a little disappointed, when the photo
was developed - and he was in it!!



A final comment:

Greg : Did you smell smoke?

Paul: No

Greg : If there was a raging inferno outside the door, I know we would have been
alright, because I would have opened the porthole -

and hurled you through.