The day has finally arrived, well almost, because I get a little anxious about possible traffic hold-ups on the day, we often travel to Southampton the day before and this was no exception. However, our mode of transport sometimes varies. If it’s a short cruise of a week or less, we sometimes take the train as it’s so cheap, around £18 each return from Blackwood to Southampton. On this occasion as this cruise was for 2 weeks, we had 2 cases each and the train would not have been practical. The drive down to Southampton took about two and a half hours and we arrived just after lunchtime. Our room in the Southampton Hilton was ready so we checked in and went for a swim in the hotel pool.

After a relaxing day, we spent the evening with some friends of ours who live in Southampton, Simon and Julie, We met them last year on a holiday in India and they are a lovely couple, a few pints and a curry later, it was time to turn in ready for the big day tomorrow.