When we sailed on Queen Mary 2 to New York, it took 7 days to travel from Southampton.
For five of those days, there was nothing but us and the ocean.
The Deck of the Queen Mary 2
No external signs we were going anywhere, other than the sight and sound of waves crashing up against the ship.
Passengers on board knew we would be getting off the ship in NY, but nobody was packing up their stuff.
We were just ‘sailing along’.
A couple of days before we arrived in NY, we began to see signs of life outside – the occasional pod of whales swimming alongside and the odd glimpse of land in the distance.
The night before we arrived, people start packing, preparing.
Nobody is queuing at the exit.
They’re not ready to disembark yet.
About an hour before we dock, there’s a flurry of activity – people are everywhere!
A pilot comes on board to steer the ship into port and bring it alongside.
Passengers are RUSHING now!
Time takes on a new urgency as the deadline approaches.
Are they on or off?!
But here’s the thing…
If the captain had decided on days 1-5 that he ‘was getting nowhere’ …
If he’d concluded that because we weren’t queuing at the exit on day 4, it meant we didn’t want to go to New York …
And based on these beliefs, he’d chosen to turn around and go back to Southampton or live out his days bobbing around in the Atlantic…
We’d NEVER have reached New York!
We would have MISSED the ‘bucket list’ experience of sailing under the Verrazano bridge with inches to spare between ship’s funnel, and the cars on the bridge above…
… as well as the lump in your throat moment when you sail past Liberty as dawn breaks!
In the evening, sailing under the bridge on the way out of NY is even more emotional; hearing the cars above and QM2 sounding their horns to each other!
Hearing the ship’s horn is always a standout moment for me. I love when ships’ captains toot each other goodbye when they leave port.
I digress …
It’s only because of the ‘7 days of nothing much happening’ when you’re promoting your offer’ that you make most of your sales in the last 12 hours before the deadline.
In business, it’s the days, weeks, months, and years of ‘nothing much happening’ that brings you ‘overnight success’.
Unless you give up before you reach the port, that is!
After all, aboard QM2, you can’t experience those magical moments without the 7 days of ‘mundane sailing’!
Toot toot!
Veronica Pullen
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