Our stay on the Queen Mary ship.

From the docks this magnificent boat looks amazing for an 86 year old thats seen over 800,000 passengers and troops on board and traveled a distance of over 600,000 miles in the 31 years in the maritime life.

She was purchased by the City of Long Beach CA. In 1967 and has remained here for over 40 years.

Along the promenade deck there was various rooms to go to which included the children's playroom exhibit. this room is fully blocked off by windows but as you can see its a replica of back in the 1940's. Although the toys and chairs have not been used or played with for many years they are still in pristine order.

Whilst being on board we felt the sudden urge to eat and as we were on the promenade desk the Chelsea chowder house seemed to be the only one that was open. 
Within minutes of walking in the waitress had served us and got our drinks order, which at this point was lovely and very much needed as we'd not been anywhere after getting our hire car. 
Once we ordered our food it was served within 20 minutes steaming hot and tasting absolutely fantastic. I ordered the Chicken Pasta Alfredo in a white wine sauce, this tasted and smelt magnificent but I could not finish the meal even with my massive appetite I ate as much as I could and I still had over 1/4 of the bowl left to eat.

My Father ordered the Fish and Chips.... such a typical English man. I was a little surprised when the waitress had asked if he wanted vinegar as this is the first time I've been asked in the USA on holiday about vinegar. 

The view from our table was amazing we could see as far as the eye could see. 

From one side of the boat the view of Long Beach and the Skyline were clearly visible throughout our stay. We watched the a few boats pass by and asked our waitress if the building that was in plain sight was the aquarium,  turned out it was the convention centre and the aquarium was past the little village that could be seen next to the marina.  

The room were kept in the condition they would have been when the ship was still being used as a cruise liner. 

Our room had two single beds in that were against the wall, both had bedside cabinets and air vents close to the beds also. 

The room was very out dated but looked as it would have during her sailing days except for the flat screen television in the room.

The bathroom on the other hand I would not recommend flushing the toilet in the middle of the night due to the loud bang when flushing with the foot bar. 

If you are tall please be aware that the shower in our room was very low. I am short but I still found that I had to bend at the knees a little when  washing and rinsing my hair as the shower is positioned around about 5ft high. 

 Staying on the Queen Mary Ship was amazing and I would do it again if given the chance. 

I did not find any problems or hear any noises throughout my stay, nor did I see any ghosts but each to their own as I do not believe this may have clouded my judgement as to whether the ship is haunted or not.

Perhaps in your visit you can tell me what spooky goings on you heard or saw to change my mind on whether ghosts exists. 

The British Airways flight to California ...

The airport terminal was so quiet. 

Visiting california has always been on my bucket list and when my dad asked me to go with him I jumped at the chance.

We arrived at the Heathrow airport, London an hour before check in and found ourselves looking for some where to eat. There are two restaurants check in side of security but one was closed.

We choose to eat at Carluccio's where we ordered colazione magnifica. Eggs with grilled smoky pancetta, sautéed mushrooms, tomato and toasted Italian bread. Coffee or tea and a fresh juice which cost £9.95. I have to say it tasted amazing and would recommend it to anyone that has time to eat at that time of the morning. 

Our plane being prepared for the flight.

After check in and baggage check. I found myself heading towards duty free. Which wasn't much cheaper in the sweets department then Asda or other larger shops. Although I didn't buy anything I still wandered in and out of each shop looking at the extortionate prices and to be honest I walked out of the shops giggling to myself.

The flight itself was beautiful, smooth and easy going.
Although the air stewards weren't on the ball with serving drinks. They were with food. Each meal was served at just about the right time. Although first choice for food was already gone, the cabin crew were polite and apologetic for the lack of chicken provisions.

The female pilot - yes female made the flight a pleasant with occasional turbulence and a perfect landing, I didn't even think we had hit the tarmac it was a smooth landing.

Passing through border control LAX took around two and a half hours from getting off the plane to collecting luggage.

View from the cabin window as we flew over the US.

Getting the rental car from Avis couldn't of been easier. After exiting the airport we stood on a platform and all the car rental businesses had buses waiting to take us to their lots.  

Once at Avis we stood in line for five minutes filled in a few forms and we were set to go.

I did download NAVMII navigation but found it didn't work. Lucky for us I managed to connect to wifi and search on Google maps and keep the directions to the hotel which we wouldn't of found if it wasn't for  GOOGLE MAPS.