US Road Trip One: July 1992
At the tender age of 18, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and fresh out of my A-Levels, I headed to the USofA.
My trip was to last a month and take in two of the US's most famous and celebrated cities... Albuquerque and Detroit! Why? Find out...
My first taste of America came courtesy of a Delta flight to Atlanta. My first flight, I was slightly concerned about what I would do if I didn't like flying. I had two onward connections to get from Atlanta to Albuquerque... and there was also the not small matter of being stranded on the wrong side of the Atlantic. But this was 1992. Britain still prized the concept of the stiff upper lip and the term 'panic attack' wasn't in common useage in Peterborough. I coped.
One of the main things I remember about my first flight was the concern I had every time a big 'ping' noise went off. You know the noise I mean... About a minute after lift off, just as you are looking out of the window and realising you are probably past the point of surviving a nosedive back to terra firma a sudden, loud, persistent and urgent pinging noise starts up. I remember that as I sat up in surprise looking around to see what was going on, my rational voice in my head told me that as noone else was assuming the brace position, I probably didn't have to either. Several hundred flights later, I still have NO idea what the pinging is for though!
One other thing I've just remembered about the flight was that I almost missed it. Thankfully my neighbour worked for Thomas Cook and had flown before. Neither of my parents had. So when we looked at the ticket for the flight and saw it departed at 14:30, we assumed I should aim to get to the airport for about 14:15. When my neighbour asked if I had left enough time to check in she was met with three blank faces staring back at her. Our reaction when she asked if I had confirmed the flight was similar.
The first American I met was the lady sitting next to me. She wasn't very interested in me. A louche student, I was only of interest to her when we were served an English 'High Tea' an hour from landing. My thoughts and advice on what to do with the clotted cream were sought. The scone had one mouthful bitten from it and was then dismissed. Another whisky was ordered.
I found her fascinating though. She made it her mission to grab a whisky every time a steward went past. They went past a lot. She was connecting onwards to Fort Lauderdale. As she fell backwards onto the people sitting on the other side of the aisle when she reached up for her hand luggage, I'm not entirely sure she made it.
Other great things about the flight... I had no idea there would be films! I thought the turbulence was fun... just like how I imagined being on a rollercoaster would be.
I made the mistake though half way across the Atlantic of deciding that I didn't believe in the laws of physics and there was no way this heavy metal object could be flying through the air in the way that it was... The plane of course hit turbulence and dived quite sharply. I felty totally responsible and remember gripping my chair, gritting my teeth and saying in my head "I believe I believe I believe... As a result we were all saved!
I arrived in the recently crowned Olympic City of Atlanta and bought a T-shirt from the merchandise shop... bear in mind this was still 2 weeks before the Barcelona Games opened and 4 years before the Atlanta Games. No wonder they are remembered as the most commercial ever... they unashamedly were!
Hartford Airport itself fades into the recesses of my memory. I recall triple checking that my suitcase was going all the way through to Albuquerque... I just couldn't believe how clever it all was. Flying seemed so glamourous, luxurious and care free! After a couple of hours wait, next stop was Dallas.
At the tender age of 18, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and fresh out of my A-Levels, I headed to the USofA.
My trip was to last a month and take in two of the US's most famous and celebrated cities... Albuquerque and Detroit! Why? Find out...
My first taste of America came courtesy of a Delta flight to Atlanta. My first flight, I was slightly concerned about what I would do if I didn't like flying. I had two onward connections to get from Atlanta to Albuquerque... and there was also the not small matter of being stranded on the wrong side of the Atlantic. But this was 1992. Britain still prized the concept of the stiff upper lip and the term 'panic attack' wasn't in common useage in Peterborough. I coped.
One of the main things I remember about my first flight was the concern I had every time a big 'ping' noise went off. You know the noise I mean... About a minute after lift off, just as you are looking out of the window and realising you are probably past the point of surviving a nosedive back to terra firma a sudden, loud, persistent and urgent pinging noise starts up. I remember that as I sat up in surprise looking around to see what was going on, my rational voice in my head told me that as noone else was assuming the brace position, I probably didn't have to either. Several hundred flights later, I still have NO idea what the pinging is for though!
One other thing I've just remembered about the flight was that I almost missed it. Thankfully my neighbour worked for Thomas Cook and had flown before. Neither of my parents had. So when we looked at the ticket for the flight and saw it departed at 14:30, we assumed I should aim to get to the airport for about 14:15. When my neighbour asked if I had left enough time to check in she was met with three blank faces staring back at her. Our reaction when she asked if I had confirmed the flight was similar.
The first American I met was the lady sitting next to me. She wasn't very interested in me. A louche student, I was only of interest to her when we were served an English 'High Tea' an hour from landing. My thoughts and advice on what to do with the clotted cream were sought. The scone had one mouthful bitten from it and was then dismissed. Another whisky was ordered.
I found her fascinating though. She made it her mission to grab a whisky every time a steward went past. They went past a lot. She was connecting onwards to Fort Lauderdale. As she fell backwards onto the people sitting on the other side of the aisle when she reached up for her hand luggage, I'm not entirely sure she made it.
Other great things about the flight... I had no idea there would be films! I thought the turbulence was fun... just like how I imagined being on a rollercoaster would be.
I made the mistake though half way across the Atlantic of deciding that I didn't believe in the laws of physics and there was no way this heavy metal object could be flying through the air in the way that it was... The plane of course hit turbulence and dived quite sharply. I felty totally responsible and remember gripping my chair, gritting my teeth and saying in my head "I believe I believe I believe... As a result we were all saved!
I arrived in the recently crowned Olympic City of Atlanta and bought a T-shirt from the merchandise shop... bear in mind this was still 2 weeks before the Barcelona Games opened and 4 years before the Atlanta Games. No wonder they are remembered as the most commercial ever... they unashamedly were!
Hartford Airport itself fades into the recesses of my memory. I recall triple checking that my suitcase was going all the way through to Albuquerque... I just couldn't believe how clever it all was. Flying seemed so glamourous, luxurious and care free! After a couple of hours wait, next stop was Dallas.
I made my first flight before you were born. After refusing point blank to fly to New Zealand because she was scared of flying, we arrived in Wellington on the SS Northern Star to discover that Christchurch: Our first stop on the way to our new home in Balclutha was a three and a half hour ferry trip then a 10 hour + bus or car or train trip away. With a 5 year old and a three year old in tow, Mum gave in to the inevitable, and we flew to Christchurch on a NAC Viscount. Yes, I still clearly remember the plane! Three days later we flew from Christchurch to Dunedin on a second plane. You guessed it, Mum discovered that she loved flying! By the time I came to England in 1987 I had also flown from Dunedin to Christchurch and back twice more, and also from Tauranga to Dunedin twice and Tauranga to Christchurch once. As they were internal flights, no movies, but cheese in unopenable packets and crackers and other actual food was served. Sad to say those days are long past...
ReplyDeleteAck I can't edit. That should read Mum was scared of flying...
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