Remember this post? Ever wonder what happened? Well, in March of 2012, just one month after I started planning my Dream Birthday on the QM2, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity came along. Bob and I had always dreamed about moving to the Caribbean, but we thought we wouldn't be able to do it until we retired and sold the business. In March of 2012, we were presented with the opportunity to move to St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands and be able to run our business too! But I couldn't go on my birthday trip AND move to the Virgin Islands. When I considered whether I wanted a dream birthday trip or to live in paradise everyday, I chose living in paradise of course. And we settled in St. Croix with our four greyhounds in October of 2012. However, I didn't let go of my dream... If you recall, my original plan was to take this dream birthday trip for my 40th birthday, but I was too broke to do it back in 2007. Frankly doing it in 2012 for my 45th was just a symptom of my being impatient. I mean, doesn't this trip just SCREAM

50th Birthday celebration?

So that will be the 13th of October, 2017. That's three years and nine months away. The original Dream Birthday plan was to take the Queen Mary 2 from New York to Southampton, the Orient Express from London to Venice, and then the Queen Mary 2 back to New York. Whether that is doable or not is not known.  For example in October 2014, Cunard only has one Transatlantic Crossing trip in all of October and it's to New York, not from.  So if I were going this year, I'd have to leave New York on the 27th of September and return from Southampton on the 8th of October.  That means less than four days in England.  And the London-Venice trip would have to line up exactly.  In 2014, the Orient Express only goes to Venice from London on Thursdays, which puts the Orient Express departure on the 9th, not during our window.  If I were going this year, I'd either have to fly back (which imposes a luggage restriction that doesn't exist if I go by liner and defeats my plan to pack in vintage steamer trunks) or I'd have to stay in Europe until the 10th of November which, while appealing, I don't know if I can afford or justify. But that may all be a moot point.  Cunard and Venice-Simplon Orient Express don't even have trips scheduled for 2017 yet.  And some years they have multiple crossings in the same month.  There's just no way to predict when the trips I want to take will be scheduled in 2017.  They won't be announced until April 2016. So for now, I am saving and plotting and planning. Over the next months, I'll be planning wardrobes and thinking about all the stuff I'll need. And... I'm currently planning a trip for my next birthday this coming October that will act as a kind of "ramp up" for my Dream Birthday in 2017. Stay tuned! While you're waiting, have a shop through our collection of reproduced Vintage patterns. © 2014 Kass McGann. All Rights Reserved. The Author of this work retains full copyright for this material.