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Cruise diary
Wednesday 16th July 2003
Dave writes...
"I was filled with trepidation about what I was going to encounter over the coming weeks as I boarded the train from Reading to Southampton at five in the morning. I hadn’t slept well due to the unusually sweltering summer heat. I met up with the scientific party at the airport - this was the first time I had met most of them. I was eager to make a reasonable impression, which wasn’t easy considering how tired I had become. We flew first from Southampton to Charles de Gaulle just outside Paris. We had planned to take the train to the centre of Paris and spend some time looking about. Our plans were scuppered by a seriously delayed train. So we ended up going to a small restaurant in a suburb to the north of the city. Good food and heated socio-political debate ensured that lunch was stimulating. We arrived back at Charles de Gaulle airport with plenty of time so we settled down in preparation for the long flight ahead...."
Tina writes...
"We flew from Southampton to Paris, then Paris to Port Victoria. At Paris, Carla and I stayed behind in the airport to rest, while the others took the train into Paris. We had croque monsieurs (toasted cheese and ham sandwiches) for lunch and then went shopping. The only difficulty was Bram had left me the GPS aerial to take to the boarding gate, and the rocket-shaped tube worried the security people at the gate. Eventually they let me through and we settled down to sleep and wait for our flight..."