Airline “crop duster”. And he did loops for me. Take that, all you boring airliners!
TWA
It was July 1988 and I had never flown on an airplane before. I flew on 10 airplanes in 21 days (with some driving from Frankfort to West Berlin and then to East Berlin.)
- Los Angeles to New York
- New York to Brussels
- Brussels to Frankfort
- East Berlin to Kiev
- Kiev to Moscow
- Moscow to Leningrad
- Leningrad to East Berlin
- Frankfort to Brussels
- Brussels to New York
- New York to Los Angeles
Sounds like some journey. Do you have any specific memories that stand out during your travels ?
Quite a few.
I was 12 and grew up in an American suburb. I remember the contrast of how dull and drab a lot of places were compared to where I was living.
I found an East German pfennig on the ground at the airport, the material it was made out of seemed almost like it was plastic.
There was a stereotype at the time that the toilet paper in the USSR was going to be like sandpaper. What I remember is that the toilet paper in the public bathrooms was the same material as the paper towels in our public bathrooms. I had brought a couple of rolls of toilet paper from home, but they didn’t last the whole trip.
Going through Checkpoint Charlie was legit scary. There were armed guards, with German Shepherds, searching the bus we were on. The guards walked up to each person and closely examined your passport and made sure it was you.
German girls were cute and they liked our American accent. I don’t remember interacting with many (or any) Soviet girls. The Soviet boys we met would ask us for “chewing gum” or “chocolates”. I had brought along a big bag of insividually-wrapped gum (Double Bubble maybe) and a big bag of Tootsie Rolls to give out.
In Moscow, Red Square and St. Basil’s Cathedral were very impressive, Lenin’s Tomb was very underwhelming.
It was July, and Leningrad is so far north that the sun didn’t set at all. We were sitting up in our hotel room talking, thinking it must still be evening because the sun was still up, but it was 1 in the morning.
There were shops that only took foreign currency (no Rubles) which meant it wasn’t for locals, only for visitors. They had Pepsi and a few other well-known American brands of things for purchase.
There were status of Lenin everywhere.
West Berlin smelled like diesel exhaust.
When I got back home it was around midnight. I told my parents I was hungry, and they asked where I wanted to eat. I said In-N-Out, so that’s where we stopped.
My sleep schedule was backwards for about a week and a half.
That was really interesting. Thank you for sharing with us.
TWA as a very young kid - I kept trying to pronounce it as a word and my dad was giggling and my mom and sister kept shushing me…I did not know why at the time.
I wonder if you were periously close to just yelling “twat” over and over.
Ansett Australia… RIP
The colouring book was mad though
yeah me too. I specifically remember media covering the collapse of Ansett at the same time as 9/11, which seemed interesting that they thought the two were equivalent.
Ansett went on to exist as a training company for a while. Not sure if they still do.
well virgin Australia got quite large
They filled the void for sure
I think I first flew on TAA, from Brisbane to Sydney, then connected to a KLM flight to the Netherlands. Would have been about '83.
How in the world do you remember the first airline you flew in much less the first twenty?
Lots of people don’t fly.
A few trips ago, I sat next to a guy in his 50s on his first ever flight.
He was so excited. More so than my 4 yo was on his first trip.
I had to teach him how to put his seat back and told him he can keep the headphones and how they used to have these tube headphones and what it was like before 9/11.
Twenty?? Jesus, not everyone is able to travel that much.
It’s not really traveling that much. Depending on how old you are that could be 0-1 times a year.
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I don’t remember; I was a baby.
TAA (Trans Australian Airlines) just flying domestically in Australia
Pan Am.
Almost certainly American. My grandfather was a pilot for American, my uncle is currently a pilot for American, and my cousin just got hired as a pilot by American.
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Kingfisher Airlines (India).
When it was operative, it was luxury flight at same “ordinary” prices as other airlines.
They were amazing back then.
Royal Air Force being emergency evacuated.
Continental Airlines, way back in the 1960’s.
Ryanair when I was around 13/14yo. I wasn’t expecting something like business class on a A380, but boi that was a surprise. But I still enjoyed the take off.
Braathens, out of Fornebu. Neither the airline nor the airport exists anymore.
