To finish up writing about the 5th Unlock the Past cruise I just wanted to write a few last thoughts on it all, as well as some thankyous.

The cruise itself went really, really well, as did the conference. In fact, it really was the best run conference of all of the genealogy cruises that I’ve been on (meaning the 1st, the 3rd and the 4th cruises). Sure there were two late room changes, but that wasn’t any real drama, as we were simply directed to the alternate room which was either on the same deck, or one deck up. And sure one shore tour was late returning which resulted in one talk having to be cancelled since the speaker was on the tour, but those who wanted to go Jackie’s talk on Family Historian caught up with her when she was available to chat in the Research Help Zone area.

Our visit to Honfleur in France on day 10 was our last stop before heading back to Tilbury in London the following morning. And while everyone was getting the “oh-no-the-cruise-is-nearly-over” blues, Unlock The Past weren’t quite done yet.

In my last post I did report on the day in Honfleur, and the talks we had in the afternoon. But what I didn’t include in that post was the wrap-up cocktail party.

What do confectionery stores and getting fit have to do with Unlock the Past’s 5th Cruise? You might just be surprised!

The beauty of not going on an organised tour, and simply hopping off the ship and wandering around the town is that you get to see all the shops and the types of things they sell. Souvenir shops, newsagents, jewellery stores, tourist information places, bakeries, clothing stores, confectionery stores, even supermarkets … you name I visited them all over the course of this cruise … and my suitcase does still close – surprisingly! Which of course also meant lots of walking, so I’ve getting fit touristing. ;P

So now let me tell you about the last three days of the cruise, which took us to the Isles of Scilly, then Guernsey and lastly to Honfleur in France.

Life works better for a blogger when with internet. Due to the lack on internet on the ship it prevented me from reporting as I went, so now that I’m back on land, I have some catch-up posts to do. As I’m not reliant on dodgy internet now, I can write a bit more about each day. So I apologise for my short reports earlier, but it was simply a case of getting it up in the time (and internet) I had available.

Anyway so far I have told you about my pre-cruise days, the day we left, and the first few after that, and  our journey has taken us up the east coast of the UK, over the top around the Scottish islands, and now  we come down on the west coast. Our next stop was on the tiny island called Mull, which is one of the islands in the Hebrides in Scotland, so let me start by telling you all about that!