The SCWLA Midlands Region experienced a world tour at its recent luncheon on November 3 without ever leaving the Summit Club, courtesy of Kathleen (Kathy) Smith. Kathy presented, “Around the World One Segment at a Time: From New York to Cape Town on the Queen Mary 2,” a travelogue on a 24-day cruise she took with her husband, Emerson, earlier this year. Kathy is a busy attorney with Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A., but she has graciously shared her experiences with SCWLA (upon our repeated requests) on such topics as traveling aboard the Orient Express through Eastern Europe (including Vienna, Slovakia, Warsaw, Krakow, and Prague); sailing on the Cunard Line’s Queen Victoria from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia (by way of Hawaii, Fiji, Samoa, and New Zealand); and taking one of the last flights on the Concorde (from New York to London and back). No one is better at taking others on a journey than Kathy, as she describes everything from her departure to her return while capturing all the points of interest in between.
On her latest excursion, Kathy and her husband took a cruise on the Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 from New York to Cape Town, South Africa. She stated Cunard ships have sailed for over 170 years, and there are currently three ships in the fleet, all of which are less six years old or newer: the Queen Mary 2, the Queen Victoria, and the Queen Elizabeth. Each year Cunard schedules a 4-month world cruise, but it also offers it in individual segments, if desired. Kathy’s segment on the Queen Mary 2 carried 2,500 passengers from over 40 countries, with the majority being British, as well as half again that number of crew. The cruise began in New York and included stops in Barbados, and thereafter Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Montevideo, Uruguay, before crossing the South Atlantic to Cape Town, South Africa, a total journey from New York of over 10,000 miles. During the one-week crossing to their final destination, they passed Tristan da Cunha, the most remote inhabited island in the world (with 220 residents). The island is located in the middle of the South Atlantic between Montevideo and Cape Town. Kathy noted Cape Town is dominated by Table Mountain, and its Nobel Square has statutes of the four South African Nobel Peace Prize winners–Nelson Mandela, FW De Klerk, Desmund Tutu, and Albert Luthuli. The nearby town of Stellenbosch has over 200 wineries. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful presentation by Kathy and her descriptions of going on this segment of the world tour, including visitors to our luncheon from the League of Women Voters. We hope Kathy will take us along (vicariously) on her next adventure! As always, her presentation was a real highlight for our Midlands members.
-Karen Huelson, S.C. Supreme Court
