"Anne, get your things ready. We're leaving soon," said Anne's mom.
In 1956, Anne was leaving Mauritius to go to the UK with her family. Anne was only 15 years old at the time. Anne felt sad when she had to leave because she had to leave her friends and pets.
To get from Mauritius to England, you can travel by boat through the Red Sea, the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea. The boat that they were on was called a sugar boat. It was called a sugar boat because it was used to carry sugar. Anne was one of ten passengers on the boat. It was going to take Anne six weeks to get to the UK. While her brother Patrick would play with his cars on the long journey, Anne would usually colour, read, or play on the deck.
Anne journeyed through the Suez Canal just as it was opening again in 1958 when Egypt was putting restrictions on the passage. The Suez Crisis was over, and Egypt had regained control over the canal. When she got to the entrance of the canal, she joined a convoy of 57 ships. They had to wait a few days before they were allowed to go through. As Anne entered the Suez Canal, it looked as though there was flat land almost everywhere around her. Sometimes she saw people beside the canal.
As Anne and her family went onto the bridge, an Egyptian official came to inspect the boat. He had one foot on his boat and one on the gangplank. Splash! He slipped and fell into the water. Anne laughed and laughed. After he recovered, he went on the boat to inspect it.
After six weeks on the sugar boat, Anne was relieved to finally make it to her destination. She wishes she could go back to the Suez Canal to see it again, though, because she knows she would have a different point of view.