HomeFinding Aids#9029 Daisey Trexler Travel Diary

#9029 Daisey Trexler Travel Diary

Daisey Trexler Travel Diary

MSS #9029

June 1997

Abstract: Travel diary of Daisey Trexler written during her April/May 1966 Caribbean cruise aboard the Norwegian American Line's M/S Bergensfjord.

Online catalog terms: Trexler, Daisey Ocean Travel--Personal narratives

Size: Less than one linear foot.

Provenance: Unknown. Arrived at Rowan Public Library before 1994.

Access: No restriction.

Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. Introduction

The travel diary of Daisey Trexler, a Rowan County native, written while on a Carribean Cruise aboard the Norwegian American Line's M/S Bergensfjord. The trip began with a bus ride to New York City on April 26, 1966 and ended May 12, 1966.

The itinerary included Antigua ("has been independent of England for 3 mo."), St. Maartin ("Altho it was pretty in Philipsburg, Irene said she thought this island is as poor as Antigua"), St. Thomas ("unearthly beauty"), San Juan ("Houses are Spanish architecture and of stucco"), and Bermuda ("so many yachts").

Trexler was much taken with the food, recording the meals and commenting upon them: "I have never tasted such good cooking, nor seen better service." And, "I have never eaten as good as they have on this boat. The Norwegian seem to know how to cook everything to make it good. Who ever heard of strawberries in slaw!"

She recorded a few of the activities from travel films to balls, to a church service (where the minister preached on the subject "Carefree Cruises" to lucky drawings: "We drew numbers. One of our number got an ashtray with the lucky number." Pasted beside a ticket stub numbered 287 is the remark "My number wasn't lucky."

She also noticed the cruise ship's service and workers: "The young Norwegian boys are out of this world." And, "The service in the dining room is excellent. Almost all are blond young men with beautiful manners. They are Norwegian and Danish." When she got lost on board ship, a "swell looking" officer told her to follow him, to which she responded in her diary, "I had a notion to say, 'I will--indefinitely.'"

Trexler also recorded her entrance back into the states, especally the U.S. Customs search: "My pink petticoat was on top of my suitcase. The fellow didn't notice."

Trexler, who never married, had traveled on a group tour and came home to find her two cats gone. Her last remarks in the diary are: "Chuck was dead. I don't know where Cliff is. I am so worried."

The diary was written at the time of her trip, but it appears that Trexler revisited it sometime after 1974 and annotated it in red ink.

Folder List

Box 1. Diary