Travel is . . .

. . . A sense of history.

And the recent launch of Cunard's Queen Elizabeth is a case in point.

Consider the first Queen Elizabeth was introduced in 1938. The second ship, known as QE2, debuted in 1967. In early October the third vessel to bear the name came on line. Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth was 12 years old, and present, when her mother named the first liner, she named the second as well as the most recent. I think that's wonderful. Talk about a sense of continuity!

These are incredible ships. I have only seen photos so far of the naming ceremony and of the vessel itself, but Queen Elizabeth - Her Majesty and the vessel - look marvelous. I have sailed aboard QE2 and Queen Mary and was onboard Queen Victoria when she was named in Southampton Harbor. I will visit Queen Elizabeth in January and am already looking forward to it.

I know the cache of these vessels and the Cunard name. Sailing aboard these ships are not merely transAtlantic crossings or cruises, they are experiences.

I lectured aboard QE2 to Brits about the British-accented islands of Barbados and the Bahamas in the early 1990s. At the time I had published guidebooks to Caribbean and Atlantic islands. It was a far-less electronically sophisticated time - no powerpoint, for example.

My husband used a slide carousal and I cued him to change the slides. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. My audience was immensely supportive and the ship's staff amazing. The ship itself was wonderful. I loved the elegance of the ship, tea time, the concept of dressing to the nines for dinner and the lovely Harrod's deparment store on board.

It was a sea-going experience I won't forget and the sense of continuity and history England's monarch has lent to the new ship, is a wonderful bonus.

Long live the Queen!