Those were the days
Posted: April 23rd, 2022, 9:44 am
I think my attitude to air travel (see the thread on travelling to WA) has for ever been set by the first time I flew, in 1968. With a young wife and 20 months old child we boarded a Boeing 707 bound for Hong Kong and a new life. 707s were not exactly spacious and the flight, looking back on it, was horrendous but we were young and adventurous. After leaving London the first stop was Frankfurt, then I think Beirut, Teheran, New Delhi, Bangkok and finally HK. I may have missed one or two stops. It was I think about 20+ hours all told. Air travel for the masses was still some way off and long haul holidays were simply not happening. In fact most of my new expat colleagues were still on contracts which gave them a sea voyage back to the UK every 3 years, although in the private sector at least that was quickly changed. Expat civil servants retained the right for as long as P & O were still providing regular passenger services back to the UK.
Breakdowns were a regular feature, and so sadly were air crashes and later, hijackings.
When I get aboard a large aircraft at Heathrow today I marvel at its size and reliability, and certainly in Premium Economy I have as much space as I need. I would not want to travel in Economy, certainly not long haul.
I did a lot of travelling over many years in all classes and it taught me just to go with the flow, and even now in what I must call old age, I just do the same.
Dod
Breakdowns were a regular feature, and so sadly were air crashes and later, hijackings.
When I get aboard a large aircraft at Heathrow today I marvel at its size and reliability, and certainly in Premium Economy I have as much space as I need. I would not want to travel in Economy, certainly not long haul.
I did a lot of travelling over many years in all classes and it taught me just to go with the flow, and even now in what I must call old age, I just do the same.
Dod