Following a previous thread, I will do this on my emigrations to Canada in 1951, to the US in 1953/54, back to the UK in 1957 and return to The States in 1963. In 1977 I moved back to the UK and my husband Jim, being American, emigrated. We emigrated to Portugal in 2001 having owned property here since 1988. The journey will take a while, in traunches, as I am taking photographs of old photos. Two journeys were on The SS United States ...
I remember the SS United States very well. I may have even been come on board whilst you were disembarking When I was in the merchant navy I had friends on board her and we used to visit each other when we were in port at the same time. That sort of visiting can't happen nowadays because of security restrictions. It held (think it still holds it) the Blue Riband Award for the fastest transatlantic crossing (both ways). The preservation society have been trying to save her and redevelop her for the last 20+ years but I think she's still berthed in Philadelphia and is likely to be scrapped.
I was born in Pontypridd, Glamorgan, South Wales in 1948. In 1951 my Father, Mother, Sister Anne and I emigrated to Canada. Anne, me and our Mother Eileen on the Queen Elizabeth ... or was it the Queen Mary? We lived in Toronto and Montreal and in 1953/54 emigrated to America and lived on Long Island, New York.
Sadly Mother died in February 1956 aged 35 and within six months Father had married a friend of the family Nan (the Witch) whose husband had recently died. So off we all go to Connecticut. In February 1957 Anne and I were sent back to the UK to live with my Mother's elder Step-Sister Iris and her husband Bill who were living in Luton ... the best thing that ever happened to us. So, onto the SS United States we go, aged 8 and 10 ...
In 1963 I had finished school, age 14, and Father decided it was time for us to go back to America and attend College ... so back on the SS United States ... This is Aunt Iris, Uncle Bill, their son David with his daughter Elaine, and our Grandfather Allen Egan who was born in County Sligo, Ireland, and a Veteran of The Boar War. Mother was his only child and was a Staff Sergeant in the ATS who was awarded the MBE, not bad for a woman coming from an uneducated coal-mining family. I was 15 here and just 4' 8" tall and horrified at the thought of going to a co-ed school. You have seating places for the entire journey and this was us and our table companions at The Gala Dinner ...
Gala Dinner Menu ... (notice the time change ) ... We had everyone sign the back of the Menu including the Waiter and Valet ...
In December 1977 Jim and I decided to move to England so off I went again, this time flying ... We went from Huntsville, Alabama, to Atlanta, Georgia, to New York to London. Unfortunately our luggage and boxes went to Germany so Cousin David had to take another day off work, rent a van and go get our things.
We couldn't sit still so in October 2001 we, along with our three cats, brother and sister white babes, Skwij and Puschka, and our black beauty Magic Sam moved here to Portugal travelling on the Val de Loire sailing from Plymouth to Santander, Spain. We then drove to Algarve. Skwij died aged 13, Puschka aged 15 and Magic Sam (Boo) aged 20. We are here to stay. Skwij in the bread oven ... Puscka in the rockery ... Boo up on the deck railing ... So that's all folks.
A note to others:- In those days ships always printed the list of passengers with a copy for everyone. It was a lovely memory of the other passengers and an aide memoire so you didn't forget their names. Not too many years back they stopped doing it because it might breach privacy laws!
How fabulous Vicky!!! What great memories for you and a wonderful window for all of us to peep through and share in all your adventures . You've certainly done a bit of roaming!!!!! Thank you for sharing with us.xx
Oh I don't think I'm unadventurous , I'm just very content with my lot. I did at one stage go through the initial rigmarole of emigrating to NZ after my parents backed out of moving the family over there.....then I met hubs and...!! We then planned to move back to his country once he finished his PHD. That obviously had to be abandoned. Did you actually emigrate to all those countries or were you on a visa ?? Hubs remained on a visa until our brood came along ....we needed the security.
Emigrate. Think I still have Canadian card. Had to give last US one in when we visited in 1996 ... they "pulled" me when entering and took me to a room for investigation as I had not reported to the police in years. When on a Blue Card you must report to the police yearly but I didn't notify when I left the country so they confiscated my card ... a hairy experience. I have held Permanent Residency here since 2008 and last month went for my appointment to get the new Biocard due to Brexit and the Withdrawal Agreement, just waiting for it to arrive in post. I currently have paper 3 fold card with picture, fingerprints, but new card is plastic with photo, SNS number etc.
