July 27 - Tilbury, England

 Tilbury was the end of the first of our two cruises.  We have very dear friends (Peter and Carol) whom we met on a cruise around South America in 2015.  They live in a city called Southend-on-Sea which is an easy 33 minute train ride from Tilbury.

There were a number of passengers staying over like we are so Regent offered a shuttle bus to a large shopping mall in the area with an optional dropoff at the train station.  Very convenient!

After doing some research, we had the train schedule and Carol told us which station to get off, so we were set.  The train had a very convenient way of paying:  you put your credit card on the little yellow pad and the gate opens to let you in.  Then on the other end, you put the same credit card on the yellow pad there and the gates open and you are charged the appropriate fare.  When we got to Thorpe Bay, there were Peter and Carol waiting for us.  It was so good to see them again.  Besides that first cruise around South America, we've sailed with them from Australia to Japan in 2018. The last time we saw them was a few years ago when they came to Southampton to see us off on a cruise we did around the Baltic.  We've done some Zoom calls over the years and lots of texts too, of course.

They took us for coffee at one of their regular haunts and then to their house for a look-see.  I'm so grateful for that as we can now picture them in their chairs reading or watching TV.  Then it was off to the Roslin Beach Hotel for a fabulous 3-course lunch that rivaled the food on our cruise.  Lots of laughs and stories and comparing our lives in the UK and the US.  Of course, people and problems are the same everywhere.  

All too soon, it was time for them to take us back to the train station.  We had to be back on board by 4:30, but of course we didn't want to cut it that close, so we were all watching the time and they had us to the train in plenty of time to be back in Tilbury by 3:25.  We were able to call an Uber within a couple of minutes and were back on board before 3:45.  Apparently, we were the second to the last couple to board.  

We had a wonderful time and miss them already.





They went down to the Yacht Club and caught this picture of us sailing past.


Farewell, dear friends.  Hope it's not too long before we see you again.

We have new passengers on board and it is a decidedly different, and younger, crowd.  We've seen many children and there is even a children's program for this cruise.  We've never seen that before.  I'm not sure I'd bring young children on a Regent Cruise.  They're not really geared for children, so it will be interesting to see how it goes.

No Trivia today and now we're headed back to Amsterdam for a day.  Seems like only yesterday we were there.  Oh, wait a minute - it WAS only yesterday. 

Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 28, 2025 at 7:02 AM

    What a lovely day we had - hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. We will have to try not to leave it so long before meeting again. Hope that you both enjoyed this U.K. cruise as much as you did the Norwegian Fjords. Happy Travels.
    Love and hugs to you both.
    Carol and Peter 🥰🥰🫂🫂

    ReplyDelete

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