It was heaving at breakfast in the "Holiday Inn", we stoked up for the day with a cooked breakfast and I had a little Special K too. Then we set off for Beaulieu which also proved to be really heaving. We hadn't planned for there being an event on at "Beaulieu" around car enthusiasts doing up cars. Some of them weren't too good at it judging by the car we followed leaving the place with its indicators wired up the wrong way round. We went round the motor museum part, had an early slice of cake at the cafe before the masses, then strolled to the peaceful gardens admiring topiary inspired by "Alice in Wonderland". There was a private function going on in the old Abbey area, we treated ourselves to a generous ice cream cone from an outlet where Internet woes meant the lady wanted exact payment in cash. Saw an exhibition on the SOE, and also wandered round the stately home part, before heading off for the Horizon Cruise Terminal. For some reason Google Maps took us the wrong way but we found ABParking and started on the lengthy process of waiting to board. Didn't have to hand over the car keys this time. We then dragged our cases to where we waited ages for a coach to take us to the Queen Elizabeth Cruise Terminal where the Bolette was.

We stayed the night before boarding in the Southampton area, as normal at the Holiday Inn Express there which worked fine. It was Halloween which might explain being greeted by a sneezing witch (you need to dress up warm if you fly around on a broomstick). Or the blood stains on the floor of our room which had seen better days. But it was fine particularly as the room rate was cheaper than when we stayed before. There's time to kill before one can start queueing to board. Virginia went to look at clothes in the West Quay Shopping Centre. I found waiting around for her a difficult experience. The Victoria Sponge in the Marks and Spencers cafe was welcome, and I enjoyed looking in the Lego shop there. Very inventive, amazing when I compare the large kits on offer with what I remember from my childhood. Perhaps too inventive? Preempting the chance for children to experiment themselves?

I didn't charge my iPhone enough so worried while we were out today that it would expire, and we would be lost in the wilds of rural England subject to highwaymen and women. We also had a worry that Virginia might have left her jacket behind at somewhere we visited, happily it was safe at home.

We saw the expansive Hilliers Gardens this morning, and had lunch there (I had a not so exciting bacon sandwich backed up by a flapjack). As an additional attraction they had imported coachloads of schoolchildren. The gardens themselves were impressive in scale and variety - we tired ourselves out walking along and round and up and down and through. The centenary border is long and colourful. There were plenty of benches to sit on and relax and do crosswords. But I hadn't brought my crossword book.

Virginia and I drove down the day before the cruise started, packing the bags into the back of Virginia's Kia estate (larger than my Kia). The boot of the Kia estate is smaller than the Skoda she used to drive, we recently got two new medium suitcases so the cases would all fit into the boot. We stopped at South Mimms on the A1 for nourishment at Tossed there which was OK. There's a Burger King and KFC there, perhaps less healthy, the last time we had something from KFC it was more than we needed. Increasingly one can order from terminals rather than at the counter which does make the process of ordering less intimidating. You have more time to work out what's available, less pressure of people waiting behind you.

Virginia and I stayed the night before the cruise at the Holiday Inn Express Southampton M27, eating out at a nearby "Pizza Hut". Tabitha and Amelia had been parked in Hardwick at the the Angelite Cats Hotel. On the Friday morning we spent the time by seeing Manor Park Farm which has a long access lane with plenty of enthusiastic speed bumps. There's a quaint small old Church near a romantic pond, an old style house with an old style school room (back in the days where you learnt multiplication tables). Animals can be milked among other attractions for the young. After lunch there it was time to board our first Cunard ship, the Queen Elizabeth. The first difference to our previous cruises with P&O and Fred Olsen was how fast we boarded. When we arrived at the Ocean Cruise Terminal we were immediately directed to lane 2 for unloading our luggage - and then immediately directed to check in on entering the cruise terminal - and then immediately through security onto the ship! Happenstance? I don't know. One of Virginia's cases lost its luggage labels and didn't turn up for a while, but our pleasant hardworking cabin stewardess Virna tracked it down for us. The staff work very hard and long hours - I noted one vacuuming with the vacuum cleaner on her back.

We counted down the months. We counted down the weeks. We counted down the days. At last the non-working day arrived, the day on which we had to ensure the spare bed room was sealed up so Amelia couldn't hide inside it, the day on which clothes were packed in cases cluttering up the lounge, the day of have we got everything together? Our poor cats, Tabitha and Amelia, were transported in their carriers to the "Grange Cattery" in Waterbeach and the kind care of Phyllis. The road had been improved in places, but still bumpy and undulating. It may be the last time they go there as Phyllis is in her 60s, and the landlord has planned building works which will shut the cattery. Disturbingly (but necessarily I guess) Phyllis asked what to do if Tabitha died while we were away - we settled for having her frozen at the vets so we could cremate her later.

Virginia and I stay near Winchester in Hampshire, see National Trust places like Uppark and Hinton Ampner, and the Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth.

We checked out of the Holiday Inn Southampton City hotel (£7 to rescue the car from the car park, another incentive to not use that hotel), then had breakfast at the nearby "Frankie and Bennys". We were the only patrons there, nice and relaxed, Virginia chose best with her sausage muffin rather than my Eggs Benedict. The restaurant had a machine you entered your licence plate into for the Leisure World car park.

Holidays are stressful. That's why we like to go on cruises. You reach the terminal, the bags vanish, the car vanishes, and you walk through the glass maze onto the ship. And relax. No need to find where you're staying each night. No need to find somewhere to eat each night. No rushing around, you go at the speed of a ship not at the speed of a plane. (You don't avoid all stresses true: the stress of the Satnav taking you down what looks like a side street in the wrong direction, or worrying if you got all the documents needed, or worrying that all the cases will appear outside the cabin, etc. There's always something to worry about.)

We travelled down on Sunday afternoon and stayed overnight at a Holiday Inn Express Southampton M27. This worked well, avoiding any panics travelling down on the day that the ship left itself. Dined at a nearby Pizza Hut and was revolted to see a bloated Brit woman licking the serving spoons for the dressings at the salad bar. Civilisation is skin deep here.