I’d do it to, for the adventure. I can tell you I much prefer a Bombardier Q200 (de Havilland Dash 8) to a Boeing 737. Better view, for one thing.
Of course you could buy your own vintage flying carpet. 
1943 Douglas DC-3
1956 Beechcraft Twin Bonanza
1938 Beechcraft Staggerwing
1946 Beech 18
1941 Lockheed 12A
My great aunt used to say that aside from being faster air travel went downhill after the Hindenburg crashed. She came back from her junior year abroad on it and said it was the best flight she was ever.
No, in the days when most people worked blue-collar jobs, people dressed up for social events. Casual clothing only became popular when white-collar jobs became the norm.
Not hardly. The Amtrak dining cars really do serve very decent, restaurant quality food that is cooked prior to serving much the way it would be done in a stationary restaurant, allowing for the fact that time and space constraints limit the total options available. If you have sleeping accommodations you are a first class passenger and the meals are included with the cost of the compartment. It is expensive though; last I checked it was a lot more expensive than an advance purchased economy class airline ticket, but probably not as much as first class air.
I took The Canadian from Winnipeg to Vancouver ten years ago and the diner service was tops - including a fully staffed kitchen. Apparently they still maintain one.
I traveled roomette but there were day coaches as well. Don’t know if they got to eat in the diner.
I’ve recently become fascinated by passenger travel on airships.
As an aside, I’ve always been disappointed by fan sites for airships, submarines, trains, etc., that don’t discuss living conditions for the crew and/or passengers.
If it’s like Amtrak, yes, but they have to pay for it. As mentioned above, Amtrak includes meals with a room. Did The Candadian?
You inspired me to check. I can get a round trip with roomette – Minnesota/Seattle – for $388 (plus tax, probably).
It appears that with Amtrak, when you want to travel is the key. The same trip cost me $1100 two years ago, but I didn’t know then that I could have changed my schedule and saved a lot of money.
As for travel in the old days, in a car, cross country, finding vacancies was an issue. I suppose if you planned ahead (maybe using AAA?), you could make reservations ahead of time. But if you weren’t sure how far you were going to drive, or if construction and detours or weather or car trouble held you up, you’d be taking a chance on finding a place to sleep. There’s a reason Marion Crane ended up at the Bates Motel.
Dude, package tours date back to 1841.
But by about 1960 most of those problems had been forgotten. Postwar transport planes, especially with the advent of jets, eliminated nearly all of the physically unpleasant experiences associated with air travel. The term “first class” didn’t exist because that was the standard. What we think of as standard today started out as a discount travel option for the budget-minded. It was only since about the mid 1960s that “coach” or “economy” became the default, but for some time to come it was still considerably more luxurious than today in terms of meals and other amenities. Contrary to popular belief I don’t believe the seats were particularly more spacious, though.
This inspired me to check too, right back at you as it were. I was surprised to learn that two adults sharing a compartment can travel by Amtrak from L.A. to NYC, round trip, for a little over two grand all told. That’s far lower than the lowest first class airline fares I found, although at the same time it’s clearly not competitive with typical economy class air. On the other hand, if it’s a leisure trip, and you happen to like trains, it can be an attractive option.
That’s because world travel was once only possible by the very wealthy, who dressed that way all the time. Now, even the middle class can take an international trip, and they wear what they are comfortable in.
Oh, definitely. I was amazed at how quiet it was – I had no trouble sleeping. The car attendants were friendly and helpful, and the engineer (or somebody) alerted us when we were passing through scenic/historical spots. I loved it. Didn’t have to take my shoes off, nobody searched or x-rayed my bags, no running to make connections, the food was fine, the other passengers (lots of train fans) were friendly. The roomettes are a bit tight but the windows are huge. There are observation cars – nothing but windows and small tables. Even if you don’t have a room, you can use the shower facilities.
I won’t fly anymore.
We did the Coast Starlight run from Seattle to L.A. I think it’s the slowest long distance train in their system, but who cares when the food’s that good and with free wine tastings to boot? (That was 2005, but now they charge you for the wine tasting, I understand.). Particularly for leisure travel, if part of the goal is to be away from home X number of nights, well, you’re going to have to pay to spend them somewhere, and the train with accommodation is a better deal than just about any ordinary hotel and restaurants three times a day.
My only beef is that the compartment for two, which is what we had and what I quoted between L.A. and NYC, is set up so that you and the other person sit facing each other in the daytime. Which, hopefully, isn’t a problem per se, but they don’t give you quote enough room for the two of you to really be comfortable. I kept having to put my feet up on the arm of m wife’s seat.
No station wagon, but the year we went to Valencia will always be remembered as The Year We Were Stuck In Traffic For Five Hours. People were leaving the cars with all doors open and sharing drinks and food so the little kids would stay more or less calm.
And then there was the year we stayed in Segovia. One day, my parents took out the road map and started planning the day, but I nabbed it and said “no way, today we’re visiting Segovia! You two can do whatever you want, but us kids are staying here, visiting here, and not spending another day roasting in the back of the car :mad:” My mother refers to that incident as Takeover Day.
I don’t think that being obliged to dress up adds to my enjoyment of an experience. I had entirely too much of dressing up when I worked in a dress shop. If I never have to wear stockings/hose again I’ll die a happy woman. And don’t ask me what I think about girdles (REAL girdles, support garments are all right in my book).
Now, I do think that if you’re going to be seen in public, your clothes should fit, be clean, and in good repair. However, wearing a silk dress and your best pearls to fly in is a mistake. Travel clothes should be low maintenance (NOT dry clean only), should not wrinkle easily, and should breathe. Also, you need to consider the weather. It’s better to wear a light shirt and have a jacket or coat available when flying, rather than wear a heavy sweater which is comfy outside, but which you will broil in when you’re in the plane. Now, if you just want comfort, then probably a polo shirt and casual slacks are the way to go, because a T shirt and sweat pants are just a tad too informal for flying, if you’re an adult.
The thing is, flying is going to be uncomfortable. Why add to the discomfort by getting into stiff formal clothes that are going to look worse than informal clothes at the end of the flight?
I appreciate that. I meant mass-market affordable-to-plebs package tours, which really only took off in the late 1960s, at least in Britain.
My grandparents would like to take driving vacations in the States back in the 30s and they still bitched about the quality of pre-war tires and roads 60 years later.
The pre-Amrak ancestor of the Roomette was the same size, but only intended from 1 person.
My wife and I rode in a similar compartment on Amtrak during our honeymoon (from Chicago to Denver). It was close enough during the day, but the night-time set up of that compartment was horrible. The seats folded down to create a bed for one person, and then the second bed was a bunk which unfolded from the ceiling. Said upper bunk was very close to the ceiling, and, when I tried to sleep in it, I had an attack of claustrophobia. So, my wife went up there, and found she couldn’t sleep, either (though that was mostly from the bouncing of the train, and feeling like she was about to be pitched out of the bunk). We’d love to take the train again, but we’d have to get a bigger compartment without that silly upper bunk.