Shortly after the Easter break, Charlie and I went on a cruise. The idea was simple enough, but I definitely could not have foreseen what was going to happen. I decided to get the cruise for just one night, back to England - from France. This was because, in Charlie’s mind, if he doesn’t like something, and is dysregulated then he has to stop/get off. So the narrative was simple. If he didn’t like the cruise ship, the next port was home. We were getting off. So, I booked it.

The plan was to fly to Paris the night before, stay in Paris overnight and then get the train to the ferry port for the cruise ship the day after. We got an incredible deal. £18 flights to Paris, and then the train the following day was £20 for us both. We did have to stay in the hotel therefore that cost a bit of money £50. The night on the cruise ship was £59 each which is what we would have paid to stay somewhere expensive such as Alton Towers hotel or a spa break with a swimming pool (more on that later). That was the plan, seemed simple enough. Lots of preparation, looking at maps, choosing routes etc went into this. We have a railcard so train travel is reasonable, we booked airport assistance.

However, this did not go to plan. Unfortunately, on our way to the train station to catch the train to the airport we were told the ship couldn't dock in France! This was purely because the French had some quite heavy strikes going on and the cruise ship rang us to tell us we were now departing from Zeebrugge in Belgium and that a coach would pick us up from Paris airport at 8.30am (they knew we were travelling the day before and on our way to Paris). I made a split on the spot decision to abandon the journey to fly from Manchester airport and head to Hull port instead to catch the ferry to Belgium. I had done this before with my older children in 2006 caught the ferry to Belgium, so I thought I had it sussed. We had to be there 90 mins before sailing and it was a 2hr train journey. I booked the cabin (overnight on the ferry) and headed back in to the train station to get a train to Hull.

We'd missed the last train!! There was a taxi rank across from the station so I enquired about a taxi. It was an eye watering amount. But I had evidence of the ship not docking in France and the strikes to be able to claim back on the insurance. We darted up north 1.5hrs on the road to get to Hull panicking all the way, worrying we wouldn't make it for 5pm for a 7.30pm sail. We made it at 4.56pm my heart was beating so hard. Keeping calm and not wanting to worry or dysregulate Charlie was definitely the hardest part. He'd had to cope with so many changes. When we got to the desk it dawned on me I had booked the wrong ship. This one was going to Rotterdam in the Netherlands not Zeebrugge!! The ferry to Belgium had stopped a few years earlier. We had come to far to back out now! Let's just get on that ferry.

We boarded the ferry, and it was lovely, staff were lovely and we went straight to our cabin, dumped our stuff and set about exploring the ferry. We watched the sunset. Was out on the deck until past 9pm. Charlie loved the feeling of being on deck, it gave him the right level of sensory feedback being out there. We headed back in and tried to sleep.

This was the hardest part. We couldn't sleep. It was choppy, beds were uncomfy. We couldn't settle. So we got up and walked around the ship, it was around 2am and there were many many people up. We were not alone, lots of people (mainly what looked like lorry drivers) couldn't sleep. So I felt comfort with that.

We were docking around 7am, and had a transfer from Rotterdam port into actual Rotterdam centre. We headed back around 5am to try and get a little bit of sleep before docking. I had no idea once we got into Rotterdam what I was going to do, and my phone didn't work abroad!! When we went to Lanzarote in November 2022 it wouldn't either. We headed into Rotterdam on the coach, it's around a 20min transfer and cost around 10 euros. Luckily I was able to get a refund on all my train tickets online. So the train ticket to Manchester airport and the train ticket to La Havre Port in France from Paris. We headed into the train station at Rotterdam and found a train that would take us to Zeebrugge with just one change!! It would take 3 hrs but we would get there well before when the ship was sailing at 7pm. We needed to be there before 4pm. So off we went.

There was one change, quite soon into the first leg of the journey, so because we hadn't had any breakfast we stopped off there and left the station in order to get some food. If was a town just on the borders between the Netherlands and Belgium. Next, we headed on the 2nd train which was substantially longer and Charlie fell asleep, which was actually quite nice. I bought a book with me, so was able to read some. I was shattered but petrified about missing our stop, or needing to provide a passport or ticket. I needn’t have worried. Because once we landed in the Netherlands we were free to travel around Europe. But I definitely couldn't have slept. Charlie definitely needed it.

We arrived at Zeebrugge, and I assumed that it would be self explanatory where the port was. It was not. So we walked round and round trying to find it. Charlie was getting more and more dysregulated, I thought he had done so well but I do think he was at his limit now!! He was ready just to get on that cruise ship. Then in the distance, we saw the emblem of the cruise ship! Charlie spotted it! It gave us the push we needed to get to the ship. And then realised we needed to go to the cruise centre not the normal ferry port! No wonder we got lost!! Anyway, we saw it… it was in sight! We were almost there, or were we?

I will continue on another blog post.

Georgina x