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.
Jetblue
I love JetBlue. I live about 20 miles from the Long Beach, CA airport and used to use them all the time. I was so sad when they left LGB for LAX. LAX is terrible and I only fly out of there when I absolutely must.
Pan Am.
BA
Airline “crop duster”. And he did loops for me. Take that, all you boring airliners!
First flight ever was Qantas business class from Sydney to London. I was 12
TAA (Trans Australian Airlines) just flying domestically in Australia
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.
Vueling, Spanish low-cost carrier, from Berlin to Bilbao on my first international business trip back in 2017. I loved the announcements in Spanish during the flight.
American Airlines for a job interview. So it was selected for me. It definitely soured my expectations for air travel.
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.
Air Canada. It was the first time I ever left home. Now I try to fly WestJet if I can. Air Canada has lost my bags like 60% of the time.
I’m the first one to mention Finnair?
probably yea
Most likely easyJet when I was a kid.
First one in my adulthood would be Lufthansa
CP Air.
I remember my brother and I got a cockpit tour and a set of plastic “junior pilot” wings.
