WHAT’S NEXT: INNOVATIONS IN NEWSPAPERS

In the last 30 years I have crossed the Atlantic more than 200 times.

But always in airplanes.

Never on a ship.

So, a few months ago, I decided to make reservations for me, Deborah and Tam David to be on the last Atlantic crossing of the Queen Elizabeth 2.

And tomorrow we are boarding the Grand Dame of the Seas in New York.

Then, the Cunard liner will cross the Atlantic and arrive in Southampton (UK) on October 22.

So, during those six days and five nights I will only post on the temporary blog that I started in August.

I’ve had a great time since then.

Let me tell you the inside story of that blog, though.

Last summer, as soon as I knew about the QE2’s last crossing, I contacted several newspaper editors — very good, old friends — and no one, not one of them, was interested in the crazy idea of a temporary blog to chronicle this final Atlantic crossing.

So, I decided to go ahead by myself.

And I started QE2: THE LAST CROSSING. THE AMERICAN FAREWELL OF THE LONGEST SERVING SHIP IN CUNARD’S 169-YEAR HISTORY.

On August 9, 2008, I wrote my first post:

The Queen Elizabeth 2 will cross the Atlantic for the last time in a few weeks.
With my wife Deborah and our son Tam David, we are going to be in the last crossing of the QE2. This blog will tell you almost everything about this farewell sailing of the legendary Cunard liner. Your comments, pictures and remembrances are very welcomed.

And since then, I have added more than 230 posts.

With this blog I learned two very important lessons:

One. That my newspaper-editor friends were wrong. Yes, there is an incredible interest around the world for this ship. The QE2 has passionate fans. They are crazy people. So you find great stories. Amazing pictures. Fantastic videos …

Two. There is a lot of related advertising to make a blog like this profitable. But my editor friends didn’t get it, and my blog is the proof. For the first time, I got involved with banners, AdSense, Amazon, eBay, etc. and I learned a lot. And made more money than I was expecting.

I now have new friends from Sidney, Toronto, Buenos Aires, Liverpool, Hong Kong … and thousands of devoted readers.

I am leading a real community.

And I am thinking of a book to tell the story of the blog and the QE2.

The story of a “solo” blog that had Chiqui Esteban as my “guardian angel,” helping me when I had troubles with many unknown blogging issues.

But the best thing — and this is the ultimate reward for someone who didn’t give up on his crazy idea — was that Cunard liked my blog very much. One day I got a phone call phone from my travel agent with the BIG NEWS:

We were upgraded from a very cheap cabin to a Q2 suite at the top of the ship!

So, Cunard made my day, made my trip, made our dream.

Now it is time to enjoy it. And for my skeptical editors, it’s time to reconsider how they see and value crazy ideas for blogs like “THE LAST CROSSING.”

See you there and welcome aboard!

(In the picture, the QE2 in her first visit to New York).