After the world had begun its war, Roesi wrote, everything was “out of joint.” Landau decided then that it was time to move on to the United States. There was nothing she could do to save her family while in England. Maybe the United States would hold the key. Before she had left Berlin, Landau had paid with the sale of her book for a ticket to the United States on a ship named the SS Queen Mary. She had had to buy the ticket before entry into England as proof that her stay would be temporary. But the ticket had lost its validity by the time she was ready to leave again. She had no money left and no one she wanted to burden with another request for help. The Refugee Service in London, fortunately, had a solution. The organization offered her free passage on a ship if she acted as leader of the refugee party on board. She agreed—an offer too good to refuse. The ship, as Landau recalled, belonged to the Cunard-White Star Line, a major British shipping company responsible for the innovative, though doomed, RMS Titanic. But there is no record of her voyage in the Cunard archives. Instead, in a “List or Manifest of Alien Passengers,” her name appears for departure on the SS Nova Scotia (Furness Line). Passengers, ninety-four in total, were mostly women and children from Germany and Austria—their “race or people,” including Landau's, noted as “Hebrew.” Occupations included “housewife,” “domestic,” or “none.” Landau was a standout with the entry “music lecturer.” The ship left from Liverpool on December 13, 1939.

Though the refugees were the only passengers, the crew did not open the first-and second-class cabins for them. They were instead confined to the lowest deck. Landau could have traveled first class, special treatment reserved for her as leader. But she insisted she remain with the group. She couldn't align with a crew she assumed anti-Semitic, operating in support of an onboard racial hierarchy. That hierarchy in some ways collapsed once the ship left the safety of the harbor. Everyone was equally at risk. The war was raging, and all were on the lookout for German submarines, U-boats. It was a long voyage— three weeks.