*missFranny.com

6:45am With barely 5 hours of sleep, I rolled out of bed to get ready. I had only finished packing my suitcase at 1am and prior to that, I had spent the entire day running around the city with last minute errands. Believe me, I was totally ready for my vacation! My parents dropped me off at Georgia's house and her mom drove us to the airport.

8:30am We arrived at Toronto Pearson Airport. I had been there many times before to pick up family, but it was my first time flying out of that airport in 16 years. I couldn't have been more excited. We had ourselves checked in by 9:30am. After browsing through the duty-free shop, we stopped at the nearest Starbucks to pick up my venti Zen tea. Georgia and I also found a Tim Hortons. We enjoyed breakfast sandwiches while we anxiously waited for the departure.

11:15am As our plane took off, I looked out the window and whispered..."Goodbye Toronto! I shall return in 10 days." And when I finally rested my head onto the back of my seat, that was when I knew I was officially on vacation.

2:15pm I finally saw her in person for the very first time. The world's longest, widest, and tallest ocean liner ever built. She was beautiful. As soon as we got our luggage out of the taxi, a porter approached us to have our luggage transported onto the ship. I think both Georgia and I were feeling a bit overwhelmed at the time. There were so many people moving around us against the backdrop of this massive ship. It was hard to believe that we were actually there.

12:30pm We landed at La Guardia Airport. Hellooooo, New York! After picking up our luggage and calling home, we hailed a cab and found ourselves even more excited as we made our way to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Our taxi driver had no idea where the cruise terminal was. Well, neither did we. Soon after we got to Brooklyn, we were lost. Luckily, I caught a quick glimpse of the Queen Mary 2 as we were driving through the streets. I just about jumped out of my seat and screamed. From there, we directed our driver towards the ship.

2:20pm As soon as we walked into the cruise terminal, we were greeted by Cunard representatives who directed us to security. The three security officers were young guys. They checked our passports and attempted to flirt with us. One of them made rather stupid jokes, but Georgia still thought he was the hottest thing ever. As we waited in line to check-in, we noticed the demographics of the passengers. (*thought* Yep, we're going to be seeing a lot of old people in these next 10 days.) Georgia kept looking back at the "hot" security officer and wishing aloud that she could take him on board. hahaha

2:35pm The whole check-in process was quick. Once at the counter, they checked our passports, took our pictures, and processed some paperwork. In minutes, we were given our cabin cards with our names printed on them. When that was all done, we proceeded to the gangway. Photographers stopped us to take our photos. We continued up an escalator and the gangway. Security scanned our cabin cards and confirmed our identities by comparing us to the photos of us on their screens. And there we were, inside the ship.

Once inside the grand lobby, we were directed to our cabin. We passed through the grand lobby toward Stairway C (above right). At that time, both Georgia and I were completely overwhelmed. The ship was beautiful.

2:50pm After navigating through different corridors, we found our cabin. It was just as I expected it to be. Even though it was a small room, it was spacious, elegant, and comfortable. On the right was a table with a bottle of champagne. On the desk to the left was a box of chocolates. We each had a chocolate before we began to unpack.

We emptied out our suitcases, tucked them under our beds, and plopped onto our beds to rest our backs.

5:00pm When the alarm went off, we got our lifejackets out of the closet and proceeded to our muster station for the rather boring muster drill (emergency drill). Our station was just one deck above us, in the Kings Court. As soon as that was over, we raced back to our cabin.

5:50pm Just before the ship set sail, Georgia and I went up to Deck 11 (...I think it was deck 11) and took pictures of the New York City skyline. Then we went up to the very top of the ship to watch the beautiful sunset.

6:00pm When the ship blasted her deafening horn, we knew it meant two things: 1) the ship had started sailing and, 2) we were standing RIGHT underneath the horn. Two helicopters kept flying around the ship to escort her out of New York harbour. That marked the start of our voyage.

6:15pm We wanted to watch the ship pass under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, so we remained at the top and waited. As the sky grew darker and the ship began to move faster, it became very windy at the top of the ship. My hair flew in multiple directions and it became almost impossible to stand without having a firm grip on the railing. The winds were so strong that it felt as if it could have carried me away.

6:45pm It was exciting to watch the ship pass under the bridge with only 3 metres of clearance. But with the excitement aside, Georgia and I were frozen. We dashed back to our cabin and buried ourselves under the covers. I called room service for a hot cup of tea.

8:25pm We went down to the Britannia Restaurant for dinner. Since they were still getting ready to open, Georgia and I wandered into the Art Gallery for a quick peek. The pieces of art that were for sale were beautiful. If only we were able to afford them. We wandered around the back of the restaurant and found ourselves in front of the Queens Room. I think it was then that we realized how big the ship was and that we had a lot of exploring to do.

We wandered back to the Britannia and were quickly seated. Table #93 would be our table for the next 10 nights. Our waiter, Ronald, introduced himself to us and his assistant, Imre. They placed the menu in our hands. It didn't take us long to decide what to eat. Georgia and I had not eaten since breakfast at the airport so we were both starved. I had the Crispy Calamari Rings on Greens to start, the Spaghetti a la Marinara, and Cookies & Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream with Chocolate Frozen Yoghurt for dessert. I can not even begin to describe how good that meal was.

10:00pm We decided to go back to our cabin after dinner. We opened the doors and found that our beds had been turned down, and the next day's program and other information were laid out on the bed, along with two pieces of chocolate.

Despite the fact that the beds were made very nicely, Georgia and I found it annoying that the side of the covers were tucked under the bed. And when you pulled the covers up, they ended just before the shoulders. So the only way the covers would cover my shoulders when I was under it was if I yanked the covers free from the clutch like Georgia did. I decided not to bother with it for the first night and just snuggled lower into the bed. I was also used to sleeping with a cushion against the wall by my pillow. It took me a while to find where our steward hid the cushions: in the cupboards above our lamps.

All in one day, we had traveled by land, air and sea. We were exhausted.

Since we were sitting at a table of 4, Georgia and I were afraid that we would have a hard time getting along with our dining companions. Thankfully, they were a very nice couple from Serbia who have moved to New York. When we got on the topic of cooking, Maria went on with sharing her recipes with us. Her husband, on the other hand, was more quiet.

After the couple left, Ronald came by to see how we were doing and he told us about each of the different restaurants on the ship. He encouraged us to try all of them and we promised we would try our best to. Georgia and I both laughed when he asked if we were sisters. hahaha